*Disclaimer, I have had this idea for a thread for a long while and never got it done, until I found out that they are indeed plans for a Zelda movie (but it does not sound too good at least not to me, because allegedly it is not going to be animated as it should be) so i could not decide with the titles so i used both*
Like the title says (or both versions say and ask and imply), how would you make the Zelda Movie if you were both director & writer etc or overall what would you want to see from a Zelda Movie? Would you dare try to make Link talk and with a fitting voice actor(s) for him? Would you make a completely original story or would you do like i would do of directly adapting one (or more if you were to do a trilogy or quadrology like me)? Would you have it to be live-action or animated and if the latter what type of animation.
-My ideas for (a) Zelda Movie(s)-
-Animated or Live Action-
-Animated or Live-Action-
Now, no matter how good or bad the Minecraft Movie is or was, i do fear the consequences of its would be success that it would have on future video game movie adaptations (i know that technically the Zelda movie was announced earlier than the first release of the Minecraft Movie trailer and maybe the part it would be live action but still, the success of A Minecraft Movie would cement the message to all the Moviewoods out there that it is a good idea to make more live-action adaptations of things that should remain in the realm of animation) <note: *Slightly of this part was also written before i saw the Minecraft movie to see if it is good or bad and spoiler alert while it was not that bad it really should have stayed in the realm of animation, at least in the parts when they are in the MC world and now I feel like a lemon & donkey for giving it me coins (and by that being part of the problem of more Game adaptations being Live-Action that i complained about) >, i mean users on Rotten Tomatoes say that its not that bad with a 80 % something score as I was writing this but still*. Instead of making a Live Action movie, it should be either 3D animated if done by a western studio or it can or could be 2D animated by say Studio Ghibli or other acclaimed Japanese 2D animation movies and make it animated either in the style of Mononoke or like the opening and ending of Links Awakening remaster of ´19 (but with a movie worthy budget), of course my biggest issue with the live-action besides animation being preferable is the potential casting (I am no better at casting roles either but it is one thing with casting potentially unfitting voice actors in animation vs live action) . Then again, if it would be 2D japanese animation movie then i think it would fit better with say A Link To The Past, but i could be wrong, a OOT ghibli style movie could and would work better than any type of live-action regardless if it is original or based directly of a specific title. But i digress, i personally, for the stories I would adapt, I would pick 3D animation.
*Also, take a drink of soda or whatever everytime I type “hypothetical”, “I would”, “adaptation” or something around those lines.
-Animation style-
Of course, like i already stated, while i obviously do not think that live-action is a good idea for a Zelda movie and think an animated movie will always be superior to a live-action one (at least when it comes to things that should remain in realm of animation & what not), that being said i do think some studios are better at handling an animated studios than others. Essentially i would not think it is a good idea to let illumination (even if it is a better option than live action, that is still not a very high bar) to animate a hypothetical Zelda movie (yet alone a trilogy or quadriology) even with the good work with the Mario movie they did because their style would just not do it justice (even if they were to animate say an adaptation of say Wind Waker or A Link Between Worlds, they just would not do it justice regardless which Zelda story they would hypothetically adapt) and definetly not Disney (not wanting to risk Disney putting their grubby hands on TLOZ, plus Disney is already oversaturated with uninspiring 3D cookie cutter films and Live Action remakes just go back to 2D, no excuses.). No, i would have a different animation studio and animation style making the 3D animated adaptaions. And the examples of animation style i would see such as:
1. The style of the type of 3D animations you see from Square Enix games such as the FF7 Advent Children, the cinematics of FF10, Dissidia and all the cinematic openings and epilogues of KH games:
AnotherSquareEnixCinematic
Something like what you see but with a blockbuster budget or…
2.Another style that would work to be that of RWANLINK’s works & Majorlink’s works but with a way higher budget fitting for a feature film:
ML0
ML1farewell
3.Or finally my most favourite animation style for a hypothetical 3d Animated Zelda Movie:
fairies
Sad Mask Saleman
And that one was made over 8-9 years ago soon literally 10 years ago, together when TheOphany released ”Times End II” Cinematic Orchestration, ah yes i remember it like it was yesterday when i was like sitting in my ma’s car whenI was around 15 or so and listened to the ”Times End II” album by the Ophany and saw the ”Terrible Fate” animation, ah those were the better times overall.But now it has been 8-9 years and soon 10 years? Makes me feel ancient, but i digress. Like why does hollywood not take notes and think a Live-Action film is way better than the animation style ”A Terrible Fate” had to offer? Granted, some of them, even with higher budget do have a uncanny valley feel to them (with maybe the last one) but in my defence they are the ”better uncanny valley”.
