Nintendo Shuts Down Fan-Made Zelda Movie
from the that's-not-connecting-with-fans dept
techflaws.org was the first of a few to point out that Nintendo, for some bizarre reason, decided to completely shut down a fan made film based on the immensely popular classic video game The Legend of Zelda. Apparently the fan-made film took a few years to produce, but once it was done, it was released and even shown in a few theaters before Nintendo flipped out and broke out the lawyers. The moviemakers caved and as a “concession” the movie was allowed to be shown online but only through the end of last year.
I’m at a loss to see how this makes any sense for Nintendo at all. Here were a bunch of fans who were helping to promote Nintendo games for free, by putting a ton of work and effort into it. And Nintendo’s response is to shut them down? In what world does it make sense to stomp out your fans putting in so much time and effort to help promote your work?
Comments on “Nintendo Shuts Down Fan-Made Zelda Movie”
In what world?
In a world where companies are run by their lawyers
Nintendo made a bad move here, kinda like what SquareEnix did with that Chrono Trigger fan-made sequel (though Squeenix stopped that game from even coming out).
Here’s hoping they get a lot more bad press for this move.
If the movie was shown in theatres (i.e. ticket sales, even if none of the money went back to the filmmakers), then perhaps that’s what pissed Nintendo off. If they just stuck to free, online distribution, then I doubt Nintendo would have ever heard of it or even cared.
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I agree with CC’s line of thought.
You can’t expect to take a company’s intellectual property, make a movie around it then cash in on it in theaters. I really can’t blame Nintendo for stopping it once it hit theaters.
Now as for stopping its free distribution online, that’s halfway dumb unless of course, they’re making boatloads of cash off of it somehow.
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I can understand CC and Shanoboy’s line of reasoning but its important to remember that Nintendo are not losing out on any cash as a result of this as they do not have a competing product. If anything they would have benefited from some increased interest in the Zelda games.
I think this is where the IP/entitlement culture has gone wrong. With the assumption that anyone else who profits from your idea should be stopped even when they are not competing with you directly. People need to remember that more then one party can benefit from this kind of thing.
You could argue that this fan film is somehow devaluing the brand but I think that would be spurious. The Zelda games are just the kind which could thrive off an active fan base (and to some extent already do).
What Nintendo should have done is made a big fanfare about their great fans who have gone to all this effort, perhaps hold a private screening for Nintendo execs. Making a noise like that publicly would make people sit up and pay attention. Sheesh even George Lucas understands that which is why he doesn’t stomp all over Star Wars fan films.
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This isn’t true. In the early 80’s, nintendo greenlighted a Super Mario Brothers movie, and it bombed, not only costing Nintendo money for making it, but also affected sales of their Mario Games. This is probably why Nintendo flipped and made a bigger issue out of it.
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“to take a company’s intellectual property”
Nothing was taken from Nintendo. They still have all their IP.
“I really can’t blame Nintendo for stopping it once it hit theaters.”
But what would Nintendo have “lost” if they left the film alone? Like Mike said earlier, “a bunch of fans who were helping to promote Nintendo games for free“
Re: Re: Re: Re:
“But what would Nintendo have “lost” if they left the film alone? Like Mike said earlier, “a bunch of fans who were helping to promote Nintendo games for free””
Thank you for asking the key question: What in the world has Nintendo GAINED from going this route. This is what I’m not getting.
Is it a trademark issue, where we can expect a chorus explaining to us that if you don’t slap down every instance of possible infringement then you face the scary proposition of losing your mark? Nevermind the fact that they could have licensed it for a dollar and enjoyed the exposure….
Is it a copyright issue, where somewhere, somehow, there is a Legend of Zelda commercial film in the works, and this could be seen as getting in the way, or producing a story outside of the “canon”?
If you’re Nintendo, what is the end goal here (assuming they just weren’t misled by lawyers collecting on billable hours)?
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This was only a win for Nintendo; without spending any of their own cash they had a third party go and renew interest in the Zelda franchise, which is a bit dusty with age now. Instead, they shut it down, mostly, and no one gets anything. The franchise doesn’t get recharged, the fans don’t get to participate (and why people would spend their own hard-earned cash to help a corp market eny thing I don’t understand, but whatever), and so on. This is simply another case where a legal department justifies its existence. And its not all that clear that there was any illegality going on.
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Trademark, no. Nintendo douse not make movies (as far as I know, not since that Super Mario movie) so this movie is not in a competing industry.
As far as I know, they are not nor will they make a Zelda movie. This is the closest thing and it was an April Fools joke (all be it a good one). Shortly after that joke is when I heard the will not be making a Zelda movie.
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They didnt make any money when it was in theaters. Some select cities had it in certain theaters and fans didnt pay a dime to watch so they made no money at all.
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I agree with this. If they had just posted it online, then nintendo couldn’t have, and probably wouldn’t have, done anything about it. But they were making money off of what nintendo owned, and that breaks the law. It’s like Metallica vs Napster. It was wrong, but people were at first mad at Lars Ulrich for fighting Napster. but he did what was right, cuase it is their property. I still think a Zelda Movie would be a bad idea, cuase i saw this one and it sucked. Both budget wise, and any Zelda Storyline is too long for a movie. Though i think if Nintendo made a Mini-series, like Tin Man on SYFY, it would work.
