Live-action ‘Legend Of Zelda’ film is going up against ‘Sonic 4’: “This is my Barbenheimer”

31 March, 2025

The Legend Of Zelda

The announcement of a live-action movie adaptation of The Legend Of Zelda has prompted talks of a “Barbenheimer”-like crossover with Sonic The Hedgehog 4, as the two films release a week apart.

On March 28, Nintendo announced via its new app, Nintendo Today, that the film will be released in cinemas on March 26, 2027. This is a week after the release of Sonic 4, which is slated for a March 19 release the same year.

The Legend Of Zelda film will be produced by series creator Shigeru Miyamoto, as well as Avi Arad, who produced the Spiderman movies. As previously announced, the film will be directed by Wes Ball, the film-maker behind The Maze Runner trilogy and Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes. Casting and story remain in development.

On X (formerly Twitter), fans were shocked by the potential clash, comparing it to 2023’s “Barbenheimer” phenomenon when the contrasting films Barbie and Oppenheimer released the same day. Both productions embraced the friendly competition, with the former making over $1.4billion at the box office, while the latter made $976million.

“THIS IS MY BARBENHEIMER”, proclaimed one user, while another enthused: “Get ready for a nostalgic March 2027! Sonic and Zelda both in one month? We might need to take a week off”.

For one fan, the thorny issue of what order to watch them in was on their mind. “Which one are we watching first?? this is serious,” they posted.

Another post imagined an Avengers-style crossover leading to a Super Smash Bros adaptation. Both characters have appeared in the melee battle series before. “Can’t wait for the end credit scenes revealing the ‘Smash Bros’ initiative”, they wrote.

Another added: “Next we need something with Metroid, yoshi, Star fox, Kirby, earthbound, and f zero. Then we can finally get a smash 64 movie.”

Just as Barbie and Oppenheimer were given the portmanteau Barbenheimer, one fan tried to come up with the moniker for this event. “I’m calling it The Legend of Sonic 4 or Zelda 4”, they said.

While no cast members are attached for the film, Euphoria star Hunter Schafer has said it would be “so cool” to play the title role.

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