Although plans appear to be in the very early stages,Deadline is reporting that Legendary Pictures is looking into developing a live action Pokemon movie! At this point, no specific deal has been worked out, but the article notes that long gestating plans to secure the big screen rights to Pokemon are now being bolstered by the massive success of the augmented reality game Pokemon GO.
The first Pokemon game debuted in Japan in 1996, before making its way to America in 1998. The series began as two titles for Nintendo‘s original Game Boy, which saw players tasked with catching and training all of the Pokemon (short for Pocket Monsters) to become the ultimate Pokemon Master. The franchise quickly evolved into an extensive library of video games, in addition to a popular trading card game, and an anime/film series. Over 279 million units have been sold since the series began, making it one of the best selling video game franchises in history.
Nineteen animated Pokemon movies have been produced and distributed since 1998, though only five have played in theaters in the United States. Warner Bros. distributed the first three films, which brought in $85 million, $43 million, and $17 million as the domestic box office, respectively.
