Pokémon: Detective Pikachu 2 still coming out, studios insist

Pokémon: Detective PikachuThe thing was done. Those heralding HBO’s Last of Us as finally lifting the “video game adaptation curse” must forget Legendary Entertainment and Warner Bros. Pictures’ 2019 release, which brought the Pokémon game franchise to live-action for the first time, and to the tune of positive reviews and $430 million worldwide. Although, to be fair to critics, many things prior March 2020 were a little blurry. Overflowing with Pokémon of every type, director Rob Letterman’s movie would seem like an obvious candidate for a bigger, battle-heavier sequel in the vein of the games — the ending’s Ryan Reynolds twist be damned.

However, it was years later that he announced a sequel. Before the original movie’s release, a Pokémon: Detective Pikachu 2It is not to be found. Is everyone’s favorite furry electric pal down for the count or preparing for his next battle?

According to a representative for Legendary Entertainment, the project is still “in active development,” but they could not confirm who was currently working on it. The Pokémon Company declined to comment when Polygon asked about its involvement with the development of the film or other projects that may have spun off since the release of the first Detective Pikachu.

In an interview for the animated series, they discussed recent developments. Koala Man, Detective Pikachu Benji Samit (writer) and Dan Hernandez (autographer) suggested that although they are not part of the investigation, they would be open to it.

“It’s an ongoing conversation that is still not over to this day,” Samit said, adding that the situation was “complicated” and involved “a lot of big studio, corporate Pokémon rights things that we’re not privy to.”

Legendary announced the pre-release in January 2019, Detective Pikachu 2 Was already in progress, Oren Uziel who then wrote 22 Jump Street A draft of Sonic the HedgehogThe one who tried to find the perfect moment was. PikachuIt’s a sequel idea. But representatives for Uziel tell Polygon that though he wrote an outline and screenplay for the movie, he is no longer working on the film and it’s unclear who has taken over.

It will be 2021 Detective Pikachu star Justice Smith was not optimistic about a sequel’s fate.

“I would love to participate in Detective Pikachu 2,” he told Inverse while promoting his HBO Max series Generation. “I don’t know if it’s going to happen. We need to kind of put our hopes in the sand. I don’t think it’s going to happen. It’s something I hope for, though. Honestly, I’m such a huge fan, who knows, who knows? I hope so.”

Samit says that there could be bigger corporate obstacles. In June 2021, news broke that Netflix was in development on a live-action Pokémon series, a logical next step to the streamer’s relationship with The Pokémon Company, which allows previous seasons of the Pokémon anime to live on the platform. Legendary Entertainment, which had been working with Warner Bros. Pictures for many years, signed a worldwide distribution deal with Sony Pictures on November 20, 222. While Legendary and WB will continue to work together on a few ongoing franchises like Dune and the Godzilla/King Kong “Monster-verse,” it’s unclear whether a Detective Pikachu 2WB co-financed this project. It would be the same as before, or it could fall victim to new relationships.

Everyone comes back to hope. For Samit and Hernandez, they’d settle for just watching it in the audience.

“Whether it’s us or someone else that takes up the mantle, we hope it happens because we love it,” Hernandez said. “I think it’s still a TBD, but… there’s hope.”

Future prospects Pokémon: Detective Pikachu and fans dreaming of another round of live-action Poké-fun is unclear. But the good news is there’s a new Detective Pikachu game on the horizon. The announcement was made in [checks notes] 2019? No updates since then? There is another mystery…