From pixels to popcorn: Nintendo’s Cinematic Universe takes shape

By Theresa Raine De Guzman

It’s official folks, we have our Link and Zelda for the upcoming highly anticipated Legend of Zelda movie.

On July 16, Miyamoto announced on X that Zelda will be played by Bo Bragason and Link will be played by Benjamin Evan Ainsworth.

Both actors are relatively unknown with Bragason mainly acting in British TV Shows and Movies such as The Radleys and Renegade Nell. Meanwhile Ainsworth’s most prominent roles are voicing Pinocchio in Disney’s live action remake, Miles Wingrave in the Haunting of Bly Manor and Alex Burgess in Netflix’s Sandman series.

The film is currently scheduled to be released in theatres on May 7 2027.

However that isn’t the only Nintendo movie news as according to copyright records dated on June 6 2025, Nintendo and Universal Pictures will be making a Donkey Kong Movie.

As you can imagine not much is known about both films, though we can speculate Seth Rogan will be reprising his role as Donkey Kong from The Super Mario Bros Movie. Plus maybe this is the next step to a Mario cinematic universe as The Super Mario Bros Movie and the video games have shown that Donkey Kong and Mario do take place in the same world.

However we are definitely left with more questions, such as what the plot for these two movies will be? Will they be adapting the stories from their games or only follow on the loosely. This is an especially important question for the Legend of Zelda movie as the Zelda Universe has branching timeliness with almost every game having a completely new Zelda and Link and a new story.

However in the midst of this speculation over movies we already know are coming, I would also like to speculate on which of their franchises is Nintendo most likely to turn into a new movie.

1. Luigi’s Mansion – If a Mario cinematic Universe is happening then Luigi is a top candidate for his own stand alone movie based on the Luigi’s mansion series with a Scooby Doo vibe. In Luigi’s Mansion, Luigi basically becomes a Ghostbuster as he sucks up ghosts with a vacuum, explores a spooky manor and saves his brother from the clutches of King Boo, who we did see in Mario Movie attending Bowser and Peach’s wedding.

2. Star Fox and Metroid – I am lumping these two together because I think they could both serve the purpose of being more mature movies and being Nintendo’s answer to Star Wars.  Star Fox follows the members of a combat team of anthropomorphic animals known as Star Fox as they do missions all over the Lylat Planetary system, piloting futuristic spacecraft and other vehicles.

Meanwhile Metroid follows Samus Aran, one of the greatest bounty hunters in the galaxy as she fights the forces of Space Pirates and other malevolent forces that attempt to harness the power of parasitic creatures known as Metroids.

3. Lastly is more of a wishful thinking than something Nintendo will actually greenlight, but I am praying for a Kid Icarus Uprising movie. Kid Icarus Uprising is a sequel to the original NES Kid Icarus. It follows the adventures of Pit, Servant to the Goddess of Light, Palutena as he fights off the forces of the Underworld and a mass murdering Goddess of Nature.

If you have not played this game I urge you to look up the cutscenes on YouTube as the writing and chemistry between the characters are just so charming and witty with the added hilarity of meta fourth wall breaking humor. However, this franchise isn’t really well known outside of Super Smash Bros so I can’t realistically see this happening but a girl can dream.

Whatever Nintendo decides to do, here is hoping they hire people who love these games, these characters and their worlds for the sake of fans everywhere itching to see their favorite characters on the big screen.