-Voice Cast (So far)-
This one is a little tricky especially for the English Voice Cast because besides it should be inevitable that Link will talk, if not a lot then at least here and there, then again that does not mean it will end as badly as ”Oh boy I am so hungry i could eat an Octorock!” because that one, as memey and fun it is is just the rock bottom and it would be unlikely to sink even lower than that, at worst we would get Link a Voice that would not really fit according to various Zelda Communties (kinda like how that was the case with the Mario Movie at first). But hey the Japanese Voice cast would not be so hard to figure out (assuming they are not all dead) most of them would be the same used for the games. It was also tricky for me to find fitting voice suggestions for characters like Malo & Talo without reusing previous suggestions for english.
Note I may not consistently put out every single name of voice actor, I may only mention the specific voice and only named the voice actor’s previous roles to give a hint why I would think it would fit (Primarily to save time).
(Ocarina of Time & Majoras Mask Movies):
Show cast
Japanese Voice Cast
Young Link: Fujiko Takimoto (The same who voiced Young Link in OOT Game)
Adult Link: Nobuyuki Hiyama (Obviously the same Voice Actor who voiced Adult Link’s grunts etc in OOT.)
Young Zelda: Same from the game
Adult Zelda: Same actress who voiced Zelda in OOT game.
Sheik:Jun Mizusawa
Navi: Toon Zelda’s voice actress
Ganondorf: Hironori Miyata
Phantom Ganon: Takashi Nagasako
Ganondorf (Ganon Form): Takashi Nagasako
Darunia: Same one from the games
Saria: Jun Mizusawa
Nabooru: Riju’s Japanese Voice Actress.
Impa: Hyrule Warriors Impa Voice Actress
Ruto: Ikumi Nakagami
Kid Malon/Romani: The one who provided the vocals for Marin in the 2019 remake of Links Awakening
Adult Malon/Cremia: Ruriko Aiko (Alias Marin in Hyrule Warriors)
Talon:Mamoru Miyano (Look up the english section to understand this choice)
Happy Masks Salesman: Shigeru Miyamoto (Yes that one, thought it would make for a nice easter egg)
Skullkid: Saschi Masumuto (aka voice actress of Skull Kid and Toon Link)
Tatl: Toon Zelda’s Voice Actress but with the Tetra tone.
Tael: Ness & Kirby voice actor
Light Sage Rauru: Michio Hazama (Gandalf’s Japanese dubbing voice in Hobbit 2012-2014, mind you the latter is 92 so it is inevidable that this post will age poorly) or Ghibli Miyazaki (for the sake of easter eggs eh)
English Voice Cast (Ocarina of Time & Majoras Mask):
Young Link: I am thinking of the Voice Actress who voiced Lloyd Pre-2018 doing a similiar voice to teenage Lloyd.
Adult Link: Matthew Broderick alias The one who voiced Adult Simba, maybe using some tech & voice changer stuff to de-age his voice back to Adult Simba ’94 if necessary. That or Yuri Lowenthal (Voice of Alucard since 2007) could do.
Young Zelda: Patricia Summerset or Ariel Winter.
