List of Pokémon films
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pokémon is a media franchise created by video game designer Satoshi Tajiri that centers on fictional creatures called Pokémon. As of 2020[update], there have been 23 animated films and one live action film. The first nineteen animated films are based on the anime television series of the same name, with the original film being remade into the 22nd. The 20th, 21st and 23rd animated films are set in an alternate continuity to the anime. The films are produced by the animation studios OLM, Production I.G, Xebec, and Wit Studio, and distributed in Japan by Toho, with various studios distributing the films in North America. They were directed by Kunihiko Yuyama and Tetsuo Yajima, and written by Takeshi Shudo, Hideki Sonoda, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Shōji Yonemura, Eiji Umehara, and Aya Takaha. The first Pokémon animated film, Pokémon: The First Movie, was released in Japan in 1998, which was remade into Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution. A live-action film, Pokémon Detective Pikachu, was produced by American studio Legendary Entertainment, directed by Rob Letterman, and written by Letterman and Nicole Perlman.[1] It is distributed in Japan by Toho, and outside of Japan and China by Warner Bros.[2] It was released on May 10, 2019.[3]
2019 | Detective Pikachu |
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The films star the Pokémon trainer Ash Ketchum and his electric mouse partner Pikachu. Detective Pikachu film is based on the 2016 video game Detective Pikachu and stars Ryan Reynolds as the motion capture role of Detective Pikachu,[4] with Justice Smith and Kathryn Newton as the lead human roles.[5]
There are also two animated television specials that were broadcast on TV Tokyo featuring Ash and Ash's Pikachu and ten short animated films. Warner Bros. licensed the first three animated films in North America, and Miramax Films licensed the following four films. From the eighth film onwards, licensing has been handled by The Pokémon Company International themselves, with various distributors handling the releases, such as Viz Media in North America.
The 23rd and most recent animated film, Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle, was originally set for release in Japanese theaters on July 10, 2020, but delayed to December 25, 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, it was released on October 8, 2021, in the United States.[6][7]