Live Action 'Pokemon' Movie May Be in the Works as Bidding War over Rights Nears End

By Liezl Dunuan, Christian Post Contributor Tuesday, April 19, 2016

Kids who grew up in the 1990s also grew up with the beloved game series "Pokemon," as well as the animated series that was developed based on the popular game series. This year, the franchise is celebrating its 20^{th anniversary and the Pokemon Company has a lot of things planned to celebrate this milestone. If reports are true, a live action "Pokemon" movie may be a part of these plans. According to a report in The Hollywood Reporter, a bidding war for the movie rights to the intellectual property is already ongoing, and whoever comes out the winner will be the lucky company who will adapt the beloved series to the big screen.}

According to the report, there are three major players in the bidding war. These include two big Hollywood studio – Warner Bros. and Sony – and surprisingly, Chinese-backed Legendary Studios. It is reported that all three studios are very interested in the property, with Legendary reportedly trying to "nudge aside" Warner Bros.

Warner Bros. was among the first studios that the Pokemon Company considered in pursuing this live-action project, since it already released the animated movie "Pokemon: The First Movie" in 1999, which was followed by two low-budget animated sequels.

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According to a Forbes report, an inside source knowledgeable about the bidding war says that Legendary may very well be the winner. The report noted that while this situation may mean that fans will be seeing their beloved pocket monsters in a live-action movie soon, it can also stir a controversy because of Legendary's Chinese ownership. Politically, the two countries have been at odds with each other, so a Chinese-owned studio acquiring a Japanese intellectual property may not be acceptable to any of the parties.

This situation may however be countered by the fact that Legendary has done well with Japanese films with the 2014 "Godzilla" movie as a case in point. Legendary worked with Warner Bros and Japan's Toho Co., who also incidentally made the animated Pokemon films.