Source: Legend of Zelda fan site Thehylia.com

　　The official story: Nintendo reps were not available for comment.

　　What we heard: Gaming movies are currently all the rage. With the recent announcement of the Halo film, it seems as though Hollywood may actually do them right for a change.

　　Historically, though, the spirit of most games gets lost in translation onto the silver screen. Exhibit A: German director Uwe Boll's menagerie of cinematic cowpats, which includes House of the Dead, Alone in the Dark, and the soon-to-be-released Bloodrayne.

　　Even gaming giant Nintendo has seen one of its properties, Super Mario Bros, bastardized into a universally hated movie. However, that may soon change. The rights to Metroid have become optioned by once-great, now semi-competent Hong Kong director John Woo, although no production start date has been announced.

　　This week, it looked like another beloved Nintendo game, The Legend of Zelda, might make it to the big screen. Mexican magazine Club Nintendo, the Spanish-language equivalent of Nintendo Power, quoted Nintendo executive vice president of sales and marketing Reggie Fils-Aime as saying that the company is indeed planning a Zelda film. Because Club Nintendo is published by Nintendo, there's zero chance of them misquoting Fils-Amie, let alone making up quotes attributed to him.

　　That said, Fils-Aime also said Nintendo is currently focusing all its efforts on the Metroid movie. Zelda is being considered as a following project, with the possibility of another Mario movie following that. Given that there's no timetable for a Metroid film, any hopes of pinning down a release for the Zelda movie would be pure guesswork. And many film projects that have been much farther along have wound up in development limbo for years--if not decades.

　　Bogus or not bogus?: Where there's a will, there's a way--if the Metroid film goes well, look for Zelda to get fast-tracked. If it bombs, don't expect to see Link's green tights on the big screen any time soon.