Illumination CEO Denies The Legend of Zelda Movie Deal Amid Rumors
Posted on June 16 2023 by Rod Lloyd
The Super Mario Bros. Movie has proven an overwhelming success for Nintendo, Universal Pictures, and Illumination, with the film grossing over $1.328 billion (USD) worldwide and setting multiple box-office records across the world. That success has naturally led to speculation about the next collaboration between the three companies. In fact, the media giants have already expressed interest in developing Super Mario sequel or spin-off films, as well as films based on other Nintendo franchises.
A Legend of Zelda film adaptation is, of course, a popular topic of discussion among Nintendo fans given The Super Mario Bros. Movie‘s success. In fact, that topic was once again broached last week when Hollywood reporter and insider Jeff Sneider shared a supposed scoop regarding a Zelda movie deal between Nintendo and Universal.
On the June 8th episode of The Hot Mic, a video podcast Sneider co-hosts with John Rocha, Sneider, based on a tip he received by one of his unnamed sources, reported that Universal Studios was closing a “big deal” with Nintendo for The Legend of Zelda. “Zelda will be… is looking like the next big Illumination Nintendo franchise,” he claimed. Snieder attempted to reach out to his source for further comments, but he “never heard back.”
Zelda Dungeon chose not to report this rumor, as we felt that an uncorroborated scoop by a single unnamed source did not meet our standard of veracity.
With the rumor spreading far and wide on the internet over the weekend, entertainment news outlet TheWrap approached Illumination founder and CEO Chris Meledandri (also a member of Nintendo’s board of directors) at the Annecy International Animation Festival and asked him about the studio’s reported Zelda deal.
“I don’t know where that came from,” Meledandri said of the rumors. “I mean I can understand how people would surmise all sorts of things because obviously, we’ve had a great experience working together. My relationship with Nintendo now includes being on their board of directors, so I understand how people can surmise these things. But in terms of the specifics, that was just something that I’ve been hearing lots of reports. This is just about what’s next between Nintendo and Illumination.”
Meledandri’s denial was echoed by Illumination’s Benjamin Renner, director of the studio’s upcoming film Migration. “I see one report every week,” he said.
Obviously, one could conclude that Meledandri is issuing purposely vague or misleading statements in an effort to protect an unannounced deal between Nintendo and Universal. But when weighing the official word of Illumination against the word of a single unnamed source, we’re choosing to treat these claims as simple rumor and innuendo until more information, if any, comes out of the situation.
Snieder defended his reporting in the face of Meledandri’s denials, claiming that his report only related to a deal between Nintendo and Universal and that he was simply assuming that Illumination would be involved, despite Illumination’s supposed involvement being presented as a statement of fact rather than speculation in his initial report.
Nintendo, Universal, and Illumination are no doubt working to adapt more game franchises for the big screen. Whether or not The Legend of Zelda is one of those franchises is still an open question. Where do you stand? Are you taking Illumination at their word? Do you think they’d be the right studio to produce a Zelda movie? Let us know in the comments below.
Source: The Wrap, The Hot Mic, Jeff Sneider
Rod Lloyd is the Editor-In-Chief at Zelda Dungeon, overseeing the news and feature content for the site. Rod is considered the veteran of the writing team, having started writing for Zelda Informer in 2014 as a Junior Editor. After ZD and ZI officially merged in 2017, he stepped into the Managing Editor role and has helped steer the ship ever since. He stepped up to lead the writing team as Editor-In-Chief in 2023.
You can reach Rod at: rod.lloyd@zeldadungeon.net
