Detective Pikachu Live-Action Movie To Be Produced By Legendary Entertainment - Report

Legendary Entertainment has secured the rights to make a Pokemon Movie, and is partnering with The Pokemon Company to launch a live-action Pokemon film franchise, starting with a "Detective Pikachu" movie. Variety reports that the film will be fast-tracked to begin production in 2017--likely to ride on the popularity of the Pokemon Go wave.

The news follows on from reports last week that "all Hollywood has renewed the chase for a deal to turn Pokemon into a feature film" after the massive success of Pokemon Go. At the time, Legendary Pictures was reportedly "moving toward a deal" to make a live-action Pokemon movie. The studio recently worked on Warcraft.

In April this year, rumours surfaced of a bidding war for Pokemon movie rights between Legendary and Warner Bros. Legendary Entertainment is owned by Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group, who acquired the company in January this year. The rights to the Pokemon franchise are managed by The Pokemon Company out of Japan, who allegedly has been pitching for Hollywood to produce a big-budget, live-action take on the IP.

The live-action movie will star Detective Pikachu. It's not known if the film will have any ties to the Detective Pikachu video game, which was released in Japan this year. The game stars Pikachu in the role of a detective, and unlike many other Pokemon, this Pikachu is capable of speaking. One can only hope that Danny DeVito will go on to voice Pikachu in the live-action movie.