A Live-Action Pokémon Go Movie? Exhausted Players Needing A Break Say, “Sure, Why Not?”

Two weeks ago, the prospect of another Pokémon movie sounded cute, but unnecessary.

(Had the world already forgotten of the epic, definitive cinematic pentalogy that was released between 1999 and 2003?)

But then, Pokemon Go became the biggest app on the planet, and suddenly a new movie adaptation seems like the savviest, most essential move in the business world today.

(Nintendo's market value has been boosted by about $US12 billion since the release of the game.)

According to Deadline, numerous studios are readying their Pokéballs to catch the rights to the game. Legendary Pictures is apparently ahead of the pack, close to landing a deal to make a live-action Pokémon movie.

Legendary previously brought the adaptation of Warcraft to the screen, and though it was a financial disappointment in the States, it broke records in China. They’re likely hoping for a similar result for their Pokémon movie in Asia.

Deadline wasn’t able to get confirmation from either Legendary or Pokémon USA, but Hollywood’s lips aren’t exactly sealed when it comes to the hot pursuit of rights, so you can at least take solace in the fact that this is more than simply speculation.

Chronicle writer Max Landis was previously rumoured to be involved in the screenplay, but that was months ago, before Pokémon Go became such a behemoth.

You can almost imagine how this new take would go: A group of precocious American kids download the app, go out into the world seeking innocent Pidgeys, only to happen upon a literal dead body (just like in real life). Or, maybe they’ll try to avoid the whole corpse-locating aspects of the app and make the movie more family-friendly.

(Shrugs.) It’s Legendary’s money.

Photo: Nintendo.