Nintendo Shuts Down Hero of Time Fan Film

We’ve been covering the Hero of Time fan film for quite some time here at Zelda Dungeon. The long awaited fan film was screened in a select few theaters across the United States in the last six months and even made one stop in Germany. In mid December, the film was finally released to the public and was available for viewing in its entirety online.

However, as of January 1st, the movie is no longer available online. In early December, Nintendo stepped in and the the makers of the film and Nintendo made an agreement that the film would no longer be available as of January 1st. While Nintendo shut down the video, they graciously allowed it to continue to be available through the holiday season until the new year.

Jump inside to read the full statement from the makers of the fan film.

Hey, everyone. We just wanted to let you know that Dec. 31 was the last day that The Hero of Time was available for viewing. We came to an agreement with Nintendo earlier this month to stop distributing the film. In the spirit of the holiday season they were good enough to let us keep the movie up for you to watch and enjoy through the end of 2009, but not past 2009. We understand Nintendo’s right to protect its characters and trademarks and understand how in order to keep their property unspoiled by fan’s interpretation of the franchise, Nintendo needs to protect itself — even from fan-works with good intentions.

This has been quite an adventure for us and we have a real sense of peace bringing the project to a close. Between the screenings and the online release many of you were able to see the film and we hope to not have only inspired those of you that live, breathe and dream Zelda but we also hope to have inspired all of you aspiring filmmakers out there! Thank you again for all your patience with the project and we hope you had as much fun watching our movie as we did making it. Thanks for all your wonderful messages of encouragement and support! I’m sure our next project will be right around the corner! No, it’s not Majora’s Mask : )

So there you have it. It was a good run and I’m a bit surprised they were able to make it this far without being shut down. While I’m disappointed that Nintendo stepped in, it seemed inevitable and I’m glad they allowed it to be viewed through the end of the year. I’m sure the video will be leaked online, if it hasn’t been already, so it probably isn’t lost for good. I’m sure Nintendo doesn’t even mind it, but they just needed to take legal action to protect their own assets.

So what do you think of Nintendo stepping into the fan created content realm. Does it help them? Hurt them?