Ryan Reynolds 'Detective Pikachu' Film Lands May 2019 Release
Ryan Reynolds will star in the live-action adaptation of the Pokémon movie "Detective Pikachu." Following his casting, Universal Pictures confirmed that the film will arrive in theaters on May 2019.
The studio announced the film's release date on Monday. Work on the movie will start in January in London, with Justice Smith ("Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom") and Kathryn Newton ("Big Little Lies") joining as Tim and Lucy, and Rob Letterman as the director.
Reynolds will play the titular Pokémon character. Since Pikachu is a mascot, the actor's scenes will be completely done as a motion capture.
"Detective Pikachu" will kick off its story with the kidnapping of Tim's father. The young man will get help in tracking down his dad's whereabouts from Pikachu and Lucy, who's a journalist.
The film's concept takes inspiration from the video game "Great Detective Pikachu" that the Japanese gaming firm Nintendo released in 2016. It followed an intelligent Pokémon who forged a bond and went on adventures with a boy named Tim.
Nintendo first launched Pokémon in the '90s for the Game Boy. The usual gameplay involved players acquiring and training Pokémon, also known as pocket monsters, to compete in tournaments and complete quests.
The popularity of the game enabled Nintendo to branch out Pokémon in print publication, trading card games and several animated films and television series. A theme park in Japan was also built around its characters and Nintendo's intellectual property grew bigger with the mobile gaming app "Pokémon Go."
"Detective Pikachu," however, is the first attempt at a live-action treatment with Alex Hirsch and Nicole Perlman writing the script. Legendary Entertainment originally thought of casting either Dwayne Johnson, Mark Wahlberg and Hugh Jackman for the role before sealing the deal with Reynolds.
Toho will handle the film's distribution in Japan in its partnership with Legendary Entertainment. Universal Pictures will handle "Detective Pikachu" outside of Japan.
