With the popularity of "Pokemon Go" quickly taking over the world, making it one of the most popular apps and games ever released, Legendary Pictures has pushed forward in securing the movie rights of "Pokemon" and, according to the Hollywood Reporter, is moving forward with a live-action "Pokemon" movie.
However, it will not be based on the main video games which focus on a young boy travelling the land to capture Pokemon and become a true Master by defeating the Gym Leaders across the country and the Elite Four. Instead, it has been confirmed that the movie will be based on the new "Detective Pikachu" video game.
Unlike the main franchise, "Detective Pikachu: Birth of a New Team" sees a Pikachu wearing a "Sherlock Holmes" type hat and aids a young boy in solving numerous crimes. The game launches for the Nintendo 3DS in Japan this past February but has not yet been confirmed for a US release.
It is undetermined at this point how the movie will be made. Fans speculate that Pikachu will be rendered as a CGI character similar to Garfield in the two live-action "Garfield" movies or the Pokemon might appear as some sort of virtual assistant on a phone, mimicking the series' video game origins.
Legendary Pictures will be producing the film and Universal Pictures will handle distribution globally except for Japan where the film will be distributed by Toho Pictures, the same company responsible for the "Godzilla" films in Japan. It is noted that this mirrors the same deal Legendary Pictures has with Toho for "Godzilla."
According to the report, Netflix also shared interests in acquiring the film rights and may have gone with a different approach such as a Netflix-exclusive live-action series or animated show.
Production for the movie will begin in early 2017 although there are no confirmations yet when the film is expected to release.
