Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...

'' is a media franchise created by video game designer Satoshi Tajiri that centers on fictional creatures called

. , there have been 23 animated films and one live action film. The first nineteen animated films are based on the anime television series of the same name, with the original film being remade into the 22nd. The 20th, 21st and 23rd animated films are set in an alternate continuity to the anime. The films are produced by the animation studios

OLM The olm or proteus (''Proteus anguinus'') is an aquatic salamander in the family Proteidae, the only exclusively cave-dwelling chordate species found in Europe. In contrast to most amphibians, it is entirely aquatic, eating, sleeping, and br ...

Production I.G is a Japanese animation studio and production enterprise, founded on December 15, 1987, by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and headquartered in Musashino, Tokyo, Japan. The letters I and G derive from the names of the company founders: producer Mitsuhisa Ish ...

Xebec A xebec ( or ), also spelled zebec, was a Mediterranean sailing ship that was used mostly for trading. Xebecs had a long overhanging bowsprit and aft-set mizzen mast. The term can also refer to a small, fast vessel of the sixteenth to nineteenth ...

, and

Wit Studio (stylised as WIT STUDIO) is a Japanese animation studio founded on June 1, 2012, by producers at Production I.G as a subsidiary of IG Port. It is headquartered in Musashino, Tokyo, with Production I.G producer George Wada as president and Te ...

, and distributed in Japan by

Toho is a Japanese film, theatre production and distribution company. It has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and is one of the core companies of the Osaka-based Hankyu Hanshin Toho Group. Outside of Japan, it is best known as the producer ...

, with various studios distributing the films in North America. They were directed by

Kunihiko Yuyama is a Japanese director best known for his work on the ''Pokémon'' anime franchise. He also directed ''Magical Princess Minky Momo'', '' Leda: The Fantastic Adventure of Yohko'', ''The Three Musketeers Anime'', ''Ushio and Tora'', '' Kimagure ...

and Tetsuo Yajima, and written by

Takeshi Shudo was a Japanese scriptwriter and novelist. His major works include anime ''Space Warrior Baldios'', the ''Magical Princess Minky Momo'' series, and ''Pokémon'', of which he created the Pokémon Lugia. He had a reputation for his witty dialogue a ...

, Hideki Sonoda, Atsuhiro Tomioka,

Shōji Yonemura is a Japanese writer from Fukuoka Prefecture. He is known mainly for his work in anime and tokusatsu. After having graduated from Tokyo Zokei University, he worked as a freelance writer in Arakawa and would attend various film festivals. Then, ...

, Eiji Umehara, and Aya Takaha. The first ''Pokémon'' animated film, '' Pokémon: The First Movie'', was released in Japan in 1998, which was remade into '' Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution''. A live-action film, ''

Pokémon Detective Pikachu ''Detective Pikachu'' (also known as ''Pokémon: Detective Pikachu'' and released as in Japan after the original game) is a 2019 comedy film directed by Rob Letterman. Based on the ''Pokémon'' franchise, the film is a loose adaptation of the ...

'', was produced by American studio

Legendary Entertainment Legendary Pictures Productions, LLC ( doing business as Legendary Entertainment or simply Legendary) is an American film production and mass media company based in Burbank, California, founded by Thomas Tull in 2000. The company has collaborated ...

, directed by

Rob Letterman Robert Thomas Letterman (born October 31, 1970) is an American film director and screenwriter. Letterman made his directorial debut as co-director of the animated comedy film ''Shark Tale'' (2004), for which he received a nomination for the Annie ...

, and written by Letterman and Nicole Perlman. It is distributed in Japan by Toho, and outside of Japan and China by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. D ...

It was released on May 10, 2019. The films star the Pokémon trainer

Ash Ketchum Ash Ketchum, known as in Japan, is a fictional character in the ''Pokémon'' franchise owned by Nintendo. He is the protagonist of the ''Pokémon'' anime and certain manga series as well as on various merchandise related to the franchise. I ...

and his electric mouse partner

Pikachu is a fictional species in the ''Pokémon'' media franchise. Designed by Atsuko Nishida and Ken Sugimori, Pikachu first appeared in the 1996 Japanese video games ''Pokémon Red'' and ''Green'' created by Game Freak and Nintendo, which w ...

