Nintendo Rumored to Be Developing Luigi and Zelda Movies With Illumination
Nintendo is rumored to be working on a pair of new animated movies with Illumination tied to The Legend of Zelda and Luigi. Following the massive success of The Super Mario Bros. Movie at the box office this year, it has been essentially guaranteed that Nintendo would look to make a bigger play in the movie space. Now, that renewed focus
The rumor in question happens to come from Zippo, who has had some accurate scoops in the past in relation to Nintendo. Revealed in their latest blog, it was said that Nintendo happens to be working on four projects in total. One of these is a sequel to The Super Mario Bros. Movie while the other is a Donkey Kong project. The latter two animated films are then said to center around The Legend of Zelda, with the other being a spin-off from the Mario Bros. Movie that focuses on Luigi.
When it comes to this Luigi-centered movie, details are currently quite sparse on what it may revolve around. In the video game space, Luigi's most famous standalone title happens to be Luigi's Mansion, which is a title that centers around light horror elements. Luigi's own voice actor, Charlie Day, has previously expressed interest in developing an animated movie tied to Luigi's Mansion. As such, this seems to be the most likely option for what an independent Luigi movie would be tied to.
As for the potential Zelda movie, this rumor in question states that the film is "an amalgamation of very different Zelda games" rather than looking to directly adapt entries in the series such as Ocarina of Time or Wind Waker. Additionally, it's said that the main character of the movie, Link, would indeed speak, which isn't normally seen in the video game series. Currently, Illumination itself has already shot down these rumors tied to a Zelda movie. But if the animation studio and Nintendo ever look to expand beyond the world of Super Mario Bros., it seems likely that Zelda would be first in line to receive its own adaptation to the big screen.
For the time being, it's worth stressing that you take this rumor with a pretty big grain of salt. Even though Nintendo is surely going to continue to make new movies in the years to come (likely in partnership with Illumination), there's no way to know right now what these projects might be. Not to mention, the WGA (Writers Guild of America) happens to be on strike at the moment, which means that the development of any of these potential films is likely on hold if they do happen to exist.