The Pokemon Company and Nintendo launched the wildly popular “Pokemon Go” augmented reality app last week in select markets and has become the biggest mobile game in U.S. history. A few days ago came a report that Legendary Pictures is in the very early stages of working on a deal for a live-action “Pokemon” movie.
Now though a new THR story surfaced today which claims that, despite the massive success of the game, both The Pokemon Group and Nintendo are unwilling to license their property out for a movie adaptation just yet.
The trade talked with an unnamed movie producer who has been in pursuit of the rights and found out why the companies aren’t keen on a film version: “Pokemon Co. and Nintendo are not focused on movie rights currently. The company doesn’t want a movie deal distracting its execs, nor does it want a deal to potentially detract from the game. They view a movie deal only as a downside at this stage.”
A potential movie licensing deal would be worth anywhere between $5 million and $10 million, nothing compared to the revenue the Pokemon Go app has generated thus far. Since the Pokemon Go launch, Nintendo’s stock has jumped 65% and added an estimated $12.8 billion to the company’s value.
