Rumour: Legendary Entertainment Has Plans For More Live-Action Pokémon Movies

Would you like to see more live-action Pokémon movies?

Depends on how Detective Pikachu turns out. Trailer looks good, and I'm intrigued by its worldbuilding.

Pikachu, I don't feel so good.

Well... if they can make it work right. Though in my opinion building a cinematic universe sounds very difficult to pull off well and was a total risk when Marvel initially tried their hand at it.

Can't wait to see yet another example of a bunch of CGI animated creatures with humans acting against green screens and tennis balls on sticks.

I really try to not be an old fuddy duddy. Maybe this will prove to be a new generation's version Roger Rabbit.

Get off my lawn.

[...] to expand the Pokémon cinematic universe[...]

sigh...

Can we like, have a movie first?

"How to undermine your movie franchise 101". The first 2 movies will do good, but people will quickly lose intetest.

Hollywood is good in milking cows.

Could be good or bad news. Depends on how the first one goes.

Makes sense, Pokémon is still massively popular and Detective Pikachu seems to be well received so far.

Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!

Stop ruining things that don't need to be live action! This ugly as balls CG/Live action trash is just that TRASH!

I watched the Detective Pikachu trailer and though the writing seems kinda funny, it just looks so bad visually!

Reboot Pokemon. I'd be completely open to a real anime reboot of the series. Or a western cartoon. But with good, traditional animation, quality writing, and good actors. Or even as a movie series. New characters, world building etc.

But this puke inducing garbage trend of live action adaptations wont earn so much as a penny from me! Pokemon were never intended to appear alongside real human actors! It just looks WRONG!

I have loved Pokemon since the first games. I play every generation of games, and liked many of the spin offs. But this is a direction I refuse to follow. It is trash.

First Disney bought and butchered Star Wars. Now Pokemon is going off in a terrible direction of their own volition. I hope this never becomes more that a freak spin off!

@Spectra a fantastic Green Lantern? A fantastic “whatever he was supposed to be” in Wolverine Origins?

@JHDK as a fellow old fuddy duddy i have to be honest i am as excited for this as my kids are. I mean i shouldnt be and i dont understand why i am and i dont see how the setting inside of a 'conventional' world makes sense and i wonder if Ryan Reynolds can carry the lead and there are so many reasons i shouldnt be into this and yet here i am genuinely excited

Oh, God, no...

I completely detest Hollywood movies (contemporary stuff anyway), and this sort of treatment completely tarnishes the franchise as a whole, particularly as this will spawn the sort of fanbase that this franchise doesn't need.

I'm happy to continue watching what comes out of Japan, but the sooner Hollywood distances themselves from perverting beloved Japanese properties, the better.

Hell Yeah! Though im only hyped if they use the same fx as the detective movie. Otherwise no deal. Im tired of obvious cgi. And Love the realistic look of what they did with detective pikachu.

Focus on one movie first, Legendary. THEN we can talk about sequels, spinoffs, other Nintendo IPs, etc.

Gotta film ‘em all!

Yeah doubt it. First see if this does well.

@Lemmy_the_Koopa @MarioFan02 Legendary has seen this movie. It has probably been to test audiences. So, they are either unsure of how the movie will be received and want to show some outward confidence by talking about plans they've had, or they are truly confident in the film's chances and are just planning for more. They know the movie even if we don't.

Also, movies like these take years to make and even if the first one might fail, getting the process started earlier will help keep the movies coming out while people still remember them (and there are more movies and shows than ever to compete for attention). Getting projects off the ground does cost money, but it's easy to shelf a movie or two during preproduction if Detective Pikachu fails and to Legendary, at least, it's apparently worth the risk.

@PipeGuy64Bit It's a decent analogous situation, at least, this time. Pokemon is well established and in the mindset of many due to popular cross-media entertainment already with traditional video games, TV show, and mobile games.

Something like the "Dark Universe" had a few problems. The monsters were not strong in current pop culture, the connections between their stories were not always taken seriously. There was potential (and still is), but they got the fundamentals wrong, apparently, in The Mummy, and tried too hard to bring in connections during that movie.

I don't think Detective Pikachu is going to make that mistake, but I could be wrong. Either way, I can't digest any of the anime Pokemon movies for more than five minutes, but Detective Pikachu looks very appealing to me. So far, so good for me.

@Heavyarms55 Speak for yourself. I think the CG looks fine, and pokemon like Charizard especially looked badass. I think you need to realize not everything is bad just because it's live action.

The live action Disney movies are bad for wholly different reasons than the fact they're live-action. A live-action Pokemon movie isn't inherently bad.

I’m all about this. Keep it coming.

