The Legend of Zelda (film)

The Legend of Zelda is a 2008 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, Winona Ryder, Christopher Plummer, Emma Thompson, Mary Steenburgen, Keith David and Morgan Freeman. 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. In April 2007, Cruise was hired to portray Link and to rewrite Fincher's screenplay. His script positioned the film as a reboot of the series, distancing it from the 1996 film to give the new version its own identity.

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 NCM. 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
Coming soon

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 (motion-capture)
 * Joey King as Saria (voice)
 * Michael Clarke Duncan as Darunia
 * Nick Offerman as Rauru
 * Julia Butters as Malon
 * Charles Marinet as Talon
 * Keith 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 November 27, 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
The Legend of Zelda premiered on November 17, 2008, at the Tower Theatre in Sacramento and was released in theaters on November 27 in the United States, where it opened in 3,505 theaters. The film is part of Phase One of the NCM.

Home media
The Legend of Zelda was released by Universal Studios Home Entertainment on DVD (in separate widescreen and pan and scan editions) and Blu-ray Disc on March 10, 2009.

Box office
The Legend of Zelda opened theatrically on November 27, 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
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Sequels
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Transcripts
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