As one of the biggest multimedia franchises in the world, it’s no surprise that there are so many Pokémon movies, but what is very confusing is why the most high-profile feature-length effort in the series has now gone over half a decade without a follow-up. On the surface, the movie in question seems like the perfect candidate for earning a sequel. However, despite initial buzz regarding that possibility, the project is becoming less and less likely as the years go by.
Released in 2019, Pokémon: Detective Pikachu took the fan base by storm by bringing the franchise into the world of live-action media. Before the movie, Pokémon only existed in the form of video games, manga, and anime. While there was a quiet demand for a live-action project, it also didn’t seem particularly necessary, given the franchise’s ongoing success. Then, The Pokémon Company took the plunge and partnered with Warner Bros. to bring the beloved world to life in a new way. Since then, the franchise has all but turned its back on another Detective Pikachu movie, which is a bit of a confusing decision.
‘Detective Pikachu’s Box Office Revenue & Largely Positive Reception Should Have Earned It a Sequel
Because Pokémon is a franchise that’s largely associated with existing almost exclusively in a 2D format, bringing the world to life in a way that’s as realistic as possible could have failed. The characters all look a certain way because of their original medium, and instances such as the bizarre choices made for the original design of live-action Sonic in his 2020 movie trailer prove that fans’ uproar can indeed be caused. That said, the Detective Pikachu promotional material never drew backlash, and the movie was praised for how well Pikachu and the other Pokémon looked in their new forms.
Today, Rotten Tomatoes rates the movie at a respectable 68%, while fans give it a more generous score of 79%. They’re not out-of-this-world percentages by any means, but films with far worse ratings have been given the nod to start work on a sequel. On a budget of $150 million, Detective Pikachu took over $433 million at the box office, according to Box Office Mojo. The cost of marketing a movie can often match, and sometimes even exceed, the cost of making the film itself. Still, taking this into account, Detective Pikachu likely made a net profit of around $60 million, which is far from insubstantial.
Given Pokémon‘s immense popularity, it is admittedly a little surprising that Detective Pikachu didn’t make more money, and this underperformance may have factored into the decision to back away from the possibility of a sequel. Regardless, any kind of financial success at the box office is a big achievement and should be viewed as such — especially in the streaming era. It fell short of many of its big-name franchise peers in 2019, especially Avengers: Endgame, but it was by no means a failure.
By comparison, 1998’s Pokémon: The First Movie made over $163 million at the box office (via Box Office Mojo) on a reported budget of $30 million. As the first-ever movie in the franchise, and with the characters, storyline, and general aesthetic more recognizably Pokémon, it’s perhaps not surprising that the 1998 movie performed better than Detective Pikachu. However, the 2019 live-action effort was also released during a very different era for the industry at large.
The Most Straightforward Explanation Why ‘Detective Pikachu 2’ Still Hasn’t Happened
Although set within the same canon as the Pokémon anime, Detective Pikachu is loosely based on the video game of the same name. However, the twist that the game’s title character is secretly human in disguise is original to the 2019 movie. This story choice allowed Ryan Reynolds to come aboard, giving the movie a huge name to put on the poster and helping drive ticket sales. As well as Reynolds’ casting as Pikachu/Harry Goodman worked, the movie wrapped up with a satisfying conclusion that restored Harry to his original body and made the title character just a regular, adorable Pikachu that didn’t speak English.
So, without the sequel somehow making another Pikachu into another detective, the movie’s title wouldn’t make sense. Plus, while it would be great for Reynolds to return, his character is just a regular detective now, and a movie simply called Regular Detective wouldn’t really work. Well, maybe it could for some audiences. Either way, a story focusing on a run-of-the-mill Pikachu could probably struggle to attract much attention, too. With no narrative need for Reynolds to return and no fuzzy yellow investigator, it’s tricky to see a way forward for Detective Pikachu 2.
On the other hand, now that it’s been proven that a live-action Pokémon movie can indeed succeed, there’s no reason why another live-action movie that’s set in the same world can’t also add to the franchise. Pokémon is just as popular as it was in 2019, if not more so, so there is certainly an appetite for more from the beloved universe. Plus, there is plenty of source material for a new live-action movie to draw from. What remains to be seen is whether an appropriate storyline can be decided upon, if Detective Pikachu was the only middle ground the writers could find, or if an unexpected sequel could be announced out of nowhere.
- Release Date
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May 10, 2019
- Runtime
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104 minutes