Adult Zelda: The Female English Narrator in the Original Hyrule Warriors ’14 on Wii U, Chiara Zanni (Alias Hahli in Mask of Light the movie) Gaia Wise or Patricia Summerset
Sheik: David Gallagher (KH Riku’s Voice Actor)
Navi: Jara Jill Miller (Chirithy’s Voice Actor)
Ganondorf:Benedict Cumberbatch (Smaug’s & Necromancer Sauron voice), Sala Baker (Sauron), Patrick Seitz doing his Dracula voice or Matthew ”I have yet to rule this land! You will not Stop Me!” Mercer
Phantom Ganon: Same as Ganon Form
Ganondorf (Ganon Form): Matthew ”I have yet to rule this land! You will not Stop Me!” Mercer,Lee Tockar (Makuta Teridax) or Scott Mcneil doing his Overlord voice.
Darunia: Jack Black (Actually lets have almost every single Goron in the trilogy/tetraology with a few exceptions be voiced by Jack Black) doing his Bowser voice.
Saria: Tara Strong, Michelle Ruff (Adult Maria Renard from DXC release of SOTN & Android SOTN release), Suzy Liu or Tara Macree
Nabooru: Jennie Kwan, Alejandra Reynoso (Sypha Belnades voice in the animated series) or Kari Wahlgren
Impa: Lynda Carter
Ruto: Mipha’s Voice Actress
Kid Malon/Romani: Bonnie Wright, Michelle Ruff or Emma Myers.
Adult Malon/Cremia:Hedy Burress (Yuna in FFX/FF10)
Talon: Chris Pratt (As Talon is a Mario reference and Mario’s dad in the Mario Movie ’23 was a Talon reference I thought it would be a nice nod)
Happy Masks Salesman: Billy Zane (The original Ansem SOD voice actor) or Shigeru Miyamoto speaking english
Skullkid: English Voice of Tulin the Rito
Tatl: Also Jara Jill Miller
Tael: Stephanie Nadolny (Known for being the OG Gohan and Kid Goku)
Light Sage Rauru: Brian Cox or Ian Mckellen (Assuming he is miracously still alive for my hypothetical vision for a Zelda Movie, God please give him at least a dozen more years especially when you give the regime of N.Korea more than enough years to survive into the 2030s then why cannot Mckellen or those around his age be allowed to live a half dozen more years at least)
(Twilight Princess Movie or Movies in case of if a Duology is necessary)
show cast
Japanese Voice Cast:
Link, Hero of Twilight: Akira Sasanuma (The original TP Link’s voice actor who did the grunts etc plus who is a voice actor in hetalia)
Zelda: Original One from the game
Midna (Imp): Same one from the games
Midna (True form): Same one from the games
Ilia: Nanoko Hara (From Suzume Movie of 2022-2023)
Colin: Soma Santoki (Mahito from The Boy and Heron)
Zant: Toshihiko Seki (Demon King Muzan from DS KnY Voice Actor)-At least when masked- The original Zant for the unmasked one.
Ganondorf: Hironori Miyata
Hero’s Shade (present, as the renevant): Kazuhiko Inoue
Hero’s Shade/Link, Hero of Time (past, pre-death): Same as in OOT Adult Link.
OOT Zelda:Same actress who voiced Zelda in OOT game.
Adult Malon:Ruriko Aoki.
Rusl: Master Chief Japanese voice actor.
Beth:Akari Miura
Malo: Ann Yamane
Talo: Saschi Masumuto
Renado: Toshiyuki Morikawa-Voice of Shadow the Hedgehog in the 2024 movie and Kagaya in DS KnY (fun fact he supposedly played Lewa in the Japanese Dub of Mask of Light)
Barnes: Masaki Suda (Voice of the Heron from The Boy and Heron 2023)
Telma: Ko Shibasaki (Voice of Kiriko from The Boy and the Heron 2023)
Rutella: Ayumi Fujimura (Voice Actress of Fi)
Impaz: Old/Elderly Impa Japanese voice.
