Nintendo has officially moved The Legend of Zelda movie from daydream to reality. Cameras are now rolling on the long-rumored live-action adaptation, and alongside the production start the company has shared a first official look at its on-screen Link and Princess Zelda. The film is currently slated to hit cinemas on May 7, 2027, arriving roughly a year after the animated Super Mario Galaxy Movie, which is scheduled for April 3, 2026. 
Together, they signal that Nintendo is serious about building a long-term slate of films based on its most beloved franchises.
The announcement dropped via the Nintendo Today! app, confirming that principal photography on The Legend of Zelda has begun and giving fans their first taste of the movie’s visual direction. The images do not reveal full story details, but they do underline the core promise: this is a grounded fantasy take on Hyrule rather than a cartoonish romp. Costumes, lighting, and posture all lean into epic adventure, suggesting a world that feels lived-in and dangerous while still recognisably shaped by the games’ iconic imagery.
The casting is a big part of that new vision. Sixteen-year-old Benjamin Evan Ainsworth is stepping into Link’s boots, while twenty-one-year-old Bo Bragason assumes the mantle of Princess Zelda. Nintendo clearly wants this to be a generational story, led by actors close in age to the younger fans who discovered the series through Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom. Early reactions already reflect a familiar split in the fandom: some viewers are unsure whether Ainsworth has the right presence for the usually silent hero, while many seem more optimistic about Bragason’s royal, slightly mysterious take on Zelda.
Behind the camera, the production has chosen a setting that fantasy fans know can deliver: New Zealand. A production listing confirms that filming is scheduled to run from November 4, 2025, to April 7, 2026, and all signs point to the entire shoot taking place there. With its jagged mountain ranges, windswept plains, and dense forests, the country is a natural stand-in for Hyrule. It is easy to imagine towering cliffs doubling as the edges of a Divine Beast arena or quiet valleys becoming the backdrop for Link and Zelda’s more intimate conversations.
The Zelda film also occupies a very different place in Nintendo’s growing movie strategy than the animated Mario projects. The Super Mario Galaxy Movie, due in 2026, looks set to double down on colourful, family-friendly spectacle, slapstick comedy, and endlessly quotable lines for kids. The Legend of Zelda, by contrast, has license to be moodier and more mythic. The games have always balanced bright puzzle-solving with themes of war, loss, and cursed lineages. A live-action adaptation can lean into those darker elements, blending sweeping battles and giant bosses with smaller character moments about courage, doubt, and destiny.
That tonal balance will be crucial, because adapting Zelda is far trickier than simply animating Mario. The series spans decades of lore, multiple timelines, and wildly different artistic styles, from the painterly romance of Skyward Sword to the open-air melancholy of Breath of the Wild. Cramming every iconic dungeon, item, and villain into a single film would turn it into a noisy checklist. A smarter approach, and the one fans are hoping for, is to build an original story shaped by the games’ themes rather than copying any one plot beat for beat, with nods to familiar locations and characters used as flavour instead of the main course.
For Nintendo, this movie is also a test of how far its brand can stretch beyond straightforward family entertainment. The first Super Mario Bros. Movie showed that well-produced game adaptations can dominate the box office without alienating younger audiences. The Legend of Zelda now has the opportunity to become the prestige counterpart: still accessible, but with more dramatic weight, a richer emotional arc for both leads, and imagery that can stand alongside modern fantasy cinema. If it works, it opens the door to a whole ecosystem of shows and films built around Hyrule’s history and its reincarnating heroes.
For now, though, the project is still at the tantalising early stage where a handful of stills can fuel months of speculation. Fans are poring over every detail, debating whether Link looks heroic enough, whether Zelda feels like a scholar, a warrior, or both, and how New Zealand’s landscapes will be transformed into a recognisable Hyrule. With filming running through early 2026 and a theatrical release locked for May 7, 2027, there is a long road ahead. But the message from Nintendo is clear: the Legend of Zelda movie is real, it is underway, and the journey to Hyrule’s big-screen debut has finally begun.
1 comment
Zelda casting actually looks promising, she gives off smart princess who can absolutely roast you vibes and I’m here for it