Oh come on, you all need to be good little zombies and just couch up the cash. They do not you creating anything on your own, that’s what you pay them for.
Damnit!
If this affects Legend of Neil, I’m going to be pissed.
Lawyers and legal advice
Quite possibly (I would say probably) Nintendo’s lawyers advised them that allowing the movie to be distributed would open the door for competitive platform manufacturers to port the Zelda game to their platforms without Nintendo’s permission.
Lawyers are funny that way.
Isn’t it possible that Nintendo was fine with the idea until they actually saw the movie and then found something they didn’t like about it? Such as the plot? Maybe the movie just sucked and Nintendo didn’t want the Zelda name tarnished by it.
Btw, I remember seeing a trailer for a Zelda movie about a year or two ago. What I saw didn’t look that great but I was intrigued and wanted to see it for nostalgic reasons. Could that trailer have been for this movie being discussed? Honestly, I just assumed it was an official movie being put out there by Nintendo.
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Was the trailer you saw this one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HBCzkz3gHb8
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It wasn’t the exact same trailer, but yeah – that looks like the same movie. I definitely remember the guy who plays Link because I remember thinking to myself that he just doesn’t seem like the right fit to play Link. Is this trailer for the movie from this story? Based on the title, it looks like it’s just an April Fool’s joke, but it seems way too detailed to be a prank.
Can someone please clarify?
It's because they _must_
As has been noted before, in situations like this it’s not that they want to shut it down or that they think it’s a bad move. It’s because they are required to protect their IP and trademarks, if they don’t then it can slip into unprotected space.
Even considering that, wouldn’t it have been smarter for everybody for nintendo to “officially license” them at a low cost and just take a cut of any profits?
Re: It's because they _must_
so? Just license the damn thing then for a dollar. That way you can also set certain rules in which direction the filmmakers can not go (such as make a porn of it) etc.
Win-win-win situation. Free exposure for the Zelda franchise for Nintendo, and they don’t lose their trademark and the movie-makers are free of litigation problems.
Now, it’s a lose-lose-lose situation. Nintendo has lost potential new revenue, has lost fan-interest (because I’m now far less inclined to buy anything labeled Nintendo, and I used to be a fan), and the movie makers have lost their hard work.
Re: Re: It's because they _must_
BTW, I realise that that’s what you’re saying in your second paragraph, I misread it initially.
Obvious answer
They are considering either:
a) Selling the movie rights for the Zelda story/characters
b) Making their own Zelda movie
It really doesn’t matter, just the possibility that someday they might wish to sell the movie rights for Zelda is enough for them to want to squish this. I know that they could do both, but would you want a crappy looking Zelda movie out there that people would possibly find when searching for your high budget fantasy flick? I doubt it would matter, but this is the kind of stuff the decision makers of these companies have to think about (or else the stockholders get angry).
Other Thoughts:
Legend of Zelda could actually be a really cool movie, it has a pretty basic storyline that could be expanded easily by a good writer and since we already know the characters a lot of back story wouldn’t be necessary.
Re: Obvious answer
Yes, those may be the reasons, but they are pretty short-sighted reasons.
If they intend to sell the movie rights, an independent movie that manages to get a following is much more likely to make the IP more valuable if you intend to sell the rights to it. It would also provide a fan base and some marketing. Even if the movie was terrible, you can always point to the fact that it was unofficial an unlicensed but still keep the fans that liked it.
If they intend to make their own movie, they just got a bunch of free market research and an idea of what works for the fans and what does not. It actually surprises me that movie studios don’t put out low-budget versions of movies themselves before investing in high-budget films.
You are about 5 days too late with this intel Mike!
Please someone say that they have a copy?
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It’s on YouTube 😛
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It’s on The Pirate Bay
space 1999 last episode fan edit
yup if they tried it today it too would die and guess what this does is make it so people realize its JUST a product like toilet paper to use and then throw away and not get attached too
My Own Movie
I think I am going to make my own Mario movie… OH WAIT, Nintendo tried that http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108255/
A lousy movie that they approved. Perhaps they remember that and went, no way can we allow another movie.
I hadn’t heard of it before reading that headline on slashdot a few days ago, immediately found a well-seeded torrent.
Great job, Nintendo.
I also found the torrent, but I have to say I can somehow understand why Nintendo stopped the distribution after I saw some parts of the film.
Because it is simply really awful, it’s fun for nostalgic value maybe, but I cringed at every shot.
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The fight scenes were simply classic. But at least they nailed one part of Ocarina of Time with Ganondorf’s ENORMOUS nose.
Maybe there’s a middle ground here. I haven’t seen the movie but I’m a big Zelda fan. If the movie is good Nintendo should have gone to these guys, gave them some money and said to do it bigger.
