After years of "wait, they're making a Zelda *movie*?" conversations at dinner tables across the world, it's now officially in the can. Sony Pictures confirmed at CinemaCon 2026 that filming on the live-action Legend of Zelda has wrapped up in New Zealand — the same country that gave us Middle-earth, which feels either very appropriate or setting an impossibly high bar, depending on your outlook.

Production kicked off back in November 2025 and reportedly included time at Glenorchy in Otago, a location Peter Jackson used extensively for Lord of the Rings. So the vibes are already pretty dramatic.

Director Wes Ball is at the helm, with Benjamin Evan Ainsworth playing Link and Bo Bragson as Zelda. The film is a co-production between Nintendo and Sony Pictures, and it's currently on track for a May 7th, 2027 release.

That's a fair bit of time for post-production polish (and presumably some very tense trailer-release planning). Whether this ends up being a triumph like the Mario movie or a footnote nobody mentions at parties — well, we'll find out in about a year.