English Voice Cast:
Link, Hero of Twilight: Elijah ”Frodo Baggins, 9 and Spyro” Woods
Zelda: Emma ”Who was Hermione its Leviosa not Leviosaa Granger & Belle” Watson
Midna (Imp): Helena ”Bellatrix & Charlie’s mom” Bowham, Evanna Lynch or Viridi’s Voice Actress
Midna (True form): Riju’s Voice Actress or Evanna Lynch
Ilia: Briana White (Voice of Aerith) or Mae Whitman (Katara in ATLA)
Colin: Alfie Williams (Spike from 28 Years later)
Zant: Gary Oldman (Voice of Shen, Reznov & actor of Padfoot) at least when masked, Mark Hamil or Joaquim Phoenix (yes I am serious about the latter 2 last ”candidates”) at least for unmasked
Ganondorf: Benedict Cumberbatch, Sala Baker, Patrick Seitz doing his Dracula or Matthew Mercer
Hero’s Shade (present, as the renevant): Viggo Mortensen (Yes the one and only Aragorn)
Hero’s Shade/Link, Hero of Time (past, pre-death flashbacks): Matthew Broderick
Adult Malon (Flashbacks):Hedy Burress.
OOT Zelda:Same options/suggestions previously discussed
Rusl:Kevin Miller (Voice of Sly from the Playstation 2 games, thought it would be nice to have a Non-Nintendo easter egg tipping the hat/cap pun intended in a Nintendo Movie in the form of a voice, like one legend to another another pun intended and the same went for the Japanese voice suggestion)
Beth: Bella Ramsey (Yes, I am Serious)
Malo: Nancy Cartwright (Doing her Rugrats voice) or Stephanie Nadolny (Honestly could have found better options but I wanted to get this topic done so what can I do)
Talo: Kara Edwards (Goten Voice)
Renado: Hugo Weaving (Voice of Elrond)
Barnes: Dan Castellaneta (AKA Homer Simpson voice actor) (thought it would be fitting and kinda funny considering Barnes the bomb guy is kinda a bit of a bum and his name sounds like it could come from Simpsons, plus easter eggs and cameos are almost always all well & good)
Telma: Linda Hamilton (Sarah Connor)
Rutella: Brandy Kopp (Voice of Palutena in Uprising and Smash), Cate Blanchett (Galadriel) or Jennifer Conelly (7 From 9).
Impaz: Michelle Yeoh (KFP2 Soothsayer voice actress.)
-Soundtrack Design-
summary
For OOT I would imagine something like of Brock Hewitt’s style of music & I guess ZREO’s rendition of OOT.
TheOphany’s orchestrations of MM would obviously and definetly fit to the hypothetical Majoras Mask movie adaptation. For TP I could envision ZREO Twilight Symphony orchestration alongside a few tracks of the aforementioned Brock Hewitt. That and I guess using the 25th & 30th anniversary music in the films would not hurt too for OOT & TP adaptations.
Here are the examples of the mentioned music tracks:
Pretty fitting for a hypothetical movie adaptation (trilogy/tetraology) dontcha agree?
-The movies themselves-
Also massive spoilers for not only three mainline games but potentially of the entire franchise. That or if you are unfamiliar with the “source material” you probably will not know what will be discussed.
So like I said, my ideal Zelda movie adaptation (or rather movie adaptations) would be a either a trilogy or tetraology from OOT to TP. They would be faithful to the stories and games as possible but with still adaptational changes to ensure certain aspects of the plot do not drag out for far too long more than necessary or whatever and to give the other characters more of a role. Of course you cannot really rush things out either but also you cannot drag things out either or make certain aspects too repetetive so my solution would be for each of the movies to have a theatrical edition and extended editions that while even when the theatrical editions are long (similiar to lotr) they are not too long plus of course there is the extended edition which has roughly 30 minutes at minimum to 1 hour or so extra. And in the case of the last entry in the Trilogy (or potential Tetraology) that being the Twilight Princess film adaptation may be a two-parter animated back to back in case of a single theatrical edition (and extended edition) would not do it justice or would make it too drawn out for casual movie goers. So either it would get the Deathly Hallows treatment or it would take risks and (the mere theatrical edition) would basically become a 5 hour and 46 minutes long movie while the extended edition would be like 6 hours and 20 minutes long. Essentially it would become Lord of the Rings Return of the King extended edition of both video game movie adaptations and animated films but not even Return of the King extended edition was that long. Other ways that my ideal Zelda movies could do is to borrow some scenes from the various manga adaptations of the games (though that being said, it should not become a adaptation-ception as in adapting an adaptation of a video game).While despite being focused on adapting three major 3D games the movies would reference other games in multiple ways besides voice acting: Such as characters, easter eggs, mentioning/refrencing to chronologically canon past events in the timeline & refrencing to various locations in the franchise like Labrynna & Holodrum from the Oracle Games (and of course why not refrence spinoff games too in one way and another like the very memey ones, yeah you know which I am talking about Mah boi! Hmmm I wonder whats for D I N N E R). My ideal film trilogy/tetraology would also not only expand on some characters but also would have its expansions/own ideas/headcanons for certain things in the Zelda Universe such as the Gerudos, Gorons, Kokiri, Deku Tree, 6 Sages of TP and much more. Of course, assuming the extended editions would not be enough there would probably have novelizations of the films to go further into detail as one does.