Do we even know if they actually made anything at the theatres? It may have been a pay to show it at your theatre thang or just a freebie to try to tap into a rocky horror type thing by a couple of local theatres.
What Nintendo should have done is figure out a way to use it to their overall good. Let the filmmakers put it in theatres and Nintendo would own the online rights. For no cost they would have content that would draw more people to their site. Maybe make it a weekly serial. Convert it into 8 bit and make it part of their new dsi network, where you can download it to the ds and watch it.
They could have just bought the durn thang and probably would have gotten it for beer and peanuts since the maker was such a fan boy.
Excellent idea!
So basically Nintendo is forcing people who actually want to watch this to go download the movie on the Pirate Bay if they want to see it. While they are there, I wonder how many people who didn’t already know will learn that they can download and play for free just about every game Nintendo has made there…..
Real smart!
Would be a problem if Nintendo had already licensed / optioned the movie rights to someone else. If not, this was a pretty stupid reaction.
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Even if they haven’t signed the rights away yet, allow this sort of production to get widespread exposure and distribution could negatively affect their chances to license in the future. Heck, a poorly made movie could negatively impact the public’s perception of the game entirely.
It’s a no brainer here. The people making the movie should have asked, they might have actually gotten support.
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I fail to see how any licensing issues could possibly get in the way. What are the possible outcomes?
Nintendo licensed someone else to make the movie, and the fan movie was worse: The fan movie is quickly overshadowed by the official one, no one watches the fan one, no harm done.
Nintendo licensed someone else to make the movie, and the fan movie was better: Nintendo has the chance to endorse the fan movie, gaining goodwill. Further, the fan flick becomes an internet phenomenon, driving more sales to the games. No one watches or remembers the official movie, a la Mario Brothers.
Nintendo did not license the movie, the fan movie sucks: People, in talking about how shitty the movie was, become nostalgic about the old games and purchase them on the Wii.
Nintendo did not license the movie, the fan movie is good: Do I need to explain the benefits of this?
Also:
Heck, a poorly made movie could negatively impact the public’s perception of the game entirely.
This is a complete untruth. The Mortal Combat movie sucked beyond all reason but I can promise you that no one ever thought that meant the *game* also sucked. It doesn’t work that way. Did you suddenly stop liking Taco Bell because of Demolition Man? Of course not.
People around here seem to think you are useful because you bring up good points, Harold, but I have yet to see it. As someone commented yesterday, feel free to skip a few of Mike’s posts if you have a weaker than usual argument against it, it will save you some face and us some nose bleeds.
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Did you suddenly stop liking Taco Bell because of Demolition Man?
Yes.
No one even remembers the 1931 version of the Maltese Falcon starring Ricardo Cortez as Sam Spade. It was even a hit. That’s why they remade it with Bogart in 1941. It was a hit that time too.
How about the 1978 version of The Lord of the Rings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohw78b1TTFY Let me tell you, back in the day when it looked like that was the best we were gonna get I was even annoyed that they never made the second part. After seeing the Peter Jackson “Fellowship of the Ring” I borrowed the videotape from the library and watched it with my family. Later when the library was selling off the video at a book sale, $1.00 was too high a price for such a piece of crap.
Somehow I don’t think it hurt Peter Jackson’s version any.
I am not even a Zelda fan, but I am a movie fan. Checking out the YouTube trailer linked above by by Solohan50 I was surprised that it didn’t look half bad. Particularly as a piece of fan fiction, it looks bloody impressive. The trailer was nicely cut, and well paced. Even the acting looked good. I might have actually gone to the theatre to see the thing.
Nintendo has behaved foolishly. They should have fallen on their knees in thanksgiving. It was a massive undertaking. Promotion like this cannot be bought.
Shutting it down makes Nintendo look pretty petty.
I know that the old adage “the customer was always right” has been discarded, but still I can’t imagine where these companies can possibly come up with executives stupid enough to think alienating the customers is a good thing. From where I sit, I’ll not be buying games for the kids from them again.
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How about the 1978 version of The Lord of the Rings. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ohw78b1TTFY Let me tell you, back in the day when it looked like that was the best we were gonna get I was even annoyed that they never made the second part. After seeing the Peter Jackson “Fellowship of the Ring” I borrowed the videotape from the library and watched it with my family. Later when the library was selling off the video at a book sale, $1.00 was too high a price for such a piece of crap.
Yes it left a lot to be desired – but it made me go read the books….
Cool
Never heard of it.
Thanks for the free advertisement Nintendo.
The most annoying part was Nintendo was well aware of what the filmmakers were doing. It would’ve been nice to have maybe not allowed them to continue for so long before slapping down the parasites on them.
3DRealms did something similar to a mod group who were making recreations of Dukematch maps for Quake 3 several years ago. Brousard and Miller came out with the “we must protect it or lose it” mantra (I’ll let the final irony speak for itself)
Stupid on every level
1. Why in the *hell* would a fan-film company (who, you’d THINK would understand the notion of leveraging the Internet for distribution) even bother to attempt to get it into theaters? Didn’t they know that doing so would probably make them extremely “visible” to Nintendo?
