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

'' is a

media franchise A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program ...

created by video game designer

Satoshi Tajiri is a Japanese video game designer and director best known for being the creator of the ''Pokémon'' franchise and one of the founders, and president of video game developer Game Freak. A fan of arcade games, Tajiri wrote for and edited his own v ...

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 nineteent ...

, 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 Tets ...

, 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 ...

, 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'', 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 Anni ...

, 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 and his electric mouse partner

Pikachu is a Lists of fictional species, fictional species in the Pokémon, ''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 ...

. '' 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 Motion capture (sometimes referred as mo-cap or mocap, for short) is the process of recording the movement of objects or people. It is used in military, entertainment, sports, medical applications, and for validation of computer vision and robo ...

role of Detective Pikachu, with Justice Smith 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 certified ...

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 operat ...

(now known as

Entertainment One Entertainment One Ltd., trading as eOne, is an American-owned Canadian multinational entertainment company. Based in Toronto, Ontario, the company is primarily involved in the acquisition, distribution, and production of films and television s ...

, 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 ...

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; 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 and

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