The 'Deadpool' star takes the title role in the upcoming Pokemon movie, joining Justice Smith and Kathryn Newton.
- Dec 7, 2017
AceShowbiz - Ryan Reynolds is going to enter the world of monster battle game. The Canadian actor has signed on to star in Legendary's live action Pokemon movie "Detective Pikachu", which is based on an adventure video game of the same name.
According to The Hollywood Reporter which first broke the news, Reynolds will play the titular character. He joins "The Get Down" and "Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom" star Justice Smith and "Big Little Lies" actress Kathryn Newton who were earlier cast for the upcoming movie.
"Pokemon" is one of the biggest media franchises in Japan. It launched with a video game and has since spawned card games, TV series and animated films. The concept of "Pokemon" sees players acting as trainers who collect cute but powerful monsters called Pokemon in order to compete in battle tournaments.
Pikachu is a species of Pokemon. Detective Pikachu is a rare, intelligent and talking Pikachu that is adept at solving mystery and finding things. In the movie, Smith's character's father is kidnapped, forcing the teen to team up with Pikachu in order to find him. Newton will play a sassy journalist who helps them on their quest. Sources tell THR the role of Pikachu will be motion-capture in nature.
Rob Letterman ("Goosebumps") has been tapped to direct the film with the script provided by Nicole Perlman ("Guardians of the Galaxy") and Alex Hirsch ("Gravity Falls"). Filming is scheduled to start mid-January in London. No release date is set for the movie just yet, but Legendary has high hopes for the feature project and has been making it a top priority.
Reynolds was last seen starring opposite Samuel L. Jackson in "The Hitman's Bodyguard" and has wrapped up the filming of "Deadpool 2" in which he reprises his role as Wade Wilson a.k.a. the titular anti-hero. The "Deadpool" sequel is due out June 1, 2018 in the United States.