3. Nintendo’s attempt to “suppress” the thing was abysmally dumb. Anybody heard “The Grey Album?” People don’t even *need* to do a co-ordinated effort like “Grey Tuesday” to stop something from vanishing down the memory hole. The only thing Nintendo managed to do was make themselves look like assholes, and basically treat their fans like garbage.
The *right* approach (or something closer to it), is how Paramount deals with Star Trek fanfilms. They don’t try to suppress them or have them taken down (primarily because they know that doing so won’t — and can’t — actually work.)
Instead, they “permit” such fan films (proliferation of which they couldn’t really stop if they tried) specifically because doing so makes them appear “magnanimous” and fan-friendly.
Nintendo shot itself in the ass on this one: whether they were attempting to “protect their IP” or whatever, they juust succeeded in recapitulating “Grey Tuesday” all over again.
Good going, Nintendo! 🙂
legend of zelda movie
I just watched the trailer and I thought it was true to the game and I am in shock that there will not be a movie. I am extremely dissappointed, I was looking forward to seeing the movie.
sincerely
Samantha Glenn
Proper Reasons
The real reason being here is that Nintendo is in a huge, and I mean HUGE Piracy crisis right now. Nintendo and/or the lawyers might be misinterpretting the movie as Piracy. As ofcourse the context of this might be off, but, another reason being is…They never got RIGHTS to the Legend of Zelda trademarked and copyrighted game and name. Without rights, this brings back the issues of Piracy. Though it’s in all good names with Nintendo, Piracy, illegal distribution and etc are quickly backlashing the style of “it benefits Nintendo”.
Try and prove me wrong.
Re: Proper Reasons
By the way. You people are mixing the Legend of Zelda Fan made film, whos proper name is actualy The Hero Of Time, with the Legend of Zelda IGN joke. The IGN version had rights, not cancelled. The Hero Of Time, no rights, cancelled. End of story.
Re: Re: Proper Reasons
Are you new here or something?
No, what happens is the film spreads everywhere, as the Grey Album proved, it doesn’t necessarily have to be good, just different and exciting due to being suppressed. The Streisand effect, do you know it?
Right now I know of at least three places where it can be found and downloaded in less than an hour or so. Nintendo stopped nothing, gained nothing, and lost that precious commodity called goodwill, while actually spending money on lawyers to go after this thing. It becomes a net loss.
Forgive me if I missed something but aren’t they in business to make money, not to fritter it away on tilting at windmills?
Re: Proper Reasons
What about all the fan arts and doujinshi that don’t have rights but still get sold?
I’m a Huge Fan of Legend of Zelda. And I’ve seen the fan-made movie. To be honest, i understand why Nintendo had to shutdown.
Terrible
I think Nintendo made a wise decision. Really the people that made the movie got off pretty easy if they’re only allowed to show it online, for free.
Yeah, they might have gotten some publicity for the Zelda franchise. Though, if they ignored it and the movie got a lot of negative feedback that would fall back on Nintendo, not the amateur film makers. Bad publicity for a movie they had nothing to do with… Yeah, that’s not a good thing for one of the companies biggest sellers.
The Zelda series, whether you’re a fan or not, has been very popular over the years. If I owned rights to Zelda I would want to make sure that if the story was to be told in the form of a movie it would be well made.
There are various Zelda games with many story lines that could be turned into a movie franchise and possibly even rival something like the Lord of the Rings trilogy.
As a person that saw the movie, I wish Nintendo had pulled the plug, as I believe it was a bad representation. Even though it’s no longer supposed to
Re: Terrible
LOL. The cartoon was a bad representation!
Is there anyway to still see the movie?
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You have to sleep with nintendo
Just to help clarify, it sounds like you all are talking about the fan movie “The Hero of Time” made by a group of friends who called themselves BMB Finishes.
Trailer for their Fan Movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPTpjK88apc&feature=related
I watched this movie when it became available online at Daily Motion, but I wasn’t aware of the controversy at the time. I was thrilled when they finally put it online and I wondered why they waited so long to put it up.
Honestly I think the directors were stupid to put it in theaters. Seriously, WHY not just put it online??? This almost makes me think they WERE trying to make a little profit which is just BEGGING to get sued! Not that they didn’t deserve a little reward for their effort.
All in all, the movie was a mixed bag. As super low budget fan film it had some modestly impressive effects, the acting was horrendous, the music was BEAUTIFUL and really carried the experience!
bull shit nintendo
Just because of that stunt. I’m going to burn your systems and buy a playstation3. Selfish douchebags.
Re: bull shit nintendo
yOU ASSHOLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YOur THE Bull Shit AND YOUR Dumb As FUCKING SHIT IN HELL TO A:Burn Absoulutltly PRICELESS $1,000,000 Vidogames And B:Buy FuckinRipoFFs WHo Are jelus Of NINTENDO YOULITEL SHIT!!!!!!!!! FRICIN RIDICULESS AND BULL SHIT YOUASS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!FRICKIN STUPITADY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
wtf nintendo we the fans shoud get what we want, not for us nintend would not be give us a movie of zedla it would make lots of money fan would come back to nintendo because ps3 has the world in it hands
...
