The Pokemon Company, the Japanese company that manages rights to the Pokemon franchise, has been looking for a studio to create a "big-budget live-action" Pokemon movie for a while now. Apparently, this is something that a number of companies are interested in – which has caused something of a bidding war between studios.
According to reports from THR, Warner Bros. and Legendary Entertainment are the top two contenders in the "top-secret auction" for film rights to the Pokemon franchise. Sony is also interested in the film, but they aren't fighting as viciously as the leading two.
Historically, Warner Bros. was the top contender for the film rights, as they had collaborated with The Pokemon Company to release Pokemon: The First Movie in 1999 and its two sequels. Legendary has been aggressively pursuing the rights and it appears to have paid off. According to a source, Legendary has potentially won the rights to release a live-action Pokemon movie.
Unfortunately, Legendary has its own problems when it comes to the film – specifically with the company that owns them, Wanda:
"There have been long simmering political tensions between Beijing and Tokyo, which most recently peaked with Japan’s criticism of China’s territorial ambitions in the South China Sea. Those pressures have also led to a cultural strain between the two countries in which China effectively banned Japanese films for three years, which was only recently broken."
Whether a live-action Pokemon will see the light of day or not remains unclear, until then there's one person that said it best.
Remember that Dragon Ball movie? Yeah, I do.
