Get out your 2019 planners and save the date: Universal Pictures has scheduled Legendary Entertainment’s Detective Pikachu, the movie based off a quirky Japan-only 3DS game, for a May 10, 2019 release date. The scheduling is, um, interesting: Detective Pikachu will release on Mother’s Day, one week after an untitled Avengers’ bloastfest, I mean movie, from Disney.
Legendary Pictures won rights to the first live-action Pokémon movie after a lively bidding war with Warner Bros and Sony. Its choice of Detective Pikachu as its first live-action Pokemon installment has raised some eyebrows, but the idea is just quirky enough to work, hopefully.
This news follows the biggest news of 2017: the voice of hardboiled, gruff Detective Pikachu is none other than Deadpool’s own Ryan Reynolds. Other stars attached include Justice Smith (Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, The Get Down) and Kathryn Newton (Big Little Lies). Rob Letterman (Goosebumps) is pegged to direct Detective Pikachu, which should start shooting in London in mid-January.
In the movie, Pikachu is a gruff ‘n tough detective who helps Smith’s character after his father has been kidnapped. Newton is a “sassy journalist” who helps them along. The role of Detective Pikachu is apparently “motion-capture in nature,” according to sources from The Hollywood Reporter.
Previous rumors for the plum role of Detective Pikachu included Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, Mark Wahlberg and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, while fans clamored to see Danny DeVito voice everyone’s plump ruddy-cheeked rodent pal.
As for the game this movie is based on, Detective Pikachu: Birth of a New Team may be headed West after all. A recent PEGI listing indicates the title may be coming to Europe (and the rest of the world) soon enough, hopefully before the movie debuts (the release date listed is only a placeholder).
Detective Pikachu: Birth of a New Team will have the player team up with Detective Pikachu to resolve a Sherlock Holmes-style story filled with puzzles and mysteries. The single-player game takes place in Rhyme City. There are no formal announcements regarding Detective Pikachu ’s Western release yet, but that PEGI listing has a lot of promise.
Are you excited for Detective Pikachu the game, or Detective Pikachu the Hollywood movie? Which one do you think you’ll be enjoying first? Feel free to talk all things Detective Pikachu in our comments section below.
