With Disney coming in to an age of box office dominance with two MCU films (soon to be 3), an annual Star Wars outing and a number of other fledgling franchises in addition to their traditional line up of family features (plus new Indy flicks!), competitors Sony and Warner Bros. have been eyeing out new potential franchises to compete in a market now dominated by tent-pole blockbusters. With this in mind, and with childhood classics Power Rangers and He-Man soon to be joining Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Transformers and GI: JOE with live-action adaptations, it should come as no surprise that the rights to Japanese video game/cartoon/toy/card game/adult girls backpack franchise Pokémon have landed on the auction block.
Tipped to be the frontrunners Legendary, Warner Bros. and Sony have reportedly entered into a bidding war over who gets to bring the potentially lucrative franchise to the big screen for western audiences.
The Hollywood Reporter have reported (from Hollywood, of course) that whilst Legendary are currently the leading contender, traditional tensions in Chinese - Japanese political relations could complicate things.
All three studios could do with adding another major franchise to their roster, with Sony this week announcing a crossover is in the works between 21 Jump St and MIB which many have taken as an indication that the studio is running out of properties to bleed dry. Warner Brothers on the other hand have the new Harry Potter spinoff and DCEU, but with trepidation around the future of some of their DC properties after BvS was met with lukewarm critical reception and looking unlikely to meet that $1 billion point, it makes sense that they would want an extra ace up their sleeves for a rainy day, and Pokémon might be just that.
Pokemania reached fever pitch in the late 90s, with the first animated film clearing a cool $80 million. The franchise is still very much alive and kicking and this year will be celebrating its 20th anniversary. Whilst a box office boost from the nostalgia crowd is what helped launched the Transformers and GI: Joe franchises, it is traditionally more associated with 80s properties; love for the 90s has been growing in recent years though and could spell out big things for this beloved end of the millenium franchise. With persistent rumours about another Space Jam, a sequel to Independence Day coming in June and now this, perhaps we could be entering a 90s revival period?
It has yet to be confirmed whether or not the infamous Team Rocket will be bringing their patented brand of tomfoolery to the big screen (Bill Hader & Kristen Wigg anyone?), but we can be fairly confident that we’ll we be seeing Ash and Pikachu continue their “Will They, Won’t They?” Pokesexual romance… Ok, maybe I was reading into their relationship dynamics a bit too much?
Are you ready for this? Is your inner 90s kid cheering at this news? However this all goes down, one things for certain: animal rights groups are gonna have a fit when a live action film is released about kids who hunt for rare and exotic animals to trap in a 4 -inch ball shaped cage and then train them (or feed them steroid candy) so that they can pit them against other occasionally mismatched animals in a cock-fighting style super violent throw down until one of them is beaten unconscious. Pokémon’s have feelings too you guyz!
Sound off with your thoughts below, or just leave your best Pokemon meme!