A few years before The Last of Us was hailed as the greatest video game adaptation ever made, we'd say that accolade deserved to go to Detective Pikachu. Sonic the Hedgehog certainly gave it a run for its money, but the first live-action Pokémon movie received positive reviews from fans and critics, earning a respectable $340 million worldwide.
A sequel seemed like a given and was actually announced prior to the first instalment's release in 2019. Talking of Sonic the Hedgehog, that movie's scribe, Oren Uziel, was attached to write the movie but is no longer thought to be involved.
Instead, Deadline (via Toonado.com) is reporting that Chris Galletta is currently penning the script!
His past credits include co-creating, writing and executive producing Portlandia, as well as co-creating, directing and writing Baskets starring Zach Galifianakis. The trade also reveals that his Portlandia co-creator Jonathan Krisel is in talks to direct Detective Pikachu 2, meaning this movie will serve as a reunion for the duo.
In the first movie, Ryan Reynolds lent his voice to the title character but was restored to his human form in the closing moments (it's complicated). Apparently, "While no deals are done at this time and nothing is confirmed, insiders believe Reynolds will have some part to play in the upcoming sequel."
It will certainly be interesting to see where Detective Pikachu's story goes from here, but given the love and respect that went into the first movie, we're sure this follow-up, like its predecessor, will be embraced by fans.
As you may recall, Netflix entered a deal with The Pokémon Company a couple of years ago to develop a live-action TV series. That's still thought to be in the works and will likely be unrelated to this sequel.
You'd think live-action Pokémon would be all over our screens by now, but the pandemic seems to have slowed things down on that front. With Detective Pikachu 2 finally starting to take shape, though, we're optimistic that things will soon start looking up for the franchise on that front.
Stay tuned for updates on the movie!