Live action movie

alakazam · November 30, 2015 at 9:22 AM

Do you think there will ever be a live action movie inspired by the Legend of Zelda games? Would you watch it?

Lexatom · November 30, 2015 at 4:52 PM

Seeing as how the Mario movie went, no. And if there was ever one, I would not watch it. I don't want my vision of the series ruined.

Sardonic Pickle · December 1, 2015 at 12:26 AM

I would, but I don't want one made, if that makes sense.

**Kaynil** · December 1, 2015 at 9:02 AM Official Post

I'd watch it. Newer comic adaptation in movies seem to be handling things better and I want to think if that was the case Nintendo would take care of at least the visuals.
I don't expect me to blow me away and I'd probably take it as a side-story, another version of the legend. I'd like an original story and not the adaptation of a game. If they had to use a game as the base, probably TP would be the easiest designs to translate but the CGI for Midna and the guardians could take a good amount unless they do some changes.

I don't see it happening anytime soon.
If I recall correctly they used to be rumours earlier this year of a possible Netflix series but apparently Nintendo denied the rumour. While some people hung on the choice of wording to answer about the rumour as meaning the possibility is there and they were not ready to reveal it, I have yet to hear anything else about the idea.

_LS_ · December 2, 2015 at 7:21 AM Official Post

Live action, feature length film would be a terrible way to develop the franchise, I thonk. TLoZ is the sort of world that has to be animated to work right, because of the way magic works.

The zelda world is a world of fireballs, conjured lightning, and faries. These things can look good in animation, but they neeeeeeeever look good in live action fare. Magic in live action films needs to be more understated. Nothing flashy. But that kind of magic wouldn't feel properly zeldaish.

Servo · December 2, 2015 at 7:51 AM

Live actions are the worst form of entertainment on TV in my opinion so I'll never watch it lol

_LS_ · December 2, 2015 at 10:50 AM Official Post

There are a lot of things live action does well. Animation, for example, will never be able to match the range of emotions a talented actor can portray. But in terms of high magic fantasy? Animation is the only way to go.

CM30 · December 28, 2015 at 8:33 PM

I don't think so. Seems like such a movie would just be too awkward to make and cost far too much. I mean, look at say, Lord of the Rings. That cost a fortune, and that's got the benefit of a more realistic world and mostly humanoid characters. A Zelda's movie's effects budget (especially if has the amount of cool stuff as the Majora's Mask trailer below) would be astronomical:

In addition to that, there are some other issues:

Link journeys alone, and mostly doesn't speak to people at all. So a movie would need to find any reason at all to include other characters, dialogue, etc. Otherwise you'd have hours of Link basically running around dungeons and killing things, which doesn't make a great movie.

The story's are rather thin on a per game level, but confusing as heck on a series level. You'd have to either come up with a new alternate canon or try and find a Zelda game whose plot can be explained in a way that doesn't confuse the hell out of the audience.

So it's unlikely. It'd be cool, but it just seems too expensive and all that stuff.

Cressel · December 29, 2015 at 3:35 PM

If there is one it better be a chinese or jap film so the bad scenes are hilarious and not just cringy.

CM30 · December 29, 2015 at 8:25 PM

Why would a Japanese or Chinese film make the bad scenes less cringy?

Cressel · December 29, 2015 at 8:27 PM

Because they're just funny to look at. Like, Iunno, bad american films just feel awkward to me while bad chinese films make me crack up.

Silent Lion · December 30, 2015 at 5:55 AM Official Post

Low budget Chinese martial art films ftw! Fury in Shaolin Temple is hilarious. I guess because of Hollywood's reputation we expect American films to live up to something.

I think a live action Zelda would be pretty poor, and they know it. But if they did - given the feelings of the fanbase, they'd probably pick the 'classic' OoT. But I agree with @Kaynil, TP would be far easier from a plot point of view. Easier to establish (trying to establish the Kokiri thing and not leaving the forest would take far too long in OoT). But it would have to be one of those two, because Zelda is Zelda. WW, for example, wouldn't work, because Tetra is revealed as Zelda, and the significance of that isn't realised unless you've already played another Zelda game and have some idea of who Zelda is. In fact, a lot of that game's plot relies on knowledge of the Zelda series. MM would work if it wasn't so side-quest heavy. I think in general the game plots are two modular - each dungeon, and the story leading up to it, is very isolated from the rest of the game.