The Legend Of Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom is arriving on the Nintendo Switch this week, six long years after Breath Of The Wild became one of the most beloved games of all time.
We already know that the latest open world game will let us explore more of Hyrule, both on land and in the skies, offering an immersive experience set to rival its predecessor - no small feat, considering how many cite that as the greatest video game ever made.
But whilst we eagerly anticipate the game's arrival, we want to answer another question that's been on the mind of fans for years: the franchise has dominated consoles since 1986, but will we ever get a Zelda movie?
Zelda Movie Rumours
The blockbuster success of the Super Mario Bros. Movie, which has collected more than a billion dollars worldwide since its premiere in early April, has led many to assume a Nintendo Cinematic Universe is coming - and naturally, Zelda is the franchise most are eager to see adapted next.
Shigeru Miyamoto, the creator of both Mario and Zelda, has remained tight-lipped on what we can expect next, but some fans have read between the lines of recent comments to assume that the rich world of Hyrule will be hitting screens in the near future.
As reported by Metro, he said: "Nintendo is like a talent agency, we have many other entertainers on our roster. There are various ways to develop characters (for the screen), including characters that are suitable for film and characters that are well known."
He went further in an interview with ScreenRant when discussing further collaborations with animation studio Illumination in the years to come, saying: "There's nothing I can really comment on at the moment, but we started with the fact that we have a shared vision of creation, so I think there'll be opportunities in the future."
There are positive signs in that Illumination's CEO Chris Meladandri has been invited to join Nintendo's board of directors, suggesting the companies will continue working together soon, and on more than just a Mario sequel.
Meladandri told the website: "We are so focused right now on this movie and how the audience engages with the film. Nintendo and Illumination have had a really rewarding collaboration.
"Mr. Miyamoto and his colleagues have invited me to join the board of directors of Nintendo, and we're working together into the future with me in that capacity, but it's hard for us to talk about anything else at this time."
Cards are being kept close to the chests of all parties - but it seems like something is brewing on the horizon. Unconfirmed reports from earlier this year that a movie is definitively in development might be jumping the gun a little, though.
On the Small Screen
It's surprising that it has taken nearly 40 years for a Zelda movie to start getting seriously talked about, although we likely have the early 1990s Super Mario Bros. to thank for that. After that significantly departed from its source material, the company was understandably hesitant to give away their movie rights, even though Miyamato hasn't disavowed it publicly.
The closest we've got to a Zelda movie since then have been the various fan made outings uploaded to YouTube in recent years; they may have remained faithful to the source material, but they're no replacement for an official adaptation.
On the small screen, The Legend Of Zelda animated series ran for one season in 1989, although those 13 episodes are considered non-canonical due to how much they depart from the source. A live-action Netflix series almost came to fruition in 2015, billed as "Game Of Thrones for a family audience", although that never came to be.
We discovered more recently that this was because news of the project Nintendo hoped to develop in secret was leaked by someone at the streaming service, leading the gaming giants to pull the plug. We could already be several seasons deep into a Zelda series if that never happened.
Hope remains that we'll see Zelda one day - and hopefully, the success of the Mario movie brings it one step closer to our screens.
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