Yes a movie based on Red and Blue would be nice but good luck with all the major jump shift if the movie is going to be about getting all 8 badges in one film.

What’s up with the sour dudes on here? I’m all about this! ...on my Instagram feed (@limbpaw) I draw skeletons based on Pokémon and it’s always a strain to figure out how to resolve the teeth. Will be neat to see how they handle it in the movie. - Plus the movie looks straight up fun.

@Preposterous Funnily enough similar things were said about Pokemon in general.

It will either be a massive hit with the younger audiences and sell merchandise like crazy, or it will be mediocre and sort of fizzle out a few weeks after release. Oddly enough though, unlike comic book movies where issue sales are a focus point of the movie releases, no matter the outcome of the movie's success, I doubt it will have any notable impact on core game sales. That's a pretty fixed market of gamers who can completely ignore the movie entirely, and still be die-hards. Even if it's bad, some 7 year old kid will love it, and be interested in buying their first pokemon game. There's no real risk of failure, its almost garunteed to at least make its money back, and will only broaden your market further if it's a hit.

@aaronsullivan And yet other movies manage to do sequels without a premature universe announcement. What is wrong with a slow approach, it's not that the Pokémon brand will go away of a sudden...

@Silly_G “particularly as this will spawn the sort of fanbase that this franchise doesn't need.”

...the kind that spends money? Cuz really, that’s what matters to the company. 😂

I don't care what the naysayers think, that sounds really cool.
@JackEatsSparrows
Are you surprised by the gatekeeping? I sure am not.

@StuTwo It's been a while, but Ryan Reynolds was basically that movie's only saving grace in my eyes.

@Spectra I'm just curious, what have the games done that you would descibe as 'diabolical'?

Also the Sun and Moon anime seems to have adopted a new formula and is being pretty well received, I'd say they're at least trying to take it in a different direction. Though I personally think it was time for a new main character six generations ago.

When the Detective Pikachu movie is out and let's see how it is; then, can already plan rumors, ideas and future projects; Meanwhile, better, do not say anything.

Detective Pikachu is tracking to be the biggest video game movie adaptation ever, so I am not surprised at all that Legendary/TPC wants this to become a cinematic universe rather than a one-off event.

@aaronsullivan I'm aware of all this, but I just don't want Legendary to count their chickens before they hatch. DP looks great, however... and as long as they can remember that self-contained stories come first (i.e. no cliffhanger endings), then they'll be looking at a new franchise in no time.

@MarioFan02 Pretty much all major Hollywood movies made nowadays are already made with sequels planned or considered.

There are many, many examples of when they already had the sequel in the pipeline, it could already have a script made, they could even had plans beyond movies, but then the first movie failed and all gets cancelled.

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StillbornFranchise

@MarioFan02 We're talking about Hollywood, this is nothing new:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StillbornFranchise

There are times when a movie was made with sequels already in mind, and they were made, but there are also many times when the first movie failed and all those sequels were never made, often leaving the story incomplete.

Well, plans are different than insane productions, so until some official announcements come out, I'll remain skeptical.

Detective Pikachu itself looks good so far, and while I'd be okay with a connected universe, I only have trouble see it occur if it's going to be really in-depth. Using the established take on Pokemon and rolling with that, with a few connections, would be easiest.

Also, I'm doubtful it'll impact the main series much, but if Poekmon does push more detailed models in the future, I hope they only go as far as what Pokken did. I like the look, but realistic Pokemon will always be odd to me... also, I'd be down with catching deerstalker Pikachu, but I don't know how much of Detective Pikachu's Ryme City would be referenced (still need to play it before the movie comes out)

@Andrew5678 TV Tropes will ruin your life:

https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/RetCanon
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AdaptationDisplacement
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/CanonImmigrant

Whenever an adaptation of something is successful enough, it will influence further adaptations, or even the source material.

The Pokémon videogames were influenced by the anime series, and if this movie becomes a hit, it will inevitably influence the next Pokémon games and other works.

So they recognize a franchise that prints money will print money.

Rumours ruin lives...

@eltomo For those who take the rumors seriously, then yes, they ruin their lives for taking a rumor seriously

why are some people being salty over this the detective pikachu movie looks awesome and hilarious cant wait to see it.

@eltomo What @SakuraHaruka said, and it depends what kind of rumours it is too.

IF Detective Pikachu turns out to be a good movie then I would totally be up to a Pokémon Cinematic Universe, PCU. It would probably be the only one able to rival MCU, in a decade or so...
Are you hyped for Pokémon: infinity war already?

@SakuraHaruka @IceEarthGuard like the end of the world rumours.

