One of the most surreal announcements to come out of the film industry in recent years, theDetective Pikachumovie will feature alive-action setting, a talking Pikachu, and a brand-new take on thePokemonfranchise. According to online sources, filming for Legendary Entertainment’s detective-themed movie will commence on July 31, 2025.
The production will reportedly be filmed in London, England, with Rob Letterman (Goosebumps) expected to direct. Very few confirmations have been made at this point, but theDetective Pikachuscript will be written by Alex Hirsch (GravityFalls) and Nicole Perlman (Guardians of the Galaxy).
Although no casting announcements have been made so far, the filming is set to begin so soon likely means thatPokemonfans can likely expect a reveal in the coming months. When the announcement was made thatDetective Pikachuwas getting a live-action movie, an online campaign was started to get the unique talking mouse voiced by none other thanIt’s Always Sunny In Philadelphiastar Danny DeVito. Despite 50,000 people signing the petition, however, it seems unlikely that The Pokemon Company is looking in that sort of direction.
In fact, it has not yet been revealed whether or notDetective Pikachuwill even see a Western release at this point. The game which inspired the film, a 3DS spin-off title by the name ofGreat Detective Pikachuwhere Tim Goodman works together with a highly-intellectualPokemonto solve mysteries, is currently unavailable outside of the Japanese eShop.
With the vast majority of video game movies being complete disappointments for fans of the original titles, it’s hard be optimistic about thehuge amount of feature filmsthat are currently in production. After the poor reception ofAssassin’s Creed,Warcraft, andRatchet and Clank, it’s possible that studios will finally be learning exactly what gamers want from film adaptations but they’re going to have to step up their game to impress an increasingly impatient audience.
