Pokémon Detective Pikachu



Pokémon Detective Pikachu is an upcoming fantasy mystery film directed by Rob Letterman, who co-wrote the screenplay with Dan Hernandez, Benji Samit and Derek Connolly from a story by Hernandez, Samit and Nicole Perlman. Based on the 2016 video game Detective Pikachu, the film is a Japanese-American joint venture produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, Legendary Pictures and The Pokémon Company, in association with Toho Co., Ltd. It is the first live-action/animated film in the Pokémon franchise, and represents a separate continuity from the mainline video games and anime series. The film stars Ryan Reynolds as the voice and facial motion capture of the titular character, with Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton, Suki Waterhouse, Omar Chaparro, Chris Geere, Ken Watanabe and Bill Nighy in live-action roles.

It is scheduled to be released in Japan on May 3, 2019, and in the United States on May 10, 2019, distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures in RealD 3D and Dolby Cinema. It the first Pokémon film to be distributed theatrically by Warner Bros. since Pokémon 3: The Movie (2001), and with a PG rating from the MPAA, it is also the first Pokémon film not to receive a G rating by the group. A sequel is in development.

Synopsis
The official synopsis reads, "The story begins when ace detective 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."

Cast

 * Ryan Reynolds as the voice and facial motion capture of Detective Pikachu, a world-class detective and exceptionally smart Pikachu whom only Tim can understand.
 * Ikue Ōtani as Detective Pikachu's normal Pikachu voice, as heard by humans other than Tim.
 * Justice Smith as Tim Goodman, a former Pokémon trainer looking for his missing father; he is also Detective Pikachu's partner, and the only person capable of hearing him speak.
 * Max Fincham as young Tim
 * Kathryn Newton as Lucy Stevens, a reporter who is accompanied by a Psyduck.
 * Omar Chaparro as Sebastian, a Pokémon trainer who runs a battle arena for Pokémon and is accompanied by a Charizard.
 * Ken Watanabe as Detective Yoshida, a veteran Ryme City police lieutenant and friend of Harry who is accompanied by a Snubbull.
 * Paul Kitson as Harry Goodman, Tim's missing father and a famous Ryme City detective.
 * Karan Soni as Jack

Additionally, Bill Nighy, Suki Waterhouse, Chris Geere, Rita Ora, Rob Delaney, and Khary Payton have been cast in undisclosed roles. Diplo appears as himself, the Pokémon universe version of the DJ who performs at Sebastian's Pokémon arena. Ryoma Takeuchi appears in a cameo as a Pokémon trainer.

Development
In April 2016, it was reported that Legendary Pictures was in negotiations for the 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 had signed on a deal together to create 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. Later revisions were provided by Eric Pearson, Thomas McCarthy, Derek Connolly, Dan Hernandez, Benji Samit and director Rob Letterman. On November 30, 2016, Legendary hired Rob Letterman to direct the film, which the studio had fast-tracked for production to start in 2017. In January 2018, it was announced that Mary Parent, Cale Boyter, Hidenaga Katakami and Don McGowan would produce the film, along with Joe Caracciolo Jr. and Ali Mendes, with Joe Caracciolo, Jr. and The Pokémon Company's Tsunekazu Ishihara as executive producers. Pokémon creator Satoshi Tajiri is also credited as an executive producer.

On July 25, 2018, Warner Bros. announced they had taken 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, the protagonist of the Pokémon anime series. 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." The idea of talking Pokémon originated from an early concept for the 1990s anime series, but was scrapped when the original game developer Game Freak was unsatisfied with the concept, before the idea was revived for the 2016 Detective Pikachu spin-off game.

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 Danny DeVito, 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.

When the film's Japanese release was announced on November 29, 2018, Ryoma Takeuchi was confirmed to voice Tim Goodman in the Japanese dub. Takeuchi also has a brief cameo appearance in the movie itself as a Pokémon trainer. On March 20, 2019, it was confirmed that Marie Iitoyo will voice Lucy Stevens, and Ken Watanabe will reprise his role as Detective Yoshida in the Japanese dub.

Filming
Principal production began on January 15, 2018, in London, England and Denver, Colorado. Nine days later, Legendary announced that principal photography had officially begun. The press release revealed that Alex Hirsch was no longer involved with the final draft of the script and that Rob Letterman, Benji Samit, Dan Hernandez, Derek Connolly and Nicole Perlman were the only ones credited. Much of the on set interaction and vocal reference for Pikachu was filled in by Jon Bailey. However, all of his dialogue was dubbed over by Ryan Reynolds. Principal photography concluded on May 1, 2018. Some filming was done at Shepperton Studios, Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden, Minley Woods in Hampshire, rural areas of Colorado; just outside Denver and Colorado Springs, and Scotland.

Post-production
The film's visual effects were provided by the Moving Picture Company (MPC), Framestore, Image Engine, Rodeo FX, and Instinctual VFX. Much of the visual effects were provided by the same team behind The Jungle Book, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and The Lion King. 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 photo-realistic, 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 2018.

Marketing
In early November 2018, with the film in post-production phase, a screen test was held for an incomplete version of the film, which drew considerably positive reactions from the test audience, with praise directed towards the script, visual effects, and Reynolds' performance.

The film's first official trailer was revealed on November 12, 2018. Warner Bros. revealed versions of the trailer in English along with dubbed versions in Spanish, French, Italian and German. It soon became the top trending video on YouTube, and a top trending topic on Twitter, while inspiring numerous internet memes and reaction videos. Within 24 hours, the high-concept trailer amassed more than 100million views across multiple online and social media platforms. On YouTube, the English-language trailer garnered over 1million likes within two days, and 1.22million likes within five days. On Twitter, it set a new record of over 400,000 mentions on the day of the trailer reveal. A second trailer, featuring the appearance of Mewtwo, was released on February 26, 2019. Prior to the trailer's release, Ryan Reynolds uploaded a video onto his YouTube channel that features interviews from himself and his wife, Blake Lively on the previous day. A third trailer was released on April 22, 2019. On November 30, 2018, Letterman, Smith, and Newton appeared on stage during the Tokyo Comic-Con event for a full announcement of the Japanese release. On March 15, 2019, it was revealed that Legendary will release a graphic novel based on the film.

Music
In October 2018, it was announced that Henry Jackman would make the score for the movie. On April 19, 2019, a single titled "Carry On", performed by Kygo and Rita Ora, will be released. Along with that, it was announced that Lil Uzi Vert and Pharrell Williams were making another song for the film titled "Electricity".

Box office
In the United States and Canada, Pokémon Detective Pikachu will be released alongside Tolkien, Poms, and The Hustle, with official industry tracking projecting it to gross around $50 million in its opening weekend. However, other independent publications such as Box Office Pro estimate the film opening to as high as $75-90 million, while JoBlo.com mentioned that "analysts are placing it on track for a nigh-$100 million opening weekend".

Sequel
On January 25, 2019, four months ahead of the film's release, Legendary Entertainment confirmed via The Hollywood Reporter that a sequel is already in the works, with 22 Jump Street writer Oren Uziel attached to pen its screenplay.