I read your statements guys and the only conclussion i reach is that i need to examine my eyes with a specialist very soon cause seems like everyone is hyped for detective pikachu visuals and i honestly , really honestly turned off my laptop after saw that &$%#÷ jygglipuff

@Spectra Ah. I definitely agree that gen 7 was a step back for online play. And the story in USUM was even worse than the originals. A skip button would definitely help.

If Detective Pikachu works, sure.

Anyways, unless they're planning on featuring pokémon spin off games or something, in my day we just called them 'sequels'.

@Silly_G Exactly what fanbase is this going to spawn that doesn’t already exist? Pokémon is a 20+ year old franchise. I highly doubt grandma or Taylor Swift, who probably could give two craps about Pokémon, are gonna suddenly become fans (and the wrong kind at that). The people going to see movies in a hypothetical Pokémon Cinematic Universe are going to be fans of some kind already. Casual Pokémon fans, hardcore Pokémon fans, lapsed Pokémon fans and probably parents.

@Venus_Adept Part of the reason people are excited is because it doesn't look like absolute garbage like most people were expecting. Even I was on that train, and ended up shocked at how good they actually were.

Jigglypuff is an outlier.

@MegaVel91 Im agree with you, must be that. But both know that pokemon real fans(me included) consume everything gamefreak gave us , even Lets go . But having the same open mind with someone else, lets say hollywood, is not that easy. In the end what im trying to expose is the fact that even when i think this could be a great an funny movie, also understand people that feels a litle bit angry or uncomfortable about this.

@Kainbrightside good picking
But instead of Ash we will have Red according to this article (which is better imo, I hope they will go to a similar tone of the “Pokémon Adventures” manga, because it will be amazing

@AndreaF96 list of the biggest crossover movies in the PCU:
DEX Holders-dawn of the poke-league
DEX Holders- age of Mew-two
Red- Trainers war
Dex Holders- Infinity plates (Arceus Plates)
Dex Holder- Catch-game

@StuTwo I never saw Green Lantern, but he was indeed very good in Wolverine: Origins. Not his fault the producers and writers completely butchered his character. If you took him as "Deadpool in name only" he was a very solid merc with a mouth.

@Spectra I'm curious, why include Gen V in the unoriginal category with the messes that were Gen VI and VII? Sure BW had a bunch of gameplay issues (that got fixed in B2W2 at least), and it probably has my least favorite roster of new Pokemon (something I'd give to Gen VI tbh) but the story of those games was the best the series has ever had, and it really felt like they were the culmination of every game prior. I'd say B2W2 are contenders for top game in the series so...

Old-school Pokemon fans are a lot like old-school Star Wars fans. They hate everything new. If it's too conservative, it's "repeating the same tired formula". If it attempts to shake things up even a little, it's "desecrating a beloved classic".

What it all boils down to is "I was here first, and MY Pokemon (Star Wars) is the ONE TRUE Pokemon (Star Wars)."

Disclaimer: I have played no "true" Pokemon games. Ever.
With that said, I am going to see the movie. I had no idea who Mr. Mime was before watching the trailer. I don't know any of Psyduck's special abilities. So why the heck am I interested in the movie? Because it looks weird and fun. So if the ultimate goal of the movie is to draw casuals, or even ultra-ignorant people like me into the Pokemon franchise, then they are doing an excellent job so far. Ryan Reynolds as a creepily real Pikachu, who for some reason is a detective? I'm in.

Something you have to remember is that movies are a fickle business. Things get bought, tossed around, and scrapped all the time. If Detective Pikachu does well at the box office, of course they'll make another like it. That's how movies work. But if it does poorly, I wouldn't expect to see these plans come to fruition.

Lets see how it goes. Even though it is Pokemon, it is releasing pretty close to Avengesr Endgame (Only the sequel to last year's 4th Highest Grossing Movie of All Time Worldwide) and other summer blockbusters like the new Godzilla film.

@Tantani I had the same idea about Infinity Plates and Arceus

I dont mind another cinematic Pokemon movie with Mewtwo.

Mewtwo from the Anime has a perfect backstory for a live action movie and also the issue with cloning.

The cgi visual arent bad, its the best thing you can do to transfer pokemon in reallife without them losing their charm from the games artwork.

Pokemon hollywood movies could be a great and fun way to touch upon morals based on life and nature in general.

@AndreaF96 great trainers think alike

@Lemmy_the_Koopa I'm real late to reply to this, and maybe I lost the thread of conversation, but what "premature universe announcement" are you talking about? This is a rumor of an internal decision, isn't it? I mean I don't disagree with your point, maybe you weren't disagreeing with me, either.