Nintendo’s plans for a live-action The Legend of Zelda movie will help the company make amends for a significant failure over 30 years later. The announcement for a new live-action movie adapting the popular Legend of Zelda games came on the heels of Nintendo finding great success with Illumination’s animated The Super Mario Bros. Movie. The movie surpassed nearly all expectations financially, as The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s box office total eclipsed $1.3 billion. This guaranteed that more Nintendo video games would get movie adaptations in the future, with the animated realm proving to be an ideal format for them.

That is why the announcement of a live-action The Legend of Zelda movie is a bit more surprising. The adventures of Link and Zelda were always expected to get a movie adaptation at some point, and the continued success and acclaim of the games only increased those chances. While there was some hope that the property could be done in live-action, The Super Mario Bros. Movie’s success brought assumptions that all future Nintendo movies would be done in animation. The confirmation that The Legend of Zelda will be done in live-action means Nintendo is finally making up for one of its biggest failures.