Principal Photography for 'Detective Pikachu' Movie Is Underway
Principal photography on "Detective Pikachu" has begun, and "Deadpool" actor Ryan Reynolds is already at it. Legendary Entertainment and Universal Pictures confirmed on Friday that filming for the first-ever live-action Pokemon movie has started, with Reynolds playing the titular role.
With "Detective Pikachu" scheduled to arrive in theaters next year, fans can expect the project to move along at a rapid pace, especially now that its cast and crew are already intact. Aside from Reynolds, other cast members include "Godzilla" star Ken Watanabe, "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" star Justice Smith and "Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri" star Kathryn Newton.
Following the release of the mystery-solving Pikachu game in Japan last year, Legendary Pictures announced that there's going to be a live-action Pokemon film based on the "Detective Pikachu" game. Over the past few months, casting reports about the film have arrived, with the studio announcing that "Goosebumps" director Rob Letterman would helm the film. Legendary also confirmed last year that Reynolds would voice Pikachu and that Smith would be the Pokemon's human partner.
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Written by Eric Pearson and Tom McCarthy and produced by Mary Parent and Cale Boyter, "Detective Pikachu" will go up against TriStar's "Rosie" and STX Entertainment's "Uglydolls" at the box office when it hits theaters in May next year. As of now, details about the plot are still scarce, but it is safe to assume that it won't go too far from the story of the original video game, which centers on a young boy named Tim Goodman and his friend, Detective Pikachu. In the game, the two team up to track down two notorious Aipon characters and solve cases together.
Since "Pokemon" was launched more than 20 years ago, the video game has sold more than 300 million units worldwide. In the coming months, the "Detective Pikachu" video game will arrive in Nintendo 3DS family of systems.
"Detective Pikachu" will hit theaters on May 10, 2019.
