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‘Pokémon’ Movie Set To Be Released In 2017 Amid ‘Pokémon GO’ Success

By Stacey Cole
Published on: 03:27 PST, Jul 26, 2016

Pokémon movie is already in the works while the Pokémon GO game continues to take over the world, according to Variety. It’s only been less than three weeks since the release of the reality location-based game, but it has already got itself a film adaptation.

Legendary Entertainment has announced it’s working on a live action Pokémon movie, the plot of which will focus on Detective Pikachu. The movie company added that production will begin in 2017, hoping that the hit game will not lose its popularity until then. Although there are little details available, the Pokémon movie will focus on Detective Pikachu, a new Pokémon character that was introduced in the Pokémon universe in a Japanese video game several months ago.

Pokémon Go, which gave a huge push for moviemakers to start working on a live-action Pokémon movie, has been a hit trend all around the world, mainly for allowing players to go out in the streets and catching ’em all while staying active.

And many people who have been complaining about video games promoting a sedentary lifestyle are now seeing that games could, in fact, promote a healthy lifestyle. And seeing that Nintendo shares have jumped a whopping 25 percent since the release of Pokémon GO, Legendary Entertainment is probably hoping to see its shares jump after the release of the live-action Pokémon movie, as well.

Pokémon was first released as a video game in 1996, which gradually developed into a craze around the world, but especially in Japan. The video game was then adapted into an animated Pokémon movie and TV series.

In the early 2000s, Pokémon trading cards were a popular thing in U.K., U.S. and Australian schools. But the 2017 Pokémon movie won’t be the first film Legendary Entertainment has adapted from a video game.

The movie company also produced the recently released Warcraft film, which has grossed over $430 million worldwide and is based on a hit role-playing video game World of Warcraft. Before that, Legendary had also produced Jurassic World ($1.6 billion), The Dark Knight Rises ($1 billion), and Godzilla($530 million).

Although details about the 2017 live-action Pokémon movie are being kept a secret at this early stage, Legendary said that the production process will be fast-tracked to release the film next year.

Pokémon Go has been such a success thanks to its features that allow players around the world to interact, capture, battle and train their Pokémon. A number of fitness trainers have already come up with Pokémon GO workouts, which allow losing weight while playing the location-based game.

Since 1996, Pokémon has sold 279 million video games around the world, while 21.5 billion cards have been shipped to 74 countries. Plus, there was an animated Pokémon movie and a TV series that ran for 19 seasons.

Universal Pictures will take care of the distribution of the 2017 Pokémon movie outside Japan, just as it has done with Legendary Entertainment’s other films in the past. In the Japanese game released earlier this year, Detective Pikachu is a deerstalker that wore a hat and communicated with humans, according to the Verge.

It was reported last week that several film companies had an intense bidding war over the rights of the Pokémon movie, and it appears that Legendary Entertainment had the strongest bid this time. The company appears to have secured the lucrative deal amid the growing popularity of the reality game.

In the Japanese game about Detective Pikachu, the storyline was centered around Pikachu teaming up with a boy to search for his father who went missing. But there has been no indication whether the 2017 Pokémon movie will continue this storyline or start developing a new one.

[Photo by Warner Bros. Pictures / Getty Images]

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