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Ryan Reynolds’ Toddler Pushed Him To Play Detective Pikachu

By Trisha Faulkner
Published on: 10:29 PST, May 11, 2019

Pokémon Detective Pikachu starring Ryan Reynolds as the voice of Detective Pikachu made its theatrical debut yesterday.

According to Forbes, opening day was a success for the newest addition to the Pokémon franchise, as the film topped Avengers: Endgame by pulling in $21 million on Friday.

That figure does include the $5.7 million the movie pulled in during Thursday previews. Only time will tell if the film is able to top Avengers: Endgame for the entire weekend. The $21 million is just slightly more than Tomb Raider’s opening day back in 2001 when the film pulled in $18 million. Pokémon Detective Pikachu is expected to exceed Tomb Raider’s opening weekend of $47 million.

For those who have a hard time imagining the voice of anyone other than Reynolds’ coming out of the CGI Pikachu in the film, the film’s director, Robert Letterman, revealed during an interview with Collider that it was actually the actor’s daughter who deserves thanks.

“We were all in on Ryan. So, what happened was, I did these tests. I took an old clip of Ryan from a different movie and we animated Pikachu to it. And the second I saw that test it was done. It was perfect. We hadn’t even reached out to him. There would be no other version in my mind,” Letterman explained.

The 48-year-old director admitted that getting Ryan to say yes to the movie was a “massive relief.” Lettermen added that the 42-year-old actor later revealed that he showed the video clip to his 2-year-old daughter, Inez, who proceeded to talk her daddy into playing Pikachu.

“So thank you to Ryan’s daughter!” Letterman gushed.

As fans of the Deadpool actor know, he and his wife, Blake Lively, are also parents of 4-year-old James. The duo even recently revealed they were expecting baby No. 3.

For those who haven’t seen the film yet, Reynolds stars alongside Justice Smith, Ken Watanabe, Kathryn Newton, and Rita Ora. The family-friendly film tells the story of 21-year-old Tim (Smith), who possesses the unique ability to understand what Pikachu is saying.

According to the trailer, Pikachu is far from the only CGI Pokémon you can expect to see in the film as Bulbasaur, Psyduck, and Jigglypuff will also make appearances.

During the same interview with Collider, Letterman also explained that the Pokémon Detective Pikachu movie was created as a dedication to both the new and old generations of fans of the franchise.

Robert added that the movie was essentially a “love letter” to fans of Pokémon.

Pokémon Detective Pikachu is currently in theaters.

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