A Live-Action Zelda Movie Is Officially In Production

tears of the kingdom diving

Following up the rousing success of this year's The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Nintendo has announced that production has begun on a live action film based on The Legend of Zelda.

The upcoming film was announced in a press release from Nintendo, where the company said it would be jointly produced by Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto and Avi Arad of Arad Productions. The latter has produced a number of high-profile films, including Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse and its sequel, Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk, and more. He’s also produced films like Morbius, Venom, and Ghost in the Shell, so it’s a bit of a mixed bag.

It’s set to be directed by Wes Ball, who’s mostly worked on the Maze Runner trilogy of films, which have been met with mixed reviews, depending on the film, and the upcoming Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Deadline has reported that Jurassic World and Detective Pikachu screenwriter will be penning the Zelda movie, but Nintendo has not confirmed these reports.

Related: The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Won’t Get DLC

The film is being co-financed by both Nintendo and Sony Pictures Entertainment, though it’s said that Nintendo contributed more than 50% of the funding, while Sony Pictures will handle theatrical distribution worldwide. No release date or casting information has been announced.

Miyamoto said in a post on Twitter that the film had been in the works for “many years,” and encouraged fans to look forward to seeing it.

“I have been working on the live-action film of The Legend of Zelda for many years now with Avi Arad-san, who has produced many mega hit films,” Miyamoto wrote, “I have asked Avi-san to produce this film with me, and we have now officially started the development of the film with Nintendo itself heavily involved in the production. It will take time until its completion, but I hope you look forward to seeing it.”

At this stage it’s not known if the Legend of Zelda movie will be based on an existing story like Breath of the Wild or Ocarina of Time, or tell its own original story. It will likely make Nintendo shareholders happy though, as the Mario movie brought in over $1 billion in theaters alone.