NINTENDO IS DEVELOPING A LIVE-ACTION FILM BASED ON ITS HIT VIDEO GAME 'THE LEGEND OF ZELDA'

Nintendo is developing a live-action film based on its hit video game "The Legend of Zelda," the Japanese company behind the Super Mario franchise said this week.

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The film, with financing from Sony Pictures Entertainment as well as its own investment, will be directed by Wes Ball, the American director of the upcoming "Planet of the Apes" film. It's being co-produced by Nintendo and Arad Productions Inc., which is behind the live-action Spider-Man films and headed by Avi Arad.

The move highlights Kyoto-based Nintendo's strategy to leverage various aspects of its business, including theme parks, merchandising and movies, to boost machine and software sales, and vice versa.

That strategy has met success. Its animation film "The Super Mario Bros. Movie," released earlier this year, has raked in more than $1.3 billion and drew nearly 170 million people worldwide.

President Shuntaro Furukawa, briefing reporters online, said the company was pleased with the success of the Super Mario animation film, the first movie of which Nintendo was a direct producer.