Pardon My french, but Im Fricken Pissed.
Not to sound stupid or anything i kinda waited for my whole life for this movie to show up lol
and i had everyone tellin me it was a hokes because the trailers came out April 1.
I think i know why
well heres my side of the story. I have been listening and just had to say. Nintendo is a company that specialices in video games. NOT movies. Maybe they just dint think it was going to work. I know what your thinking who does this guy think he is. Right well i am a great fan but you know. Also maybe it was just april fools thing. Well there you go thanx!
this is crap, i dont see how this is any different than writing a fan fiction only they put a lot more time and effort into. and all this movie did was make more people aware of the zelda universe.
opinion
well i think it was fair enough that the movie was shut down
i have to say that it showed to much
and link looked way to old for the part
if anything it looked like it was following the ocarina of time, time line way to much.
most likely it would have to be broken down into parts
or every movie having to do with a specific temple for money value
because everyone loves Zelda.
but now a movie it would just have to blow everyone’s expectations for certain and none of that cheep dragon ball z crap we saw in the remake, oh god that was horrible..
please Nintendo don’t fail us!
It's pretty obvious...
Classic Copyright violation. I feel sorry for the people who put the effort in, but it needed to be done BECAUSE it went to the theaters. If it had stayed online for free, Nintendo wouldn’t have cared.
It’s partly about the money, yes. And many people said “why not just support it and get a cut?” here’s the deal, the movie wasn’t very good at all. Impressive work for a fan-made; but it wasn’t that good.
If this movie had been released and became known to the general viewing public, it could spell bad for Nintendo. One; because most people wouldn’t bother to realize it was a fan-made movie. they’d figure Nintendo was producing it. It would give Nintendo a bad film rep.
Second, if Nintendo has ever thought about making a real movie, they cant allow a lesser-quality fan-based movie go through? Why? Because you dont release a movie based around the same thing twice in the same decade. It confuses the watchers and is just all around a bad idea. Take it as… film-making unwritten laws.
It’s like how no one will be remaking the first Twilight movie, even though it sucked. If there is a remake, it wont be for many years to come. Thats how it works in the film business. I remember two movies (I think it was the Incredible Hulk) coming out within a year or two of each other. I thought to myself “Didn’t they already do this?” and immediately dismissed any thoughts of seeing the new version.
Let’s just face it. Nintendo did what they had to; whether we like it or not.
Taking it offline is a different matter; but probably only a consequence of the lawyers getting every droop of blood they could.
Re: It's pretty obvious...
Your RIGHT Exept They alredy made a Movie before
eventually there has to be a line drawn separating fan-art from competition. it seems fans won’t be happy no matter where that line is drawn. in this case, nintendo knows that zelda is popular and solid enough story-wise that they could probably make a movie of it in the near future. so they have to be careful what they allow in this area.
if the fan movie stinks, then they wouldn’t step in because it’s obvious that a fan made it.
the creators of this movie should be flattered though, because nintendo obviously thought that it was good enough to cause confusion to the 16 people out there who never heard of zelda, and make them think that this movie is somehow related to the franchise. could you blame nintendo for not wanting those confused people to think the best nintendo could afford was a Syfy channel made-for-tv movie? there are a billions of people out there folks, just cause you know what’s up, don’t mean everyone does.
and if the movie was outright awesome(great cast, acting, costumes, effects, etc), should nintendo yank it? thats a whole nother issue, but consider the following.
think of it in terms of comic strips. how would the creator of batman like it if stan lee decided he was a fan of batman, and he was just going to make fan comics of batman on the side. or maybe george lucas just decided to make a handful of short episodes of the X-men, you know just for youtube. heck, pros can be fans too. if the ip owner feel that it affects their profit, they’re gonna do something.
the last thing they want to see is a review on amazon that says” yeah, fox’s Spiderman 5 was a let down, but does anyone know when darthspiderfan1944 is going to release his episode 47 ? i can’t wait to find out who really killed mary jane. that asian chick that plays her is so hot, much better than that bagger kirsten dunst.”
and then you go on youtube to watch episode 47 right after a 30 second commercial for state farm.
eventually there has to be a line drawn separating fan-art from competition. it seems fans won’t be happy no matter where that line is drawn. in this case, nintendo knows that zelda is popular and solid enough story-wise that they could probably make a movie of it in the near future. so they have to be careful what they allow in this area.
if the fan movie stinks, then they wouldn’t step in because it’s obvious that a fan made it.
the creators of this movie should be flattered though, because nintendo obviously thought that it was good enough to cause confusion to the 16 people out there who never heard of zelda, and make them think that this movie is somehow related to the franchise. could you blame nintendo for not wanting those confused people to think the best nintendo could afford was a Syfy channel made-for-tv movie? there are a billions of people out there folks, just cause you know what’s up, don’t mean everyone does.
and if the movie was outright awesome(great cast, acting, costumes, effects, etc), should nintendo yank it? thats a whole nother issue, but consider the following.
think of it in terms of comic strips. how would the creator of batman like it if stan lee decided he was a fan of batman, and he was just going to make fan comics of batman on the side. or maybe george lucas just decided to make a handful of short episodes of the X-men, you know just for youtube. heck, pros can be fans too. if the ip owner feel that it affects their profit, they’re gonna do something.
the last thing they want to see is a review on amazon that says” yeah, fox’s Spiderman 5 was a let down, but does anyone know when darthspiderfan1944 is going to release his episode 47 ? i can’t wait to find out who really killed mary jane. that asian chick that plays her is so hot, much better than that bagger kirsten dunst.”
and then you go on youtube to watch episode 47 right after a 30 second commercial for state farm.
