Reynolds to star in Pokémon film ‘Detective Pikachu’

Goosebumps director Rob Letterman will direct the film “Detective Pikachu” from a screenplay by Nicole Perlman and Alex Hirsch. Ryan Reynolds is starring in the film with Justice Smith and Kathryn Newton. The film will be a live action version of the popular video game franchise known as Pokémon. The story involves the father of Smith’s teenage character being kidnapped, forcing him to team up with Pikachu in order to find him, while Newton will portray a journalist. First introduced in Japan in 1996, Pokemon has seen nearly 300 million video games sold worldwide, 23 billion cards shipped to 74 countries, and an animated series spanning 20 seasons. They also created the smartphone game called Pokemon Go, which gained massive popularity and also criticism from all over the world. Universal Pictures will handle distribution of the live-action film outside Japan, as it has done with Legendary’s other films in recent years. The Pokémon Company’s long time movie collaborator, Toho, will handle distribution of the film franchise in Japan. Reynolds starred as the foul-mouthed lead character in Fox’s “Deadpool” last year. The superhero vehicle grossed nearly $800 million worldwide for Fox, spawning a sequel, “Deadpool 2,” which will hit theaters on June 1, 2018. He starred with Samuel L. Jackson in “The Hitman’s Bodyguard” for Lionsgate this year.