It was confirmed on Tuesday, November 7, 2023, that there will be a new Hollywood movie adaptation of the hit video game franchise The Legend of Zelda.

The question being asked here is, why does Hollywood persist with video game movie or television series adaptations? Let’s dive straight in to take a closer look. 

Why does Hollywood keep making video game adaptations?

Back in the day, Hollywood adaptations of video games often tanked at the box office. The action and excitement players would get from playing the game on their favourite consoles never translated as well on the big screen.

However, over the past decade or so, Hollywood seems to have figured out how to make their adaptations work on the big and small screens.

Much of this success involves the writers, directors, and producers working closely together with the people who created the games instead of trying to reimagine the game entirely without working with the original creators, which doesn’t often work.

In recent years, some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbuster movies and television series have been adaptations of hit video games. Some have been released at the cinema, whereas others went straight to Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, and Disney+, to name a few major entertainment streaming giants.

In short, there’s a lot of money to be made from adaptations, but only when they can get it right.

What are the best video game adaptations ever?

Some of the biggest video game adaptations that many of you will already be familiar with by now are the following hit titles:

• The Last of Us
• Sonic the Hedgehog
• Warcraft
• Assassin’s Creed
• Doom
• Resident Evil
• Tomb Raider
• Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
• Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within
• Hitman

Many of these adaptations have also been turned into feature-packed casino online slot machines playable at licensed and regulated iGaming sites.

Honourable mentions

Other popular adaptations include Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time, Double Dragon, Mortal Kombat, Wreck-It Ralph, Silent Hill, Uncharted, Max Payne, Street Fighter, Pokémon Detective Pikachu, and The Super Mario Bros. Movie (the 2023 movie from Universal that made over $1 billion, not the original 1993 movie that flopped).

When is The Legend of Zelda being released?

At the time of writing, there is no official release date for the upcoming Legend of Zelda live-action movie. Let’s take a look at what we do know so far.

The Legend of Zelda movie will be a collaboration between the makers of the iconic video game, Nintendo, and Sony Pictures Entertainment. It’s being co-financed and distributed by Sony and will be made by Nintendo and Avi Arad’s Arad Productions.

At the helm of this new project is Wes Ball, the director of the Maze Runner Trilogy. The new adaptation of The Legend of Zelda will be produced by Nintendo representative director and fellow Shigeru Miyamoto.

The announcement first appeared on X (formerly Twitter) in November 2023, and according to reports, they have been working on a live-action version of Legend of Zelda for many years now.

How many games are there in the Legend of Zelda franchise?

There are 29 games featuring the Zelda character. The biggest titles from the series include the following, in chronological order of when they were released:

1. 1986 – The Legend of Zelda
2. 1987 – Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
3. 1991 – The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
4. 1993 – The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening
5. 1998 – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
6. 2000 – The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask
7. 2001 – The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons and Oracle of Ages
8. 2002 – The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
9. 2004 – The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventures
10. 2004 – The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap
11. 2006 – The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
12. 2007 – The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass
13. 2009 – The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks
14. 2011 – The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

What Zelda games were released over the past decade

The biggest titles from the past decade were the following:

1. 2013 – The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
2. 2015 – The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes
3. 2017 – The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
4. 2023 – The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The types of consoles you can play these games on are the Nintendo Switch™ home gaming system and Wii U™ console.