Due to the success of the Super Mario Bros. Movie (grossing US$1 billion worldwide since April, by the by), it’s only natural for publisher Nintendo to start using its other IPs for the big screen.

The next logical choice would be The Legend of Zelda, and it seems as if things are going the way of our blonde elf hero Link and his adversary Ganon, at least according to recent rumours. Veteran film reporter Jeff Sneider said on The Hot Mic podcast that Nintendo is close to striking a deal with Universal for a Zelda movie. Also, Universal is the parent company of animation studio Illumination, so it’s only natural the latter is part of this whole potential deal.

“From what I’m told, getting close to official, I’m told that Universal is in fact closing a quote ‘big deal’ with the Nintendo corporation for the Legend of Zelda.

Zelda will be, is looking like the next big Illumination Nintendo franchise, which again, I think we were all sort of expecting, but I’m told that that is happening and it’s costing Universal a pretty penny because of the success of Super Mario, like Nintendo kind of knows it’s worth at this point, but yeah, I’m told that that is now going to be a reality.”

Guess now it’s only a matter of when it’ll be official and when this news can go public. Big companies like Nintendo love money, so having a Zelda movie equals big bucks. For more on the previous Illumination & Nintendo joint, check out our Super Mario Bros. Movie coverage.