If a Legend of Zelda film were produced, Nintendo says it would have to make it interactive.
Videogame to film adaptations and film to videogame adaptations lose something from the original medium. Discussing the possibility of a Legend of Zelda film, Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma and Shigeru Miyamoto decided it would not be a traditional film.
Speaking with Kotaku, Aonuma said, “If I were to make a Zelda title, if we had interest in doing that, I think really what would be most important to us is to be able to play with the format of a movie, make it more interactive, like you’re able to take your 3DS into the theater and that leads you into participating in it somehow. We wouldn’t want to make it the same as any other movie. We want to somehow change what a movie is.”
How this would work is up in the air, and while Nintendo has considered ideas for a Legend of Zelda film adaptation, the company has not committed to it. Movies and videogames are inherently different in that there are certain things you can do in games, such as multiple endings depending on what actions you take, that do not work in a traditional narrative arc for a film. As Zelda games have traditionally had one predominant narrative arc in each game, a film adaptation could certainly work, but interactivity would need to have some impact on the film without it seeming gimmicky.
Nintendo has shown the company is not afraid of experimenting. It will be interesting to see how the videogame and film industries evolve as visual media in the future.
Source: Kotaku