Re: Re:
I WANT THE MOVIE NOW!!!!!!! NOW!!!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!
@Adam Wasserman - Post #9
*Quite possibly (I would say probably) Nintendo’s lawyers advised them that allowing the movie to be distributed would open the door for competitive platform manufacturers to port the Zelda game to their platforms without Nintendo’s permission.*
It would figure that the bureaucrats who call themselves “Lawyers” would “Advise” Nintendo to do all of what you posted, I hate our legal system for stupid crap like this!!! CAN I SHOOT THEM YET?!?!?!?! >X
@Adam Wasserman - Post #9
*Quite possibly (I would say probably) Nintendo’s lawyers advised them that allowing the movie to be distributed would open the door for competitive platform manufacturers to port the Zelda game to their platforms without Nintendo’s permission.*
It would figure that the bureaucrats who call themselves “Lawyers” would “Advise” Nintendo to do all of what you posted, I hate our legal system for stupid crap like this!!! CAN I SHOOT THEM YET?!?!?!?! >X
Re: @Adam Wasserman - Post #9
THE LAWYERS ARE RIGHT YOU ASSHOLE!
reason they squished it
the reason they squished the movie is because it sucked… badly. i watched it back when it was still available to view online and practically threw up. the person who played link was gayer than michael jackson and they had a point where they got a fat asian, painted his skin brown and called him a goron. it f’ing sucked
Re: reason they squished it
Damn i thought i was the only one who thought this finally someone who agrees
Re: reason they squished it
STOP BITCHING IF YOU WANT TO BITCH,BITCH at THAT ASS SHIT KNOWN AS PLAYSTASION AND f,ING XBOX
DAMN!!! SHIT!!!!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!! I Practicly DEFENDED NINTENDO WITH MY LIFE And THIS Is HOW THEY REPAY ME?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!? THIS WAS MY DREAM AND THEY MERDERED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! …. i still love wii though.
In what world ...?
In a world where you can announce adult games for your engine, sell the engines and then cancel them in order to preserve the kids who have bought it too… Screw you Nintendo, pay my Wii back !
Nintendo Is right
What gives these people the right to interperet Zelda and send it out to the world? These fans couldnt possibly understand the true nature of the Triforce and what if the movie sucked?
wow
if ninteno is like that you’ll never see me buy a nother nintendo game or console again screw them they dont need fans
not very smart
If it was doing well enough to make sells, that represents a golden oppurtunity for Nintendo. All they had to do was require a certain amount from every ticket sold in North America and retained exclisive rights to sell tickets over seas and they could have made ALLOT of money without investing a dime. Instead they… spend money… on lawyers… to shut it down.
I guess they are still reeling from the one time they let another company make a Zelda game. You know, the one with poor animation and story line that no one in Nintendo will even admit ever existed.
zelda movie
look what i found…
THE LOST ZELDA MOVIE!!!!!
http://www.thesacredrealm.net/main.php?page=fanmovie.html
Zelda Movie
I know i’m coming into this late in the game, but Nintendo did what was right, and what they were legally obligated to do. The fans who made this movie violated the Fair Use Act, by distributing this movie in a way that makes money. It doesnt matter if its in a completely different medium. If it was not approved by Nintendo, and the creators of the film did not pay for the rights to use Nintendo’s IP for a marketable product, then they were in the wrong. Obviously the ones who made the film knew they were wrong when they “conceded” to stop distributing the film.
I agree that having the owners of an IP greenlight something does not make it automatically good. Look at 90% of video game movies. However if the owners of the IP actually have a strong hand in the process of creation, they can greatly improve the quality of it. Look at Ang Lee’s Hulk movie, versus Marvel Studios’ The Incredible Hulk. The latter is a much better movie because Marvel was heavily involved in its creation.
Star Wars is another example, the extended universe books are approved by LucasFilm, and many of the early ones by Lucas himself, and are good, while the unlicensed fan fics, some may be good, most are horrible.
While Nintendo does seem like the bad guy here, they were doing what was obligated by law. The filmmakers are lucky that Nintendo let them off easy.
