After Legendary Entertainment acquired the rights to make films based on the popular Pokemon series in 2016, it announced Detective Pikachu as its first project. Now, according to Omega Underground, production on the live-action Detective Pikachu film will begin January 15, 2018 in London.
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While specific details about the film’s plot are unknown, the movie will likely draw from the 2016 point-and-click adventure game Great Detective Pikachu. The game follows an intelligent, talking Pikachu who works with a boy named Tim Goodman to solve mysteries. Currently, the game is only available in Japanese.
Pokemon Red and Blue were the first two games in the blockbuster series to make their way to the United States, arriving in 1998. Although Pikachu was not initially one of the Pokemon a player could select at the start of the game, the character’s popularity skyrocketed after the anime’s release, as Pikachu was protagonist Ash Ketchum’s first and primary Pokemon.
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Detective Pikachu does not currently have a release date, and it’s currently unknown who will star in the film. Rob Letterman (Goosebumps) is set to direct the film based on a screenplay by Alex Hirsch (Gravity Falls) and Nicole Perlman (Captain Marvel). Universal Pictures will oversee distribution of Detective Pikachu outside Japan, while Toho will handle the release within the country.