'Legend of Zelda' Flees Godzilla, King Kong and Sonic the Hedgehog To Annoint Itself As The Summer 2027 Kick-Off Film
We are quickly approaching a new era where Marvel movies, MCU or otherwise, are no longer automatically expected to lead off the summer movie season.
Sony’s The Legend of Zelda movie was never going to open on Easter weekend 2027. That was one week after Paramount’s Sonic the Hedgehog 4 and the same day as WBD and Legendary’s Godzilla x Kong: Supernova. You’ve got the anticipated sequels to established cinematic franchises that A) play to kids and B) are coming off quite successful and well-received installments.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 earned $236 million in North America, becoming the first and, before A Minecraft Movie, the only live-action video game movie to top $200 million domestically. It earned $492 million worldwide, again, behind only Minecraft on that front and just Minecraft and the entirely animated The Super Mario Bros. Movie among video game flicks.
Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire earned a MonsterVerse-best $571 million worldwide on a franchise-low $135 million budget while earning decent reviews and strong word-of-mouth. Once again, there was no good reason to drop the Zelda flick in the middle of two exceptionally popular and (remarkably) still in their prime kid-friendly fantasy franchises. And to Sony’s credit, they blinked. Well, not really. The news isn’t that Zelda moved; it’s to where.