The movie studio Legendary Entertainment and The Pokemon Co. on Wednesday announced that they will launch the first Pokemon live-action film franchise based on Detective Pikachu, a new character in the Pokemon universe.
The first Pokemon movie, called Detective Pikachu, opens production in 2017.
After Pokemon Go became a phenomenon quickly after its July 6 launch, Legendary set about closing the deal with The Pokemon Co., the Japanese outfit that manages the rights to the franchise spun from the hit Nintendo game.
The app allows players to search for digital creatures that pop up on smartphone screens as they move through real-world locations.
Universal Pictures will handle distribution of the live-action film outside of Japan. Toho will handle distribution in Japan.
Pokemon, first created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1995, is a franchise of video games, trading cards, TV shows, comic books and movies that center on the unique creatures that are collected by Pokemon Trainers, who then train them to battle for sport
Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group, which owns AMC Theaters, bought Legendary Entertainment for $3.5bn in January.
Sources: AP, The Hollywood Reporter
