The Legend of Zelda (film)

The Legend of Zelda is a 2008 live-action/computer-animated fantasy adventure film directed by Robert Zemeckis, produced by Nintendo and written by David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin, and based on the video game series, and the seventh film in the Nintendo Cinematic Multiverse (NCM). It stars Tom Cruise, Nicole Kidman, and Anthony Hopkins as the characters. The film follows Link as he embarks on a quest to save Princess Zelda from the clutches of the sinister Ganondorf.

After the mixed reception to Universal's 1996 film The Legend of Zelda, Nintendo reacquired the rights to the character though Universal retained distribution rights. Zemeckis, who had expressed interest in directing Kirby for Nintendo, was brought onboard and Haggins began work on a script that would be much closer to the 1989 television series of the same name.

The Legend of Zelda premiered at the Tower Theatre in Sacramento on November 17, 2008, and released in the United States on November 27, as part of Phase One of the MCU. It was also a box office success, grossing $617 million against a $101 million budget, and received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the plot, casting, performances (particularly of Cruise and Kidman), humor, action sequences, visual effects, emotional weight, and faithfulness to the source material. It was praised for its darker plot, sets and a story appropriate for a young audience. It was followed by The Legend of Zelda: The Sacred Realm (2012).

Plot
In the mystical land of Hyrule, Princess Zelda is officially marked the queen of the Hyrule kingdom. As the ancient ceremony commences, the kingdom is attacked by Ganondorf. The King fights Ganondorf, and Ganondorf promises his return. Link, a poor teenage elf, visits The King and asks if there are any open spots to be a Knight. The King forces Link to exit the Kingdom, making Link begin to lose hope for a bright future. Princess Zelda arranges a spot on the force behind her father’s back. Unbeknownst to The King and Zelda, Link is in love with Zelda.

Link and Zelda have a deal that if Zelda keeps Link’s employment a secret, Link would collect her favorite fruits for her every night. While stealing a fruit for Zelda, he returns to the Kingdom when The King falls asleep. During this, Link and Zelda inadvertently reveal their feelings to each other and they share a kiss. The Next Day, Link is caught by the King, who threatens to kick him out of Hyrule. As Link packs his things to leave, Ganondorf attacks the Kingdom and kills The King. After a fight, Ganondorf kidnaps Zelda and takes her to his Kingdom. Slowly dying, The King uses his final wish to have Link bring Zelda home and save her from Ganondorf’s evil plot. Link promises the dying King that he will bring Zelda back and he sets out to save her from Ganondorf.

In Gabondorf’s lair, Zelda wakes up inside a cage and receives a visit from Ganondorf. As Ganondorf tells her about the dead King, Zelda assures Ganondorf that Link is coming to save her. Ganondorf uses a magic crystal ball and discovers that Link really is coming. Furious, he sends an army of monsters to kill him. Ganondorf then reassures Zelda that Link will never arrive at the Castle.

Link fights an army of Trolls and interrogates them about Zelda. In an unknown language that Link understands, they tell Link that Ganondorf’s castle is the most heavily guarded castle in the universe. Link then kills the Trolls after they summon Ganondorf’s henchmen to kill him. Link escapes the Trolls and comes across a waterfall. As he begins to give up, he finds a wounded dragon and saves its life from trolls. Link then uses his training against Ganondorf on a log. He destroys the log and prepares to defeat Ganondorf and save Zelda. The Trolls tell Ganondorf’s henchmen about where Link is going to save Zelda and the henchmen follow him. Link searches for the Castle and discovers where it is. He then fights off the sneaky henchmen and prepares to defeat Ganondorf.

Link arrives at Ganondorf’s castle. After being attacked by henchmen, Link enters Ganondorf’s throne. As Link arrives, Ganondorf prepares to kill Zelda in an act of vengeance for his dead henchmen. Link fights Ganondorf, but is overpowered as Ganondorf is revealed to have killed Link’s parents. Link uses the power of love and trust to kill Ganondorf, and he ends up destroying Ganon’s castle and returning to Hyrule together with Zelda. The two begin to date and The King, who was aided after the attack, allows Link to date Zelda and keep his job as a Knight.

Cast

 * Tom Cruise as Link and Young Link (motion-capture)
 * Thomas Brodie-Sangster as Link (voice)
 * Seth R. Dusky as Young Link (child voice)
 * Winona Ryder as Princess Zelda (motion-capture)
 * Nicole Kidman as Princess Zelda (additional motion-capture)
 * Christopher Plummer as King Harkinikan (motion-capture)
 * Patrick Stewart as King Harkinikan (voice)
 * Emma Thompson as Impa
 * Zelda Williams as Navi
 * Pom Klementieff as Princess Ruto
 * Golshifteh Farahani as Nabooru
 * Uma Thurman as Great Fairy
 * Mary Steenburgen as Saria
 * Joey King as Saria (voice)
 * Michael Clarke Duncan as Darunia
 * Nick Offerman as Rauru
 * Julia Butters as Malon
 * Charles Marinet as Talon
 * Kaith David as Ganondorf
 * Austin Butler as Dark Link
 * Tress MacNeille as Twinrova
 * Morgan Freeman as Great Deku Tree
 * Marc Evan Jackson as Running Man
 * Cameron Monaghan as Happy Mask Salesman

