Current:Home > BackNintendo's 'The Legend of Zelda' video game is becoming a live-action film-LoTradeCoin
Nintendo's 'The Legend of Zelda' video game is becoming a live-action film
View Date:2024-12-23 21:22:46
TOKYO — Nintendo is developing a live-action film based on its hit video game "The Legend of Zelda," the Japanese company behind the Super Mario franchise said Wednesday.
The film, with financing from Sony Pictures Entertainment as well as its own investment, will be directed by Wes Ball, the American director of the upcoming "Planet of the Apes" film. It’s being co-produced by Nintendo and Arad Productions Inc., which is behind the live-action Spider-Man films and headed by Avi Arad.
The move highlights Kyoto-based Nintendo's strategy to leverage various aspects of its business, including theme parks, merchandising and movies, to boost machine and software sales, and vice versa.
That strategy has met success. Its animated film "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," released earlier this year, has raked in more than $1.3 billion and drew nearly 170 million people worldwide.
President Shuntaro Furukawa, briefing reporters online, said the company was pleased with the success of the Super Mario animation film, the first movie of which Nintendo was a direct producer.
The planned release date of the Zelda movie was not announced. Shigeru Miyamoto, the Nintendo executive who has spearheaded the creative innovations at the company for decades, said it will be released only when it’s ready, while stressing that work on the project has been going on for a decade.
"I realize there are so many Zelda fans, and we cannot betray their expectations. That is a big hurdle. But we are ready," said Miyamoto.
Nintendo reported Tuesday an 18% rise in net profit for its first fiscal half, totaling nearly 271.3 billion yen ($1.8 billion), up from 230 billion yen a year earlier.
Nintendo officials said the success of the Super Mario film has translated into bigger sales for its Switch machines, as well as for game software with Super Mario themes.
The "Super Mario Bros. Wonder" game software, on sale since last month, has been selling at a record brisk pace, they said, totaling 4.3 million games sold in just two weeks.
The latest Zelda game called "Tears of the Kingdom," has been selling well, and Nintendo is hoping the planned movie will benefit from the popularity of the game, which stars a hero and a princess fighting against evil.
The Switch machine, already in its seventh year after its debut, is still doing well in sales, according to Nintendo.
Nintendo is banking on having more people come in contact with its intellectual property through official stores, including pop-ups, theme parks and special events, and now movies.
In the U.S., Nintendo World has opened in Universal Studios in Hollywood, and the company is planning another in Orlando. The area for the park it already has in Japan will grow next year to include a section devoted to Donkey Kong, another Nintendo character, officials said.
Nintendo is also opening a museum devoted to its history and legacy in the ancient Japanese capital of Kyoto in March next year.
veryGood! (2)
Related
- We Can Tell You How to Get to Sesame Street—and Even More Secrets About the Beloved Show
- Pennsylvania’s Dairy Farmers Clamor for Candidates Who Will Cut Environmental Regulations
- Kate Spade 24-Hour Flash Deal: Get This $400 Satchel Bag for Just $89
- Why it's so hard to mass produce houses in factories
- She was found dead while hitchhiking in 1974. An arrest has finally been made.
- Fox isn't in the apology business. That could cost it a ton of money
- How the Fed got so powerful
- Homeware giant Bed Bath & Beyond has filed for bankruptcy
- Bo the police K-9, who located child taken at knifepoint, wins Hero Dog Awards 2024
- Everything We Know About the It Ends With Us Movie So Far
Ranking
- What Just Happened to the Idea of Progress?
- The economics of the influencer industry
- Why Sarah Jessica Parker Was Upset Over Kim Cattrall's AJLT Cameo News Leak
- Bed Bath & the great Beyond: How the home goods giant went bankrupt
- Why Dolly Parton Is a Fan of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce's Little Love Affair
- Love Island’s Ekin-Su Cülcüloğlu and Davide Sanclimenti Break Up
- CNN announces it's parted ways with news anchor Don Lemon
- And Just Like That, Sarah Jessica Parker Shares Her Candid Thoughts on Aging
Recommendation
-
The Surreal Life’s Kim Zolciak Fuels Dating Rumors With Costar Chet Hanks After Kroy Biermann Split
-
SVB, now First Republic: How it all started
-
Roy Wood Jr. wants laughs from White House Correspondents' speech — and reparations
-
Every Time Margot Robbie Channeled Barbie IRL
-
A Pipeline Runs Through It
-
Biden wants airlines to pay passengers whose flights are hit by preventable delays
-
Our final thoughts on the influencer industry
-
Why does the U.S. have so many small banks? And what does that mean for our economy?