Ocarina of Time the Movie Adaptation:
Summary
Maximum Theatrical edition Length: 3 hours & 28 minutes (roughly around the time the extended edition of Fellowship of the rings is)
Maximum Extended Edition Length: 4 hours & 3 minutes
Some of the adaptational changes I would make would be that Link would not go back and forward back in time for those specific instances in the game, Link would only go back to his childhood at the end sorta like the ending of the game. So before going forward in time (and before getting the Goron Ruby) he would get the lens of truth by Impa, roughly before the water temple and at one point (before or after getting the Zora Sapphire) he would meet Nabooru and they would go and investigate the Spirit Temple which leads to Nabooru getting captured by the Koume & Kotake. And oh yeah Link would not go alone in some of the Temples/Dungeons (and this is not just for this hypothetical OOT adaptation). Link would also recieve the Light & Forest medallion at the same time from Light Sage Rauru & Saria after the fight with Phantom Ganon.
There would be mentioning/refrencing of the events of Skyward Sword In this hypothetical scene where Light Sage Raru would also talk about the Hatred & Curse of Demise and how Ganondorf might be the incarnation of that said hatred never perishes and it would show the battle between the Hero of the Sky vs Demise while Light Sage Raru narrates it.
In the tale of the truth about Link and that he is not a Kokiri but always has been a Hylian/Hyrulian told by the Deku Sprout (who would be established as essentially being a reincarnated form of the old Deku Tree with the same ”spirit” but still his own person) OOT Link’s father would be buying Link’s mother time to escape with the baby Hero of Time as Ganondorf casually tries to commit war crimes by slaughtering civilians in a similiar manner of that flashback in Kung Fu Panda 2 during the War of Hyrule. Link’s father would be depicted wearing the blue Champions Tunic, referencing & paying homage to the Calamity Saga/Open World Saga of Zelda Games.
Majoras Mask the Movie Adaptation:
Summary
Theatrical Edition Length: 3 hours & 13-30 minutes
Extended Edition Length: 4 hours (Assuming this one needs an extended edition)
The biggest change adaptational change that I could picture (Besides having Link only reset the three days only once or twice) is how Link finds the Fierce Deity mask. Either he would find it in the Ikana Valley Palace or in the stone tower, of course this is where the Manga adaptation could help to get a very game accurate way he gets the Fierce Deity Mask. And like I said, Link would probably only reset the days only 2 times at most: 1st time would obviously be when he gets back the Ocarina from Skullkid to prevent the apocalypse from happening too early and the 2nd Time would be to see what happened to Romani and the Moomoos when Cremia grieves over not believing in Romani (Instead of Romani losing her memories or whatever her older sister Cremia instead sitting there and grieving. I figured that would make slightly more sense in a movie context). I would imagine the hypothetical adaptation would have the Kafei Quest take place before Hero of Time Link goes to the Clock Tower to stop the apocalypse and ultimately fight against the titular cursed mask.
