The Pokemon: Detective Pikachu film has been worked on quietly for awhile now and it’s something that a lot of people haven’t really registered much. That’s harder to do now as reality is setting in that it’s coming. With a May 10th, 2019 release date, we now have the first trailer for the film that shows off how it’s all going to work.
Legendary Pictures brought in Rob Letterman to direct it. Letterman’s not exactly a household name but he’s got some solid credits that should make this work. He did the first live-action Goosebumps film and he also directed the CG film Monsters Vs. Aliens. He was also the writer and director for Shark Tale.
The cast includes Ryan Reynolds, Justice Smith as Tim Goodman, Paul Kitson as Harry Goodman, Kathryn Newton as Lucy Stevens, Ken Watanabe as Detective Yoshida, Karan Soni as Jack, Bill Nighy, Suki Waterhouse, Chris Geere, Rita Ora, and Omar Chaparro as Sebastian.
Nicole Perlman and Alex Hirsch are on board as the writers for the project. Nicole Perlman has seen her star rise since working on Guardians of the Galaxy and she’s currently co-writing Captain Marvel with Meg LeFauve. Alex Hirsch is known more by a different crowd as the creator behind Gravity Falls, the very popular Disney XD series. The inclusion of the two to help lay the groundwork for what this film could become is definitely intriguing.
According to The Pokemon Company, the original property has sold more than 279 million video games since its inception, 21.5 billion TCG cards in 74 countries and the animated series has been running for 19 seasons.
Plot Concept: The story begins when ace private eye Harry Goodman goes mysteriously missing, prompting his 21-year-old son Tim to find out what happened. Aiding in the investigation is Harry’s former Pokémon partner, Detective Pikachu: a hilariously wise-cracking, adorable super-sleuth who is a puzzlement even to himself. Finding that they are uniquely equipped to communicate with one another, Tim and Pikachu join forces on a thrilling adventure to unravel the tangled mystery. Chasing clues together through the neon-lit streets of Ryme City—a sprawling, modern metropolis where humans and Pokémon live side by side in a hyper-realistic live-action world—they encounter a diverse cast of Pokémon characters and uncover a shocking plot that could destroy this peaceful co-existence and threaten the whole Pokémon universe.
