The Pokémon Company Working on Live Action Movie, Auction for Films Right Going On
Good news for all the Pokémon fans. A live-action film based on the animated show of fictional creatures may be on the way. According to a report by IGN, The Pokémon Company is working on launching a big-budget live-action film of their successful franchise. They recently celebrated their 20th anniversary and creating a movie about it would most certainly complete the festivity.
But as of the moment, the rights for the film are under bidding. The Hollywood Reporter detailed that the company has held a "top-secret acution" for film rights to the Pokemon franchise. In fact, reports say that it is already almost complete. Making a lead in the list is Thomas Tull's Legendary Entertainment which is aiming to shove aside Warner Bros. which is also trying to chase after the property rights.
Mirror UK reported that it's expected that Warner Bros. is interested to pick up the film rights since the company was the one who released the first animated Pokémon movie, "Pokémon: The First Movie," in the year 1991. The Chinese-owned subsidiary Legendary Entertainment is willing to fight for the film too but there may be an issue involved as there have been political tensions and cultural strains between Japan and China over the years. China even banned Japanese films for three years in their country. It was just recently when the government lifted the ban. Moreover, reports say that Sony is also interested for the film rights.
Whatever the result may be for the auction, fans can only hope that the live-action "Pokémon" film will be in good hands and will be given the Hollywood treatment that it best deserves. The Pokémon Company is also gearing up for the release of "Pokémon Sun/Moon" later this year. Aside from that, they are working with Niantic for the upcoming augmented-reality game Pokémon GO, which is also expected to arrive in iOS and Android devices this year.