Pre-production
After the release of Zemeckis' The Legend of Zelda in 1996, screenwriter James Schamus was planning a sequel which would continue the story featuring Link. During the filming of the original film, producer Shigeru Miyamoto had a target June 2006 theatrical release date. On January 18, 2005, Miyamoto confirmed Nintendo would be providing the money for The Legend of Zelda 's production budget, with Universal distributing, because Universal did not meet the deadline for filming a sequel. Nintendo felt it would be better to deviate from his old style to continue the franchise, arguing his film was like a parallel universe one-shot video game, and their next film needed to be, in Miyamoto's words, "really starting the Nintendo Zelda franchise". In August 2006, a July 2, 2008, release date was set.

During production of Super Mario Bros., it was announced that a Legend of Zelda reboot film was in development, with Cruise and Kidman officially signed on to portray Link and Zelda. Keith David was later cast as Ganondorf, which was also requested by some fans. It was announced that the film would focus on the origin story of a young Link, while keeping the themes from the game series.

Tom Cruise described doing the motion-capture as physically demanding work: "A lot of running, jumping, falling, hitting, spinning. I wore a harness for, like, 85 percent of the movie. It was uncomfortable." After spending six weeks outfitted in a special sensor-equipped performance capture suit while simultaneously performing Link's lines, Cruise's voice sounded too mature for the character and was dubbed over by that of 16-year-old newcomer Thomas Brodie-Sangster.

Filming
Principal photography of motion-capture sequences took place between October 2006 and November 2007. Filming took place in Stage 9 at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California.

Music

 * Further information: The Legend of Zelda (soundtrack) and Music of the Nintendo Cinematic Multiverse

Theatrical
Coming soon

Home media
The Legend of Zelda was released on home media on March 10, 2009 in the United States on DVD (in separate widescreen and pan and scan editions), HD-DVD and Blu-ray Disc.

Box office
The Legend of Zelda opened theatrically on November 26, 2008, alongside Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, Quantum of Solace and Bolt, and grossed $22.2 million in its opening weekend, ranking number three at the North American box office behind Twilight.

The Legend of Zelda grossed $500 million in the United States and Canada, and $200 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $700 million. With a production budget of $200 million, Zelda is Zemeckis' most expensive original project. IndieWire speculated that the marketing could push the final sum to $300–350 million, though analysts predicted lower advertising costs than usual, owing to inexpensive live sports ads. Box office analyst Jeff Bock estimated it would need to make $400–$500 million in order to break even. In January 2009, rival studios expected the film to lose up to $100 million, but Nintendo insisted losses would not top $50 million. Zemeckis was reported to receive twenty percent of the first-dollar gross.

Zelda was projected to take $25–30 million internationally over its first five days. In South Korea, pre-sale IMAX tickets sold out and weekend previews totaled $717,000 from 590 venues. Another four days there yielded $4.13 million from about 2,200 screens, bringing the cume to $5.1 million by the end of the week. The film debuted to $53 million in forty-one countries, grossing $7.1 million in the United Kingdom, $6.7 million in France, and $4.2 million in Germany. Twilight made $58.1 million in its second weekend, with China ($30 million from first showings), the U.K. ($13.1 million), France ($10.7 million), Germany ($8.7 million), and South Korea ($8.2 million) as its largest markets. Its third weekend garnered $30.6 million, comprising $16.4 million from the U.K., $13.2 million from France, $11.4 million from Germany, $10.3 million from South Korea, and $10.2 million from China. Two weeks in Japan accumulated $11.4 million. Zelda opened in India on February 8, 2009, and made about $576,000 in the first three days. Twilight became the highest grossing film of all time in Estonia, with a total gross of $1.2 million.

With 65% of American and Canadian theaters operating at 25–40% capacity, the first eleven days acquired $20.2 million from 2,810 theaters; $2.5 million in Canada, $12 million in the U.S., and the rest from previews. The second, third, and fourth weekends added $6.7 million, $4.7 million, and $3.4 million, respectively. Twilight remained atop the box office in its fifth weekend with $2.7 million, before ceding to Quantum of Solace in its sixth weekend.

Critical response
The film received generally positive reviews, with critics praising the plot, casting, performances (particularly of Cruise and Kidman), humor, action sequences, visual effects, emotional weight, and faithfulness to the source material. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film received an 87% score, based on 55 reviews, with an average score of 8.54 out of 10. The website’s critical consensus reads, “The Legend of Zelda is a action-packed adventure that all fans of the series will enjoy, and proves that 2020 isn’t such a bad year for movies after all.” On an A+ to F Scale, the film received a “B+”.

Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 78% based on 205 reviews, with an average rating of 7.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A life-affirming, if saccharine, epic treatment of a spirit-lifting figure in sports history". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 43 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade A on scale of A to F.

Robert Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3.5 stars out of 4, and wrote: "The movie's races are thrilling because they must be thrilling; there's no way for the movie to miss on those, but Zemeckis and cinematographer, Erik Messerschmidt, get amazingly close to the action."

Accolades
Coming soon

Sequels
Coming soon

Transcripts
Coming soon