Live Action Detective Pikachu Movie (Summer 2019)

[8ther 431]

Seeing how no one else bothered to make this thread, i'll take a shot at it.

It's been know for a while now that a live action movie based on that Japan exclusive Detective Pikachu game is being made by Legendary Pictures, directed by 2016's Goosebumps director Rob Letterman, with Nicole Perlman(of writer of 2014's Guardians of the Galaxy and co-writer of the upcoming Captain Marvel fim) and Alex Hirsch(the creator of Gravity Falls) in negotiations to write the film. recently two of the lead actor roles have been revealed, Justice Smith (from the Netflix series Get Down and the upcoming Jurassic World sequel), and Kathryn Newton (of the CW series Supernatural and Big Little Lies), with Hugh Jackman, Ryan Reynolds, Mark Wahlberg, and The Rock all being eyed for the role as Pikachu.

What's more, audition tapes posted by the site Omega Underground may have revealed what the plot will be about.

Quote

the two main characters of the film will be a pair of teenage humans named Tim and Lucy. Tim is searching for his missing father and he is apparently forced to take a gruff-talking Pikachu with him, a 

Pokemon that apparently only he can understand. Lucy is a junior investigative reporter who is tracking a story about how captured Pokemon are apparently turning on their trainers. She will be joined by a Psyduck Pokemon of her own.

 

 

 

Edited November 12, 2018 by Sean

[Salamander 4,579]

For all that this is generally regarded as a baffling project, on reflection I actually think it's a pretty natural choice for a film adaptation.  The basic storyline is film-ready and translates easily to an audience unfamiliar with Pokemon, it's not hidebound by the conventions of the mainline games, it's got the series mascot front and centre.  I quite like the idea of a story which examines Pokemon from a more human perspective rather than leaping straight into fantasy battles; that might play well with the real-world element introduced by Pokemon Go, too.  It doesn't require as much groundwork as establishing one of the wider game settings and the unique myths surrounding them, even if that might be more representative of what the Pokemon universe is about.

The only real mystery is why they haven't brought the game over already to prepare the ground, since it's a fair bet that the 3DS will be effectively buried by the time the project actually hits cinemas - unless they're planning a Switch rerelease, actually, which doesn't seem unlikely now that I think about it.  It'd be better for a near-simultaneous release, since the game and the film appear to have pretty similar premises and might spoil each other; I don't know anything about how the game ends, but considering the posted synopsis it seems pretty obvious.

[8ther 431]

Deadpool himself is playing Pikachu...

http://www.ign.com/articles/2017/12/07/ryan-reynolds-to-star-as-detective-pikachu-in-pokemon-movie

[Red 985]

We have a logo


https://twitter.com/DetPikachuMovie/status/1033006574363586561

 

[8ther 431]

Any ideas on when we could see the first trailer/teaser?

[Red 985]

I'm thinking a teaser at the end of the upcoming movie, Power of Us. They wouldn't release a trailer during promotion for the current movie but I can see them making an exclusive trailer for those who see Movie 21 in cinemas.

[Myst 737]

Not really a Pokemon fan, but I have a strong feeling the first trailer for Sonic will be attached to this. Nintendo and Sega go hand-in-hand nowadays.

[Sonictrainer 5,321]

...is it bad that I think Mr. Mime looks like the best one out of all of them...?

Pikachu doesn't look too bad, although he kind of looks like his concept art.

I can understand Jigglypuff having hair but I don't understand the fur since she's a Balloon Pokemon.

[Marcello 11,084]

Looks good to me. Actually got me excited.

I think the Pokémon look fine. But what I really like is the fonts and designs they used for posters. There's just something about them.

[Detective Kaito 1,354]

This looks absolutely horrible.

I'm not a Pokemon fan, but yikes. These Pokemon look creepy as hell.

How did the Pokemon Company approve of this?

[Teoskaven 3,185]

We already have a thread for this:

Use the search function next time.

[DabigRG 2,966]

Oh look, that Pokeapocalypse movie got a sequel! Or is it a Ted spinoff?

 

Cheese and Rice, Psyduck looks horrifying.

 

Those friggin phone commercials surprisingly don't make this as annoying as you'd think.

2 hours ago, Detective Kaito said:

This looks absolutely horrible.

I'm not a Pokemon fan, but yikes. These Pokemon look creepy as hell.

How did the Pokemon Company approve of this?

I wanna make a joke that'd probably be tasteless, so have this instead.

[Sgt Nate V 252]

My thoughts on the Detective Pikachu trailer:
There were good moments. There were shit moments. It unfortunately kept flip-flopping between said good and shit moments. At least the models look good.

[Sean 4,831]

3 hours ago, Teoskaven said:

We already have a thread for this:

Use the search function next time.

