After 17 years a new take on a Pokémon movie has amassed over 47 million views on YouTube on its debut trailer within its first week, showing the franchise can still appeal to the masses.
It’s been well over 17 years since a Pokémon movie has hit theatres just as 90’s Pokémania started to decline. However, a new take on a Pokémon movie has amassed over 47 million views on YouTube on its debut trailer within its first week, showing the franchise can still appeal to the masses.
One of the most weird and wonderful things graced our smartphones the other week – Detective Pikachu’s first official trailer was released showcasing Ryan Reynolds (yes, Deadpool) as Pikachu. Featuring a similar tongue-in-cheek humoristic style to boot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1roy4o4tqQM
The film centres around teenager Tim Goodman - played by Justice Smith, best known as the IT guy in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom – who has given up on his aspirations to become a Pokemon trainer. After his father disappears, he meets an intrusive talking Pikachu with whom he teams up with to discover where his father has disappeared.
Pokémon movies are nothing out of the ordinary, we’ve had one almost every year since Pokémon: The First Movie back in 1998. What is out of the ordinary is a live-action Pokemon movie. This is not the only feature of the film that is different, it also doesn’t include main character Ash, who has been part of the Pokémon animated series since it began 21 years ago.
Despite the jarring change of direction, the trailer has been a hit with the public, achieving 1.3 million likes.
The movie is loosely based off the videogame of the same name released this year for the Nintendo 3DS. The film is expected to debut in the Summer of 2019.