Twilight Princess Movie/Duology:
Summary
(As only one movie)
Maximum Theatrical Edition Length: 5 hours & 40-46 minutes long
Maximum Extended Edition Length: 6 hours and 10-20 minutes long
(As a produced back to back duology film in the manner of Deathly Hallows Part 2 and Bone Temple)
Maxiumum Theatrical Edition Length: 3 hours & 30 minutes (Part 1) 3 hours & 50 minutes (Part 2)
Maximum Extended Edition Length: 4 hours & 38 minutes (Part 1) 4 Hours & 45 minutes
Unlike the two previous adaptations the movie (or first parter in case of DH treatment is necessary) would start the same (or rather mirror in a similiar) way the main menu of TP would start with Link (Hero of Twilight) riding across the Eldin Bridge and parts of Hyrule Field and then the film would trick us seeing Wolf Link but it turns out to just be Link & Epona casting shadows while potraying a figment of Link’s imagination of his memory, and Hero of Twilight Link would begin to narrate about the Realm of Twilight + the Interloper War, the Hero before him and finally about ”a certain unlikely friend” then it says ”5 months earlier” and then the movie truly begins as scenes of Ordon Village plays out on details of a average life in Ordon Village is like etc.
So for those who might wonder why I have Hero of Time Link, Malon, and OOT Zelda as established as part of the story as seperate characters when there is already Link, Hero of Twilight & Zelda of the same generation, well aside the obvious of OOT Link being the Hero Shade, it would be established through dialogue of various characters & the story told by the six sages that there was a second war (roughly 7 to 10 years after Majoras Mask where OOT Link grew up naturally) which lasted 17 years, Hero of Twilight Link would mention in dialogue that he barely remembers his mother, only remembering some the songs she sang as lullabies (one of them being Epona’s Song) plus the last time he saw his mother alive he was roughly 3 years old (he was then adopted by Rusl’s father/Colin’s grandfather with Rusl as a big brother figure) and finally with this generation’s Zelda not only mentioning that it is a tradition that firstborn females in the Royal Family are always named ”Zelda” (She being Zelda the 13th) but also having a memory of her father (this generation king of hyrule) mentioning that the Queen at one point left her position (mainly because she always felt responsible for the loss of a friend after the second war) to study with the Six Sages and further sent out on a pilgrimage…Yeah you can see what I am going with this one. Surely you have seen enough headcanons, fanfics & theories to know where this is going.
Kinda like how both Links in this hypothetical movie adaptation trilogy/tetraology have a score to settle with Ganondorf, not just for being the main villain who is responisble for the events but also having a ”You killed my parents/father” bone to pick with Ganondorf.
-Conclusion so far-
This/these is/are honestly my ideal Zelda adaptation(s)
Or what do you think? How would you want a Zelda movie to be made or how would you make a Zelda Movie if you by divine intervention was chosen by Miyamoto & Aonuma themselves and had roughly enough resources to do so or overall if you could just snap your fingers and get your vision into reality? And overall what do you guys & gals think of my ideas of a ideal Zelda Movie (or Trilogy/Tetraology) from animation style, to soundtrack style to finally actor style. Also wanna see my ideas for voice actors for potential different other languages? Want me to write of my ideas for you read on how I would adapt a Zelda movie? Actually I am more curious of not only your ideas what you would do/want or what not for (a) Zelda Movie(s)? Which of my 3 hypothetical prefered animation style picks is your “most favourite” & “least favourite” and same thing with voice ideas?
I will leave this original post here for now, I may or may not update certain details every now and then.
I just hope for the best overall
Still despite my concerns/complaints about the upcoming real Zelda movie not being my ideal hypothetical Zelda movie with the real thing being supposedly live-action (unless they are pulling a hidden motion-capture thingy and the rumors & leaks of it being live-action was like a deliberate troll to get our expectations low only for them to pleasantly suprise us) on the flipside it perhaps is instant karma towards me (& others) who went to watch the Minecraft movie out of curiosity and overall karma towards certain types of people who demand for one thing until it blows up in their face and then the cycle restarts (not saying the industries are innocent saints but sometimes certain types of people are not really helpful either).That and animation, especially 2D yet alone unique challenging 3D styles are not popular anymore in the hollywood.
