The film is scheduled for release in May 2027 and joins a series of video game adaptations, such as Super Mario and Sonic, which have taken the box office by storm in recent years.

Bo Bragason will play Princess Zelda, and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth will take on the role of Link, an elven warrior who fights with his sword in a fantasy world populated by monsters, Nintendo announced on social media platform X.

"I'm very excited to see both of them on the big screen," said a post attributed to game designer and Nintendo CEO Shigeru Miyamoto.

Miyamoto, co-producer of "Super Mario," created the "Zelda" universe in 1986. Since then, the hugely popular series has sold over 140 million games worldwide, according to AFP.

In the latest installment of the series, "The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom" from 2024, the main character abandons her role as a damsel in distress and becomes a heroine for the first time.

Bragason has appeared in the British television series Three Girls and Renegade Nell, while Ainsworth voiced Pinocchio in the 2022 remake of the film.

Prior to the announcement, there was speculation online that American trans actress Hunter Schafer, known from the hit HBO series Euphoria, might be cast as Zelda.

The film, directed by Wes Ball of the Maze Runner trilogy, is Zelda's first big-screen appearance, although the game was adapted into a 13-episode animated series in 1989.

Adaptations of hit video games have become big business, with Nintendo's The Super Mario Bros. Movie being the second highest-grossing film of 2023.

Other titles in development for films include the Japanese Elden Ring and the American series The Sims. | BGNES