When Legendary Entertainment secured the movie rights to the Pokemon franchise earlier this year, it came as some surprise when it was announced that the first ever live-action film would be an adaptation of Detective Pikachu, rather than that of the main franchise.
Well, speaking to IGN, director Rob Letterman has explained why the studio chose to go down the Detective Pikachu route, explaining that the character of Ash Ketchum has featured in so many anime features that it was felt a new story would offer something fresh.
“The Pokémon Company, they’ve already made many, many movies of Ash, and they came to Legendary with this idea of using a new character,” said Letterman. “So when I came on board, I was pitched this character of Detective Pikachu, and I fell in love with the story behind it. It’s a really great story. It was something with a lot of heart, and it was just very unique. And because there’s already been so much work done with Ash, for the first live-action movie I thought it was a really good idea to try something new with a new character but bake it into the universe of Pokémon. So it still follows all the rules, and we get to see a lot of our favourite things.”
Letterman also went on to state that he does plan on incorporated many familiar Pokemon characters into the movie, as well as praising the special effects used to bring them to life: “They’re incredibly real. You should think of it as the way [Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxycharacter] Rocket Raccoon sits in the movie as if he’s really there. It’s that technology. They’re technically some of the most high-end visual effects in the world.”
Detective Pikachu sees Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool 2) starring in the title role alongside Justice Smith (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom), Kathryn Newton (Big Little Lies), Suki Waterhouse (The Bad Batch), Ken Watanabe (Godzilla), Bill Nighy (The Limehouse Golem), Rita Ora (Fifty Shades Freed) and Chris Geere (Modern Family). It is set for release on May 10th 2019.
Detective Pikachu is currently slated for release on May 10th 2019.
Originally published October 1, 2018. Updated July 19, 2024.
