由任天堂與 Game Freak 合作帶來的 RPG 遊戲《精靈寶可夢》(Pokémon,原譯:神奇寶貝)已經風靡了 20 年之久,今年更因為推出擴增實境(Augmented Reality,AR)虛擬互動遊戲 Pokémon GO 再度掀起熱烈討論。除了今年秋天將釋出經典遊戲的全新版〈精靈寶可夢太陽/月亮〉之外,真人版電影計畫也將啟動。
上個禮拜才有消息指出,傳奇影業有望取得電影拍攝版權,而在今天最新的報導則確認了此一消息。任天堂及 Game Freak 合夥的寶可夢公司(株式会社ポケモン,The Pokémon Company)與傳奇影業證實,雙方將合作帶來首部《精靈寶可夢》真人版電影,不過並不是玩家們熟悉的訓練養成內容,而是取材自今年 2 月上市的 3DS 遊戲《名偵探比卡超~新搭檔誕生~》(暫譯,名探偵ピカチュウ ~新コンビ誕生~,Detective Pikachu)。
The Deadpool star has signed on to star in Legendary’s live-action Pokemon movie, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Reynolds joins Justice Smith, who will be seen in the upcoming Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, and Big Little Lies actress Kathryn Newton in the movie, titled Detective Pikachu, based on the gaming franchise.
Rob Letterman (Goosebumps) is directing the project, which is due to start shooting mid-January in London.
The concept of Pokemon, which launched with a video game that transformed into a card-collecting, TV and movie franchise phenomenon, sees players acting as trainers who collect cute but powerful monsters called Pokemon in order to compete in battle tournaments.
Pikachu is a species of Pokemon, while Detective Pikachu the character is a peculiar sort from the Pikachu set, a self-styled investigator who is good at finding things. Reynolds will portray the titular detective.
The story is kicked into gear when Smith's character's father is kidnapped, forcing the teen to team up with Pikachu in order to find him. Newton will play a sassy journalist who helps them on their quest.
The role is said to be motion-capture in nature, sources say.
Many details of the project are being kept off the grid, including the casting, which has been conducted under the radar by the usually secretive Legendary.
The company has high hopes for the feature project, as the Pokemon franchise has sold 300 million video games worldwide, shipped 23.6 billion TCG cards to 74 countries and has produced an animated series spanning 20 seasons.
Alex Hirsch and Nicole Perlman wrote the latest draft of the script. Universal is handling distribution of the live-action film outside Japan; Toho will handle distribution in Japan.