And to anyone saying that a movie is not a competitor to a video game is ignorant. Any use of an IP is a competitor to the original use. The Harry Potter movies are a competitor to the books, as are all movies based on books. There are a lot of people who believe that “I can wait till the movie comes out.” This will extend into the video game market very quickly, and has already to some extent. Bad video game movies, like the Uwe Boll films, make many people never want to play the game. I have never wanted to play Alone in the Dark or Bloodrayne after having sat through those, and the only reason I personally still play Resident Evil is because the story was there before Anderson’s movies came out, and i remember when the game first came out.
Sorry for the extra long post, here’s the TL/DR:
Nintendo did what was right by law, and the filmmakers were lucky.
http://www.freemoviecommunity.com/watch-26582-Zelda-The-Hero-of-Time
I question their motives as well
They allowed mario brothers (kind of cool when i was a kid but was almost completly irrelevant to the environment), Double Dragon (another kind of cool movie made when i was a kid but now as an adult looks ridiculous) to be made. now a fan has the inspiration to make a movie off of an epic game and they shut him down??? im sorry but im sure whoever made that film put twice as much thought into the movie than any producer ever could have. especially for how great the story line is. im a musician and want to cover a lot of nintendo songs in my band because the were highly influetial to love of music. But i dont want to waist my time if they want to shut me down too. i have a true passion for my art as well as the fan who made the movie and if that happend to me, i would be extremely offended and feel betrayed.
theLegendOfZelda
Stupid Nintendo! I didn’t even get to watch the movie! Im like a Zelda freak and I missed a movie because they took it off the internet! Talk about unfair!(I mean I see the thing with it on theaters, but couldn’t they have let it on the internet?)
hello
i completely agree with you friend nintendo are a great company but also they are boring and have a downside which is that they gave rights to a director to make mario bros. which danny devito starred in as mario and it was good.but when it comes to either metroid or zelda they just say no which im sorry but nintendo are the longest running game industry company going and they are acting like a bunch of bozo’s not allowing directors to make films of zelda and besides i dont want to see those films animated like anime or cgi made like final fantasy advent children they have to have real actors acting and that and its quite harsh shutting down a company when they were fans trying to help nintendo and the shut them down what a complete set a bastards they may have rights but at least those people who made the film actually did make one where nintendo just hasnt got the balls to do but they must here from us fans of zelda and metroid that the games are great but we all need something fresh and new which ofcourse i mean they must make real films out of these games even though if its just a 1 off thing atleast they would make us fans happy they better make one soon i mean it or im going to never buy another metroid or zelda game ever again!
I think I might know why
A few years back IGN made a April fools Zelda trailer that was more than just a prank. Allegedly IGN made it to show conceptually to nintendo, how the movie COULD look. And based on how good it looked, it should be only a matter of time until nintendo gets the right director to make this dream a reality, and thus, I can only assume that nintendo shut down the other movie because they might be working on the project themselves. Well, let’s seriously hope that’s the reason!
I think it's 'cause it was a movie...
Remember the last times Link spoke? That was -licensed- and it damaged their image.
The fact that they allowed it for a short time shows that they appreciate fans, but they probably didn’t want to change their image of Link in the eyes of the general populace.
(“Well excuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuse me, princess!”)
you guys need to get a reality check. the producers who made the movie will make tons of money without Nintendo’s consent. isn’t common sense to think that Nintendo might want some of that? Nintendo isnt gonna sit back and say “hey…they did a great job!”. Sadly its all about money. If someone took your idea and made tons of money and you got none of it, wouldnt you be upset and do something “rash”? think about it ppl. especially you fanatics.
What was the name of the movie?
Really...
It’s Nintendo’s property period. End of story. They aren’t coming after one guy to get him, they are preserving and protecting their rights. If you don’t understand that, don’t worry when you get to High School you’ll get it.
Dumbass behavior like this (piracy) is why film studios and game companies have to spend more money to protect their I.P. and earn less because of pirated sales. Who suffers the consumer, the employees. Instead of copying someone else, come up with something new and we may produce it.
'The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time' (all new live action/puppet animated/cgi movie)
