Unless you’ve been staying off the internet and running past all theaters with a bag over your head for the past few years, you’ll probably be aware that Nintendo is very much in the movie business these days. And while The Super Mario Galaxy Movie likely won’t stop inhaling money for a while yet, the company’s focus will be on generating hype for next year’s live-action Zelda movie, which is now coming out a bit earlier than planned.
Announced by Nintendo executive and Zelda creator Shigeru Miyamoto in his trademark social media style, The Legend of Zelda‘s worldwide theatrical release date has been brought forward to April 30, 2027, rescheduled from its previous May 7 spot in the release calendar. That means we have one week fewer to wait to see what exactly Nintendo and Sony Pictures have come up with for Link and Zelda’s big-screen debut.
“In order to deliver it to everyone even one day sooner, the team is united in advancing production,” Miyamoto wrote on X, in a post that has been translated from Japanese. “It’s less than a year until release, but please wait just a little longer.”
It isn’t immediately obvious why the film’s release date has been changed again, but perhaps Nintendo wants to entirely get out of the way of Shawn Levy’s Star Wars: Starfighter, which is currently due out on May 28. A late April release date would give The Legend of Zelda a bit more time with the box office all to itself, but Nintendo certainly isn’t saying that’s why it’s moved it forward.
We’re still waiting for a proper trailer for the movie adaptation of Nintendo’s long-running video game series, but we did get our first look at Link and the eponymous princess, played by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth and Bo Bragason, back in November last year. Somewhat confusingly, our unmistakable Hylian hero is wearing his iconic green garb in those images, but Zelda is wearing Breath of the Wild-reminiscent blue. Exactly what Zelda timeline the Wes Ball-directed film is set in, then, remains a mystery for now.
The other thing we do know is that when The Legend of Zelda eventually becomes available to stream at home after its theatrical run, it’s Netflix that will have the privilege first, after Sony Pictures signed an early exclusivity deal with the streaming giant at the beginning of 2026.
This is a big year for Zelda, as 2026 marks the 40th anniversary of the series that began its life on the NES in 1986. Nintendo has been very quiet on birthday celebration plans so far, but the same insider that correctly predicted that a new Star Fox game is arriving in June has claimed that The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is getting a Switch 2 remake in the second half of this year. If that ends up being accurate, a betting person might wager that the legendary N64 game’s story will play some part in next year’s film.
