Nintendo has delayed its live-action The Legend of Zelda movie. Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto–who created Zelda–said in a statement that the delay comes down to “production reasons.” The film is slipping from March 26, 2027 to May 7, 2027.
“For production reasons, we are changing the release date of the live-action film of The Legend of Zelda to May 7, 2027. It will be some weeks later than the release timing we originally announced, and we will take the extra time to make the film as good as it can be. Thank you for your patience,” Miyamoto said.
No specific reason for the delay beyond “production reasons” was disclosed. Hollywood movies get delayed all the time, so this is not all that surprising, and the shift is not all that long as delays go.
The movie is a co-production between Nintendo and Sony Pictures, with Miyamoto producing. Marvel veteran Avi Arad is another producer on the movie.
The live-action Zelda movie will be directed by Wes Ball, who is known for his work on the Maze Runner series and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. The filmmaker wants to swing for live-action Hayao Miyazaki aesthetics with The Legend of Zelda movie, as well as for it to “feel like something real. It remains to be seen exactly what that means, however.
Ball previously teased his vision for the Zelda movie. “I have this awesome idea,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about it for a long freakin’ time, of how cool a Zelda movie would be… I want to fulfill people’s greatest desires. I know it’s important, this [Zelda] franchise, to people and I want it to be a serious movie. A real movie that can give people an escape.”
There is no word yet on casting details for the Zelda movie, so we don’t yet know who may play Link, Zelda, or any other characters who show up.
While the Zelda movie is delayed, Nintendo’s The Super Mario Bros. Movie 2 remains on track for April 2026.
In other news, the Nintendo Switch 2 is out now. While it didn’t launch with a new Zelda game, fans did get nice upgrades of existing Zelda games.