Warner Bros. and Legendary's
Detective Pikachu has recently been released in most theaters around the world, and being generally well-received by both critics and fans of the long-running
Pocket Monster series.
Recently, Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit — the writers for the
Detective Pikachu live-action adaptation — have revealed some interesting details about the movie, and why they adapted the
Detective Pikachu video game instead of the original Red and Blue
Pokémon titles.
When it comes to adapting the Nintendo 3DS spin-off game instead of the original
Pokémon Red/Blue story, Hernandez and Samit say that it was pretty much up to the studio — who didn't want to see the story of Ash, or the one in the Game Boy games, being retold; deciding early on that they wanted Detective Pikachu to work as a reboot of sorts.
The writers also jokingly said that kicking off a live-action Pokémon franchise with Detective Pikachu felt like starting a Super Mario Bros. live-action universe with Dr. Mario, or "
writing a Star Wars movie without a lightsaber, or the Force."
For the rest of the interview with
Detective Pikachu writers Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit, be sure to check out the
Blank Check Podcast down below:
The first-ever live-action Pokémon movie, “POKÉMON Detective Pikachu” stars Ryan Reynolds as the titular character in the first-ever live-action movie based on the iconic face of the global Pokémon brand—one of the world’s most popular, multi-generation entertainment properties and most successful media franchises of all time.
Detective Pikachu is currently playing in theaters.