Pokémon: Detective Pikachu

Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (also known as Detective Pikachu) is an upcoming 2019 family film directed by Rob Letterman and written by Nicole Perlman and Letterman, based on the video game of the same name. The film is an American and Japanese joint venture produced by Legendary Pictures, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures, and Toho. It will be the first live-action film based on the Pokémon franchise. The film stars Ryan Reynolds as the voice of Detective Pikachu, with Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton and Ken Watanabe in live-action roles.

Warner Bros. Pictures slated it for release in the United States on May 10, 2019, making it the first Pokémon film to get a wide theatrical release in the United States since Pokémon: The First Movie in 1999, Pokémon: The Movie 2000 in 2000, and Pokémon 3: The Movie in 2001.

Cast

 * Ryan Reynolds as the voice of Detective Pikachu, an unusually and exceptionally smart Pokémon, who can speak.
 * Justice Smith as Tim Goodman, a young man looking for his missing father. He is also Detective Pikachu's partner.
 * Max Fincham as a young Tim


 * Paul Kitson as Harry Goodman
 * Kathryn Newton as Lucy Stevens, a reporter accompanied with a Psyduck.
 * Ken Watanabe as Detective Yoshida
 * Karan Soni as Jack
 * Bill Nighy
 * Suki Waterhouse
 * Chris Geere
 * Rita Ora
 * Omar Chaparro

Development
In April 2016, it was reported that Warner Bros. Pictures and Legendary Pictures were in negotiations for live-action film rights to Pokémon. Later in July 2016, Legendary was nearing to close a deal for the film. On July 20, 2016, it was announced that Legendary and The Pokémon Company International had signed on a deal together to make the first live-action film in the franchise, which would be based on the video game Detective Pikachu. Initially, Universal Pictures would handle the distribution outside Japan, while Toho would handle the Japanese distribution. On August 16, 2016, Nicole Perlman and Alex Hirsch were in negotiations with Legendary to write the screenplay. On November 30, 2016, Legendary hired Rob Letterman to direct the film, which the studio had fast-tracked for production to start in 2017.

On July 25, 2018, Warner Bros. Pictures announced they would take over worldwide distribution duties (except in Japan and China) from Universal, with the release date unchanged. The reason for adapting Detective Pikachu came from The Pokémon Company and Letterman's desire to make a movie that focused on another character besides Ash Ketchum. On the premise, Letterman stated, "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. So when I came onboard, I was pitched this character of Detective Pikachu, and I fell in love with the story behind it."

Casting
In November 2017, Justice Smith was cast in the lead human role, with Kathryn Newton cast to costar after an intense session of reading and testing actresses who would appear opposite Smith. Newton beat out Natalia Dyer, Haley Lu Richardson, and Katherine Langford for the role. In December 2017, Ryan Reynolds was cast in the titular role to be portrayed via motion-capture. Other actors considered for the role were Dwayne Johnson, Mark Wahlberg, and Hugh Jackman. In January 2018, with production commencing, Ken Watanabe, Bill Nighy, and Chris Geere joined the cast. In February 2018, Suki Waterhouse and Rita Ora joined the cast. In April 2018, Omar Chaparro joined the cast.

Filming
Principal production began on January 15, 2018, in London, England. Nine days later, Legendary announced that principal photography had officially begun. The press release revealed that Alex Hirsch was not involved with the final draft of the script and that Nicole Perlman and Rob Letterman were the only ones credited. Principal photography concluded on May 1, 2018.

Music
On October 24, 2018, composer Henry Jackman was confirmed to score Pokémon: Detective Pikachu.

Post-production
Much of the visual effects were provided by the same team behind The Jungle Book and Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. Letterman compared the visual effects to the character of Rocket Raccoon from Guardians of the Galaxy. "They’re technically, some of the most high-end visual effects in the world...It’s completely photorealistic, like they are alive and in the movie." Additional audio recording of a supposed fight between Detective Pikachu and Charizard was recorded at the Pokémon World Championships.

Marketing
On August 24, 2018, at that year's Pokémon World Championships, Tsunekazu Ishihara, president of The Pokémon Company, officially announced the film would be titled Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. At the event, director Rob Letterman also revealed the film's logo. On the same day, a teaser poster of the film was released by Warner Bros. Pictures.

Release
Originally set to be distributed by Universal Pictures, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu is currently scheduled for release in the United States on May 10, 2019, through Warner Bros. Pictures, and Toho will distribute the film in Japan.