POKEMON: Legendary Pictures Considering Live Action Film

Legendary Pictures is giving thought to a live-action Pokemon film. The studio is interested in potentially adapting the popular video game and anime franchise for the big screen.

It must be stressed that the project is only in the most preliminary stages of development, so it will be some time before fans can expect to see it in theaters. In fact, Legendary has yet to reach any agreement with The Pokemon Company, although reports claim that the studio has been seeking the rights for a while now. Additionally, the recent success of Pokemon GO is cited as further emboldening Legendary to pursue the project:

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.

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