Thanks for linking the topic, but next time can you use the report function instead?

Gonna merge the two.

[Salamander 4,579]

I'm surprised by how okay I was with the Pokemon designs.  Pikachu is perhaps a little too fluffy, almost enough to look like an animatronic; Jigglypuff being furry I had never considered, but I suppose it accounts for that lock of hair.  Charizard, Psyduck, and Mr. Mime are less appetising; but then again, maybe they're supposed to be.  Overall, I think it's an unexpectedly good look.

[NegaMetallix 4,840]

Going into the trailer blind, I was honestly rather surprised by what I saw. And in a mostly positive way, too.

I mean sure, it's rather odd seeing the result of these Pokémon being redesigned for the big screen. But aside from one or two exceptions (Psyduck, maybe Greninja) I don't mind their looks overall. Though that may change once the movie's out. After all, there are a LOT of Pokémon that could potentially appear in this.

Putting aside this new game of "Who's that Uncanny Valley Pokémon?" though, my thoughts on the trailer are somewhere between mixed-to-positve. It had moments that made me chuckle, and others that made me roll my eyes a little. But by the end of it, I was interested enough to want to see more. (It probably helps that I've only really played the demo for Detective Pikachu's game so far...)

So, uh... yeah. Colour me surprised.

[tailsBOOM! 3,587]

ProZD's uploaded this in response to it:

 

[-Robin- 3,840]

They had the opportunity to make every Pokemon look as mass-appealing as possible. Make everything colorful and cutesy, for the sake of the brand.

 

The fact that they didn't is a vote of confidence that I can respect. Every Pokemon has a design choice in mind that goes above and beyond, but doesn't detract from their original designs at all. They have an atmosphere and ambiance in mind for this movie, and they are going to stick with it. I'm genuinely interested in seeing this movie.

[CrownSlayer’s Shadow 12,109]

I’m not gonna lie, this looks better than I would expect out of live action/GCI Hybrid movies.

[KHCast 13,069]

Loving how just straight up divided the community is on these designs lol. As for what I think. Looks fun. Some of the designs are fucking atrocious like holy shit Psyduck and Jigglypuff, but most of the are alright. I actually don’t mind at all Mr: Mime though I can see why to some he’s uncanny valley

[Zaysho 12,543]

I saw the trailer this morning and was actually pretty impressed with it. I was expecting some Platinum Dunes-scale disaster, but I was rather pleased with how everything looks and feels. The world feels like a Pokémon world. Some of the realistic touches on certain Pokémon look a little jarring (I think Jigglypuff and Psyduck stood out as feeling "off") but generally speaking I think they nailed the look and an appropriate middleground for the featured Pokémon. It's also nice seeing a variety of Pokémon and not just gen one stock or whatever. The humor and the writing also felt more up my alley, and maybe the movie will end up being pretty stupid, but it actually looks quite fun.

[Sega DogTagz 3,761]

Mr. Mime was rather unsettling in the source material. I don't see why him lurking in that same domain in the movie style is a surprise to anyone. He's gets an automatic pass because in the end he is just a weird Pokemon.

 

I think Pikachu works well enough, and the emolga's in the background were charming at a distance too. But after taking a look at Jiggly, Greninja and Psyduck - those just don't translate very well and it shows. The pokemon roster is big enough that you can really avoid utilizing Pokemon that won't "look right" if you really wanted too - but seeing as how they went head-on with Mr. Mime they are going all in on the art style, uncanny valley be damned.

 

[Marcello 11,084]

Speaking of Mr. Mime, I am kind of weirded out that those blue things coming out of his head are apparently not hair?

[Salamander 4,579]

2 hours ago, Marcello said:

Speaking of Mr. Mime, I am kind of weirded out that those blue things coming out of his head are apparently not hair?

Hmm.  Maybe the filmmakers decided it was too abstract to be reimagined as hair.  It did always have a sort of jester-hat vibe as well...  Maybe they're horns mimicking hair?  In much the same way as the Pokemon's form is mimicking humans more broadly.

[KoDaiko 745]

Huh. Wasn't bad as I expected it to be.

The only two things that bother me are 1)some are either overly-furry/fluffy or Papier-mâché, and 2) I kinda wish they could make their eyes more unified. I know animals in RL have different eyes too, but it looked a bit odd to see some pokemon have a bit more realistic eye while others look straight out of the game.

3 hours ago, Marcello said:

Speaking of Mr. Mime, I am kind of weirded out that those blue things coming out of his head are apparently not hair?

I personallly assumed they were ears. Kinda like Wartortle.

I was pretty young when I first saw Mr. Mime and couldn't connect them to clowns. Also two things on opposide side of head=ears, unless they were obviously horns or decoration.