. '' Detective Pikachu'' film is based on the 2016 video game '' Detective Pikachu'' and stars

Ryan Reynolds Ryan Rodney Reynolds (born October 23, 1976) is a Canadian-American actor. He is one of the highest-grossing film actors of all time, with a worldwide box-office gross of over billion. He began his career starring in the Canadian teen ...

as the motion capture role of Detective Pikachu, with

Justice Smith Justice Elio Smith (born August 9, 1995) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in the films '' Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom'', '' Pokémon: Detective Pikachu'', and ''All the Bright Places''. Early life Smith was born in Ca ...

and

Kathryn Newton Kathryn Newton (born February 8, 1997) is an American actress. She is known for her starring roles as Louise Brooks in the CBS comedy series ''Gary Unmarried'' (2008–2010), Abigail Carlson in the HBO mystery drama series '' Big Little Lies' ...

as the lead human roles. There are also two animated television specials that were broadcast on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certifie ...

featuring Ash and Ash's Pikachu and ten short animated films. Warner Bros. licensed the first three animated films in North America, and

Miramax Films Miramax, LLC, also known as Miramax Films, is an American film and television production and distribution company founded on December 19, 1979, by brothers Harvey and Bob Weinstein, and based in Los Angeles, California. It was initially a lead ...

licensed the following four films. In Canadian releases, they were licensed by

Alliance Atlantis Alliance Atlantis Communications Inc. (commonly known as Alliance Atlantis and commonly shortened to simply Alliance or Atlantis and formerly traded as TSX:AAC) was a Canadian media company that operated primarily as a specialty service operato ...

(now known as Entertainment One, a subsidiary of

Hasbro Hasbro, Inc. (; a syllabic abbreviation of its original name, Hassenfeld Brothers) is an American multinational conglomerate holding company incorporated and headquartered in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Hasbro owns the trademarks and products of K ...

), which was responsible for Canadian distribution of Miramax Films. In these four movies distributed by Miramax, there were partly or completely different dubbing casts than in the TV series in many countries. Starting with '' Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew'',

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

is the only North American licensee. The 23rd and most recent animated film, '' Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle,'' was originally set for release in Japanese theaters on July 10, 2020, but delayed to December 25, 2020, due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

; it was released on October 8, 2021, in the United States.

Feature films

Live-action films

The launch of the mobile game ''

Pokémon Go ''Pokémon Go'' (stylized as ''Pokémon GO'') is a 2016 augmented reality (AR) mobile game, part of the ''Pokémon'' franchise, developed and published by Niantic in collaboration with Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for iOS and Android ...

'' in 2016 reignited mainstream interest back into the ''Pokémon'' franchise in the Western market since its initial peak in the early 2000s; various Hollywood film companies approached

The Pokémon Company The Pokémon Company (株式会社ポケモン, ''Kabushiki gaisha Pokemon'') is a Japanese company responsible for brand management, production, publishing, marketing, and licensing of the '' Pokémon'' franchise, which consists of video game ...

to gain film rights. Eventually,

Warner Bros. Pictures Warner Bros. Pictures is an American film production and distribution company of the Warner Bros. Pictures Group division of Warner Bros. Entertainment (both ultimately owned by Warner Bros. Discovery). The studio is the flagship producer of ...

and

struck a deal to produce a live-action adaptation of the 2016 video game '' Detective Pikachu'' called ''

'', the first official live-action Pokémon film. In January 2019, ahead of film's release, Legendary has begun development on a sequel to ''Pokémon Detective Pikachu''.

Home video releases

Region 2 (Japan)

Box office performance

Critical reception

Notes

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:List of Pokemon films * Pokémon (film series) Pokémon (film series) Fantasy adventure films

films A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere ...

Pokemon Pokemon