Sony was at CES this month, and while they didn’t reveal any Pro versions of their hardware, they did take some time to talk about a Nintendo IP.
Yes, in case you forgot, Sony Pictures is making a live action The Legend of Zelda movie. This deal was brokered thanks to Avi Arad, who continues to make Marvel projects under Sony, namely every Spider-Man movie they release.
Shigeru Miyamoto himself announced the project in November of last year, and revealed that he will be working closely with Avi Arad on it. While production of the film has just gotten started, Miyamoto also shared that he had been talking with Avi Arad about the project for over a decade.
The movie’s director is Wes Ball, whose own claim to fame is directing the trilogy of The Maze Runner movies. Wes has also put on many different hats in the industry, working as graphics artist, visual effects and pre-vis artist, as well as a producer.
On his own end, Wes has expressed a desire to make a The Legend of Zelda movie that would be reminiscent of a Hayao Miyazaki film. The more recent movies in the franchise certainly evoke that aesthetic, but it must be pointed out that that hardly makes it unique.
At least, we understand Wes Ball’s sentiment. While there have been some highlights in 2020s fantasy films, like Luca, much of these movies have poor or mixed critical reception, and many haven’t even made a real pop culture impact. I’ll name a few titles here that you likely forgot about or don’t even know exist:
- Disenchanted, the sequel to Enchanted
- Jungle Cruise, based on the Disney theme park ride
- Dolittle, starring Robert Downey Jr
- A Dragonheart sequel
- Zemeckis’ The Witches remake
- Cinderella starring Camila Cabelo
- Hocus Pocus 2
Going back to CES, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida himself spoke up about their The Legend of Zelda movie, very briefly. As reported by Comic Book, he said that it would be “an amazing tale of adventure and discovery.” That’s certainly a very generic description of any fantasy movie, but it also demonstrates that Sony has real ambition to realize their rival’s key franchise.
We had noted that Sony’s PlayStation division may not be as thrilled to learn about this project. Sony has greenlit several film and show adaptations of their own PlayStation properties, but many of them clearly aren’t getting the same attention and prominence that this project is.
It seems this is all about Avi Arad and not Sony itself. If PlayStation might have otherwise been able to convince Sony to focus on their own IPs, Avid overruled them because he wants to work on The Legend of Zelda.
Sony’s history of Hollywood moviemaking precedes PlayStation, with Sony buying Columbia Pictures in 1989. We have to assume they and Avi Arad will be approaching this movie in all sincerity, since they stand to benefit too.
