Nintendo wants to "change movies" with an interactive Zelda film

Nintendo has been pretty conservative when it comes to spreading its properties out to other media. Legend of Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma told Kotaku that a possible Zelda adaptation would have to give audiences something completely different from their normal film experience.

"This is something that me and Mr. Miyamoto talked about," Aonuma said. "If we were to make a Zelda title, if we had interest in doing that, I think really what would be most important to us is to be able to play with the format of a movie, make it more interactive, like you're able to take your 3DS into the theater and that leads you into participating in it somehow. We wouldn't want to make it the same as any other movie. We want to somehow change what a movie is."

Disney's been toying with second screen film experiences, with the release of the Little Mermaid: Second Screen Live in September. The experience uses an iPad app that syncs up with the film using the built-in microphone. Mashable tried out the app at a screening and found the film almost unwatchable due to the app.

"The games are distracting. Some moviegoers meeting Ariel and friends for the first time will find it hard to focus on the movie, with a new game every minute or two," wrote Mashable's Taylor Casti. Many games require an individual's full attention, for instance, when players quickly pop bubbles or tilt the iPad to catch Ariel's treasures in a chest. In fact, the games were so distracting, on multiple occasions key information was lost to gameplay."

"Not to mention the voiceover and inter-theater competition, where up to four characters talk over the dialogue in the film to encourage players to compete with other audience members. As someone who grew up with Ariel, sure, the games were fun. But children seeing the movie for the first time missed seeing Triton destroy Ariel's treasures; Ariel meet Eric for the first time; Ariel's visit with Scuttle."

Perhaps Nintendo could work around this with a film built specifically for interactivity? It is a way for Nintendo to continue to be unique, but Rovio and others seem perfectly fine making simple animated features. Is the company trying to reinvent the wheel for no good reason?