“Portlandia” co-creator, writer, and director Jonathan Krisel has begun negotiations to direct the sequel to 2019’s box-office hit “Pokemon: Detective Pikachu” at Legendary Entertainment.
The first film was directed by Rob Letterman and starred Ryan Reynolds, Ken Watanabe, Justice Smith, Suki Waterhouse, Rita Ora and Kathryn Newton. It grossed more than $430 million at the worldwide box office and scored some pretty solid reviews at the time along with being considered the most successful game-to-film adaptation of the time – until “Sonic the Hedgehog” the following year.
The original sports a talking, coffee-loving Pikachu who considers themselves a Sherlock Holmes. Pikachu teams up with Tim Goodman, a down-on-his-luck Pokémon trainer to find Tim’s missing dad.
No casting deals are in place at this time and no-one is confirmed to be starring, though it’s believed Reynolds will have some part to play in the upcoming sequel. Chris Galletta (“The Kings of Summer”) will write the script.
The “Pokemon” franchise has sold more than 440 million video games sold worldwide along with tens of billions of Pokemon TCG cards shipped, and an animated series spanning 25 seasons.
The news comes as Netflix announced a new, stop-motion animated series titled “Pokémon Concierge” on Monday, whilst a live-action Netflix series is in early development.
Source: Deadline