===Live Action Cast Members===
1. Bailee Madison as Young Zelda
2. Ellis Hollins as Young Link
3. Dakota Fanning as Saria
4. Halle Berry as Impa
5. Dwayne Johnson as Ganondorf
6. Hugo Weaving as the Hyrule Castle Gate Guard
7. Orlando Bloom as the Death Mountain Gate Guard
8. Jennifer Aniston as the Great Fairy of Magic
9. Courteney Cox as the Great Fairy of Power
10. Cameron Diaz as the Great Fairy of Courage
11. Gwyneth Paltrow as the Great Fairy of Wisdom
12. Keira Knightley as the 1st Gerudo Captain at the Haunted Wasteland gate
13. Timothy Spall as Damp?
14. John Rhys Davies as Talon
15. Morgan Lily as Young Malon
16. Gary Oldman as Ingo
17. Bonnie Wright as Malon
18. Michael Gambon as Rauru
19. Drew Barrymore as Nabooru
20. Tom Cruise as the Flying Carpet Salesman who sells the Bombchus
21. Roger Moore as the Pond Owner at the Fishing Pond in Lake Hylia
22. Amy Adams as Anju, the Cucco woman in Kakariko Village
23. Viggo Mortensen as Shiro, the 1st carpenter rescued from Gerudo’s Fortess
24. Kenneth Branaugh as Jiro, the 2nd carpenter rescued from Gerudo’s Fortress
25. Alec Baldwin as Ichiro, the 3rd carptenter rescued from Gerudo’s Fortress
26. Jack Black as Sabooru, the 4th and final carpenter rescued from Gerudo’s Fortress
27. Emma Watson as the 2nd Gerudo Captain at the Gerudo Training Grounds gate
28. Raven Goodwin, Hillary Duff, Ashanti and Rashida Jones as the Gerudo Guards
29. Ian Holm as the Kokiri Shop Owner
30. David Wenham, Alan Rickman, Jim Broadbent and David Bradley as the Castle Guards
31. Liv Tyler as Zelda/Sheik
32. Elijah Wood as Link
33. Mark Williams as the Happy Mask Salesman at the Happy Mask Shop
34. Noah Munck as Mido
35. Bernard Hill as Mutoh, the boss of the carpenters
36. Howie Mandel as Guru-Guru, the Windmill Hut Man in Kakariko Village
37. Julia Walters as Mamamu Yan, Richard?s owner in Hyrule Market and Kakariko Village
38. Andy Serkis as Grog, Anju?s brother and Mutoh?s son in Kakariko Village and the Lost Woods
39. Elle Fanning as Fado, in Kokiri Forest and the Lost Woods
40. Zachary Gordon as the Kokiri Shop Owner
41. Gerard Butler as the Bazaar Shop Owner in Hyrule Market and Kakariko Village
42. Simon Helberg as the Potion Shop Owner in Hyrule Market and Kakariko Village
===Puppet Animated CGI Voice Cast Members===
1. Jessie Cave as Navi (voice)
2. Christopher Lee as the Great Deku Tree (voice)
3. Carol Burnett as Queen Ghoma (voice)
4. Ralph Fiennes as King Dodongo (voice)
5. Sean Bean as Barinade (voice)
6. Dennis Leary as Phantom Ganon (voice)
7. Kevin Spacey as Volvagia (voice)
8. Johnny Depp as Morpha (voice)
9. Maggie Smith as Koume (voice)
10. Angela Lansbury as Kotake (voice)
11. Nick Nolte as Bongo-Bongo (voice)
12. John Cleese as King Zora (voice)
13. Madison Pettis as Young Ruto (voice)
14. Simon McBurney as the Zora at the diving game (voice)
15. Evanna Lynch as Ruto (voice)
16. Mark Hamil as Dark Link (voice)
17. Mr. T as Biggoron (voice)
18. Eddie Murphy as Medigoron (voice)
19. Rico Rodriguez as the Skull Kid (voice)
20. Tara Charendoff as Beth (voice)
21. Candi Milo as Joelle (voice)
22. Nancy Cartwright as Amy (voice)
23. Susan Sarandon as Meg (voice)
24. James Earl Jones as Ganon, the Iron Knuckles and a few other enemy characters (voices)
25. Jeffrey Tambour as Darunia (voice)
26. Nathan Lane as Link-Goron (voice)
27. Craig Ferguson as Kaepora Gaebora, the owl advisor (voice)
28. Tom Kane, Maurice LaMarche, Rob Paulsen and Dan Castellaneta as the Gorons (voices)
29. Tom Kenny, Jim Cummings, Rodger Bumpass and Jess Harnell as the Zoras (voices)
30. Frank Welker, Quinton Flynn and Roger Craig Smith as the Deku Scrubs (voices)
31. Alan Arkin as Flat, the 1st Composer Brother Poe in Kakariko Graveyard (voice)
32. Zach Galifianakis as Sharp, the 2nd Composer Brother Poe in Kakariko Graveyard (voice)
the legend of zelda live action movie
i myself as a legend of zelda fan i would absolutly love if they made this movie possible. i would most likely go and see it,even if it came out on dvd i would buy it no matter what price
The world NEEDS a Zelda movie, but this is no small task. We need a legendary Director that is as legegendary as the game, my idea is either, Steven Speilberg, or James Cameron, assuming he doesnt put any EXTRA blue people in there besides Zora’s.
I think this is where the IP/entitlement lifestyle has gone incorrect. With the supposition that anyone else who earnings from your concept should be ceased even when they are not competitive with you straight. Individuals need to keep in mind that more then one celebration can advantage from this type of factor.
you people need to get a examine. the manufacturers who created the film will create a small fortune without The approval. isn’t sound judgment to think that Manufacturers might want some of that? Manufacturers is not going to relax and say “hey…they did an excellent job!”. Unfortunately its all about cash. If someone took your concept generating a small fortune and you got none of it, would not you be disappointed and do something “rash”? think about it ppl. especially you lovers.
Lawyers and legal advice
That could have been easily resolved with a cheap license.
Re:
So? It’s not like anyone would’ve thought it authentic Nintendo material and thus damaging of the actual brand. If there’s an audience for cringe, let the audience have their cringe. People are smart enough to know the difference between fan-work and authorized.