Detective Pikachu

[smallville fan]

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/pokemon-movie-rights-bidding-war-884207?

Pokemon Movie Rights Bidding War as China's Legendary Makes Big Play for Japanese Property

Warner Bros. and Sony also are vying for the popular children's game property.

Can Chinese and Japanese companies come together over a hot children's property?

A top-secret auction for film rights to the Pokemon franchise is nearing completion with Thomas Tull’s Legendary Entertainment attempting to nudge aside Warner Bros., which has pursued the property aggressively, according to sources. Sony also is said to be very interested.
A spokesperson for Legendary, which since January is a division of China's Dalian Wanda Group, declined to comment. But the notion of a Chinese-owned company acquiring a beloved Japanese property could raise a stir given historic tensions between the two countries.

The Pokemon Co., the Japanese outfit that manages the rights to the franchise spun from the hit Nintendo game, has been courting Hollywood to launch a big-budget live-action movie. Warner Bros. was among the early favorites to take the task on considering it already released the animated Pokemon: The First Movie in 1999 (it grossed $165 million worldwide) and two low-budget sequels.

However, Legendary has now emerged as a potential victor to bring Pikachu and other Pokemon characters to theaters, according to a source. And that could pose a potential problem considering Legendary's ownership by the Chinese real estate and investment conglomerate Wanda. There have been long simmering political tensions between Beijing and Tokyo, which most recently peaked with Japan’s criticism of China’s territorial ambitions in the South China Sea. Those pressures have also led to a cultural strain between the two countries in which China effectively banned Japanese films for three years, which was only broken recently.
Legendary, for its part, already has made inroads into Japan’s film industry. Tull’s company, in partnership with Warner Bros., brought Godzilla to the big screen in 2014 in partnership with Japan’s Toho Co. (which owns the rights to the iconic monster and, coincidentally, made the animated Pokemon films). Legendary and Warner Bros. plan to release other movies in the franchise, including Kong: Skull Island next year, Godzilla 2 in 2018 and later Godzilla Vs. Kong.

Warner Bros. and Sony declined to comment.

If they get a budget of at least 250 million and that they don't whitewash the characters, then I might believe this can work.

 

[Bran The Man]

I'd watch it. I remember seeing "Pokémon: The First Movie" back in 1999. Good times.

 

[smallville fan]

I'd be impressed if Legendary got Del Toro or Gareth Edwards to direct it.

 

[Octoberist]

Holy cow.

 

[Lencho01]

Wow.

 

[Boom]

This could be a goldmine.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

I'd watch a live action Pokemon movie provided it's not another Dragonball situation.

 

[Tacit Ronin]

Sorry to go all cynical, but making a live action pokemon movie might bring out the animal abuse implications that was always hidden in the material.

 

[smallville fan]

I'd watch a live action Pokemon movie provided it's not another Dragonball situation.

As long as the budget and cast is good, then it might not be. It's too early to tell at this point.

 

[Guts]

Sorry to go all cynical, but making a live action pokemon movie might bring out the animal abuse implications that was always hidden in the material.

It's not really hidden. At the very begining of the first game, Professor Oak tells the player that some people use Pokemon for pets and others use them for fights. The fact that some people use Pokemon for pets make them similar to real life animals. Only in the real world the majority of people use animals for pets and hopefully a minority uses them animal fights. While the Pokemon world basically revolves around Pokemon fights. One major difference between real animal fights and what goes on in Pokemon is that the trainers in Pokemon also develop a friendship with the Pokemon, in real life it's often heard that people abuse animals for fights to get them to be more vicious.

 

[smallville fan]

Someone said on Twitter that they should get the same VFX company who made the Jungle Book animals to make the Pokémon movie. I wouldn't be opposed to that.

 

[Victarion]

Sorry to go all cynical, but making a live action pokemon movie might bring out the animal abuse implications that was always hidden in the material.

They'd need to make it clear that these creatures have a natural inclination toward trying to prey on one another. And people, then have the whole trainer scenario be something like those sanctioned hunts you have forestry people or whoever doing. Like the old guy from Troll Hunter was doing for the Norwegian government. Alternatively, they could treat it like MMA. MMA's brutal, but its a sport that demands perfection, dedication and constant self improvement. That's probably the safest course, now that I think about it.

Team Rocket could also be used as a catalyst for pokemon training. Like, they start capturing pokemon and doing their mafia thing with them. Ash, Red or whoever gets his pokemon and decides to use his quest to take out Giovanni. That's a pretty simple narrative that lets them focus on their visual effects.

If this doesn't have Charizard, Scyther, and Mewtwo, I'll probably pass.

 

[Asgard]

Yeah, I like Pokemon and all that but theres no denying the cock fighting aspect of the show. Its literally a human telling his pet to go fight another animal. Its pretty gross when you think of it outside the confines of animation where theres no blood or anything. Not even bruises. You just see slight scratch marks.

The only way this could work is if they make it very clear that Pokemon are just as intelligent as their human counterparts and that the decision to fight is entirely their own and has nothing to do with their human counterparts. Not sure how they can do that though when part of the process of getting a Pokemon is to beat it up via another Pokemon to the point that it submits to you.

 

[Mad Ones]

There's a reason the games and the anime obnoxiously emphasize friendship so much. I don't think that does much though lol.

I'll wait before I take this movie seriously.

 

[smallville fan]

I've thought about this and here's a suggestion. What if in ancient times, Pokémon would often naturally out of instinct start wars and battles with each other often resulting in big destruction to the environment and causing human and Pokémon casualties? Then over time, Pokémon battles are made and done by skilled trainers as a way to control, curb and regulate that instinct.

Then Team Rocket would be out to try and start those big wars Pokémon did all those years ago?

This is just a rough idea from the top of my head. If someone wants to improve it go ahead.

I wonder what they'll do about Ash Ketchum's age?

 

[Monochron]

What a "realistic" Pokemon could look like:

 

[smallville fan]

What a "realistic" Pokemon could look like:

Charizard and Charmeleon look great, not so much Charmander.

Speaking of, I'd like to see this become a thing:

No joke, I'd legitimately pay to watch this.

 

[Bran The Man]

Chris Pratt as Ash? Hmmm...

 

[smallville fan]

^Just as any trainer lol. I thought it was a cool picture I saw so I thought it was worth posting. Plus Chris Pratt as a Pokémon trainer could be awesome.

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

This has 1 billion written all over it.

 

[Bran The Man]

^Just as any trainer lol. I thought it was a cool picture I saw so I thought it was worth posting. Plus Chris Pratt as a Pokémon trainer could be awesome.

Oh, okay. I think I could see him as Brock.

 

[craigdbfan]

Disney should get in this bidding war. They'd direct the hell out of this franchise.

 

[smallville fan]

Disney owning Pokemon would be hilarious. But I think Legendary already won?

 

[Loden Greatstorm]

Disney owning Pokemon would be hilarious. But I think Legendary already won?

Disney pretty much owns everything t:

 

[Silvermoth]

Oh god they're going to whitewash ash aren't they?

Anyway yeah, whoever buys the rights to Nintendo characters will be the only ones with a property that can rival the dominance of marvel.