It would see to be a chip shot by Hollywood standards: Pokémon has been enormously successful in every arena it’s ever thrown a Pokeball into, so a live-action film would seem to be an inevitability. Yet it’s never come together, and seemingly never been considered, until now.
It’s especially odd because the franchise has done fairly well in theaters. Although the fifth movie didn’t exactly clean house in the U.S., worldwide the franchise has grossed over $400 million just from low-budget animated features. And it appears the Pokémon Co. has finally gotten over Nintendo’s institutional reluctance to engage with Hollywood and is looking for bidders.
They’ve had no shortage, unsurprisingly. In fact, according to the Hollywood Reporter, it’s come down to Warner Bros., which distributed three of the original animated movies, or Legendary Entertainment. The latter is particularly interesting because as of this year, it’s a subsidiary of a Chinese company, and China and Japan don’t have exactly the warmest relations. That said, one can also see Warner Bros. putting up the most money. After their success with The Lego Movie and with The Lego Batman Movie shaping up to be a juggernaut, they likely want to see how much of the family movie business they can poach from Disney.
Of course, this is just for the rights. Once those are secured, the studio will have to make the movie, and it’s an open question whether that will come together. Still, if the rights are out there, sooner or later we’ll be seeing a live-action Ash.
(Via the Hollywood Reporter)
