Shortly after it became abundantly clear that Pokémon GO was a smash hit, rumors about Legendary Pictures acquiring the rights to make a live-action Pokémon movie began to circulate.
The fact that movie studios would want to bring the world of Pokémon to the big screen is a no-brainer. Not only is Pokémon one of Nintendo's most popular and longest-running franchises, but the huge success of the recently-released mobile game Pokémon GO means that now, nearly everybody on the planet has at least heard of Pokémon, even if they've never played any of the games themselves.
Everything was making sense up until the official announcement of the film. The rumors were true about one thing: Legendary Pictures would be creating a live-action Pokémon film. What the rumors didn't say was that the film would star Detective Pikachu.
You remember Detective Pikachu, right? It's a bizarre Japanese spin-off game that sees the franchise's lovable mascot turned into a hard-boiled detective. It was also responsible for this pretty great Danny Devito and Detective Pikachu mash-up.
However, the real question here is why Detective Pikachu? Rather than adapting the game series or even the anime before it, Legendary and the Pokémon Company have, for some reason, decided to put the emphasis on a side character that North American fans have little exposure to. Legendary isn't making a Pokémon GO movie about trainers trying to catch magical creatures in the real world. They aren't adapting the anime, which followed a young boy named Ash Ketchum on his quest to become a Pokémon master. Instead, they're making a live-action film based on a goofy Pokémon spin-off.
Considering the Pokémon Company's involvement, perhaps it was the company that decided to push for Detective Pikachu rather than a different Pokemon theme for the film. Legendary can only take what they're offered, after all, so perhaps the Pokémon Company was reluctant to hand over the keys to the entire franchise.
Of course, this is likely just the start of a film series. If Detective Pikachu is a success (which, despite its strange premise, it probably will be), rest assured there will be more live-action pocket monster films to come. The Detective Pikachu movie is being fast-tracked, with production set to start in 2017.
