Universal Pictures has announced a May 10, 2019 release date for Legendary Entertainment's "Detective Pikachu," the first live-action film for the Pokemon franchise.
It was earlier announced that Ryan Reynolds would voice the iconic pocket monster. He will be joined by Justice Smith ("Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom") and Kathryn Newton ("Big Little Lies").
"Detective Pikachu" will be loosely based on the video game of the same name, which was released in February 2016.
According to reports, the movie adaptation will follow Smith, a young man who seeks out Detective Pikachu's help after the mysterious kidnapping of his father. Newton, who plays Reese Witherspoon's daughter in the critically acclaimed mini-series "Big Little Lies," will star as a "sassy journalist" who helps out Smith's character and Pikachu in their investigation.
With a release set for Mother's Day weekend, "Detective Pikachu" will premiere a week after the still untitled "Avengers 4" movie, and a week before "John Wick: Chapter 3" and the yet-untitled spin-off of "Men in Black."
With a storyline pegged for kids and families, the Pokemon movie should not have any real competition until Disney's live-action "Aladdin" launches two weeks later.
"Detective Pikachu" will be helmed by Rob Letterman, a trusted name in the family genre, after previously directing decent hits like "Goosebumps" and "Monsters vs. Aliens." The script will be penned by Alex Hirsch ("Gravity Falls") and Nicole Perlman ("Guardians of the Galaxy").
Toho will handle distribution within Japan, while Universal Pictures will distribute everywhere else outside the East Asian country.
More casting announcements are expected from the movie in the next few weeks, before its slated start of production in January 2018.
The "Pokemon" franchise was first launched in Japan in 1996 as a role-playing video game. In 1997, it was adapted into an animated series, which is now in its 20th season and is still ongoing. It has also sold over 300 million video games worldwide and some 23.6 billion trading cards in 74 countries.
