What is the live-action ‘The Legend of Zelda’ release window?

Nintendo and Universal Pictures succeeded beyond their wildest dreams with The Super Mario Bros. Movie in 2023. This monster hit grossed over a billion dollars, becoming easily the most successful video game movie of all time. Now they’re hoping lightning will strike a second time, possibly by holding the Master Sword aloft during an epic battle against a crimson-haired demon king.

Yup, The Legend of Zelda is the next Nintendo film confirmed to be arriving and expectations are sky high. Zelda is one of the most beloved video game franchises across the world, with gamers enjoying Link’s adventures across Hyrule for almost 40 years.

At first glance, the fantasy stylings of Zelda are tailor-made for a live-action movie. There are giant monsters to battle, beautiful environments to recreate, and a familiar cast of characters to draw from. But, like Mario, Zelda is a gameplay over story and character title, with Link himself not having any dialogue whatsoever.

After the dust settled on the controversy, Chris Pratt is generally considered to have done a fairly good job playing Mario, though whoever ends up playing Link had better nail that first trailer, as Zelda fans will analyze every single frame. Who knows, with Sony on board, maybe we’ll get the long-rumored casting of Tom Holland as Link?

Thankfully, we don’t have to wait too long to find out, as The Legend of Zelda will arrive sooner than we thought. Today, Nintendo confirmed that it’s just two years away, and will hit theaters on Mar. 26, 2027. Zelda creator and all-time video game icon Shigeru Miyamoto will produce, with the production co-funded by Nintendo and (in an eyebrow-raising development) Sony Pictures Entertainment.

Expect many Nintendo movies to come. The sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie arrives on Apr. 3, 2026, and there’s talk of Donkey Kong and Princess Peach spinoffs, meaning we could see an annual release each year for the foreseeable future. C’mon Metroid movie…

Let’s face it, if we’re going to get all of Nintendo’s biggest characters in multiple movies, it’s only a matter of time before they pull an Avengers and bring them all together for a Smash Bros. movie. That would basically be a money-printing machine, so expect them to announce this sooner rather than later. Maybe it’s goodbye MCU, hello NCU…



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