Detective Pikachu Movie Discussion Thread

[Prof. SALTY]

I love the passion going into this answer however this is actually a far more smarter and safer move than you think for several reasons. Think of it as a prototype for something bigger.

First off, video game film adaptations. There is a practically a lot of infamy and taboo surrounding video game film adaptations and in this day and age where film studios are milking off of people's nostalgia's, Detective Pikachu is a safer bet because if film studios were to milk off and experiment with the nostalgia of Red and Blue, it might lead to mass disappointment from fans as many fans these days are no stranger of keeping their expectations at extremely high levels out of nostalgia despite the reoccurring trend of bad movie's failing to understand what fans want while at the same time making their own surprises to keep things interesting. Most film studios have a bad habit of not understanding the source material and even then, they have a bad habit of experimenting with video game concepts that are too large for filmmaking. Detective Pikachu is far safer because it's an adaptation of a spin-off and is a great compromise and start for a potential Pokemon film franchise and introducing the concept of the Pokemon World while maintaining that hype and nostalgia from people's childhood memories of Pokemon through a more smaller and less-grandiose story that not many casual Pokemon fans are familiar with and yet won't be as disappointed because they know this isn't Red, Green and Blue. This is Detective Pikachu, based on a spin-off which also leaves for more experimentation to see what works in a video-game film.

The second reason is Nintendo themselves. As reasons mentioned before, the film studios have less chance of messing a Detective Pikachu film as the first live-action Pokemon film then an actual adaptation of the main series games we all know and love and through this they have one chance of slowly earning Nintendo's trust in video game film adaptations which could lead to Nintendo possibly opening their doors full of video game properties to carefully pick film studios creating a series of Nintendo films after over 20 years of Nintendo never trusting a film studio ever again with their video game properties after the disastrous movie known as the Super Mario Bros. movie which is to this day a masterful example of how often western film studios do not understand their audiences that well.

To sum it up. If successful, Detective Pikachu will be a very important movie in cinema and video game history and may determine the possible future of not only a Pokemon Red & Blue movie but a wide array of possible Nintendo film adaptations that could represent the bulk of video-game film adaptations. If it fails, we may never see a Nintendo film adaptation in what I assume the next 10 to 20 years.

While I agree with you to an extent, I think you give movie producers too much credit. Hollywood doesn't seem to realize game adaptions are bad. I think the reason Detective Pikachu was chosen was because the game is a self contained story in an easily adaptable genre. I do think it is an important moment in gaming history but I don't think the studio was looking past the buttload of money they're gonna make.

As for Nintendo being more comfortable with film adaptions, I don't think it's likely. Nintendo are much stricter with their IPs than Gamefreak is with pokemon.

 

[shoz999]

While I agree with you to an extent, I think you give movie producers too much credit. Hollywood doesn't seem to realize game adaptions are bad. I think the reason Detective Pikachu was chosen was because the game is a self contained story in an easily adaptable genre. I do think it is an important moment in gaming history but I don't think the studio was looking past the buttload of money they're gonna make.

As for Nintendo being more comfortable with film adaptions, I don't think it's likely. Nintendo are much stricter with their IPs than Gamefreak is with pokemon.

Actually I'm giving the movie producers too little credit here. In fact they probably have no idea the HUGE consequences are here so of course the money is the main reason why the producers would do it. Detective Pikachu could be an very important moment in film history depending on how not only does in the box-office but also how it responds well to critics and audiences. Now when I say Nintendo being more comfortable, I don't actually mean like an explosion of freedom where film studios just do whatever they want with it. I mean like Disney-style comfortable, maybe Nintendo themselves want to take even further control in how films are done, one or two films per year. This is the doorway I meant. Now what you have missed is that I did say Nintendo are strict, in fact this is literally Warner Brothers only chance to prove to Nintendo that video-game film studios can work. If they fail this one-in-a-life-time chance that practically all major film studios will never get, then Nintendo will do everything in their power to take away the film rights from them. What we don't know is what they may think of as failure. Maybe they'll think the Box Office money alone is enough to give Detective Pikachu a pass or maybe they think extremely negative reviews is enough to take away the film rights. This is not as far-off as you think as movies do impact a game's image and we seen this in the Super Mario Bros. movie adapting the biggest game-star in history, mario. Nintendo was just so disgusted by the film's quality more than the box-office bomb that this alone caused Nintendo to never make a video-game film adaptation from a western studio for over 20 years.

 

[Kutie Pie]

By that logic, if this movie could bring the Metroid movie out of development hell and into the right hands, I'll be happy, cries of "It's too much like Alien!" be damned.

 

[RileyXY1]

I think that this is going to fail.

 

[Prof. SALTY]

Actually I'm giving the movie producers too little credit here. In fact they probably have no idea the HUGE consequences are here so of course the money is the main reason why the producers would do it. Detective Pikachu could be an very important moment in film history depending on how not only does in the box-office but also how it responds well to critics and audiences.

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying here... Are you implying that just because they are making a monumental movie that they deserve more credit...? Because... No? Like they didn't earn it. You said it yourself that they likely aren't looking past the money.

This movie will be a box office success no matter how it reviews though, let's be real. The trailer was literally trending at #1 for a week straight.

Now when I say Nintendo being more comfortable, I don't actually mean like an explosion of freedom where film studios just do whatever they want with it. I mean like Disney-style comfortable, maybe Nintendo themselves want to take even further control in how films are done, one or two films per year.

I know what you're saying, I just really don't think they would. Nintendo doesn't really... "stop that low". Like that sounds kinda douchy but I highly doubt they would hand over the movie rights to any of their properties in this day and age. They've stated several times that they have no interest in film or TV adaptions.

If they fail this one-in-a-life-time chance that practically all major film studios will never get, then Nintendo will do everything in their power to take away the film rights from them.

No, PokeCo. will. It's not Nintendo's place to do so. While the two are closely related, PokeCo acts autonomously for the most part.

 

[shoz999]

I'm not sure I understand what you're saying here... Are you implying that just because they are making a monumental movie that they deserve more credit...? Because... No? Like they didn't earn it. You said it yourself that they likely aren't looking past the money.

This movie will be a box office success no matter how it reviews though, let's be real. The trailer was literally trending at #1 for a week straight.



I know what you're saying, I just really don't think they would. Nintendo doesn't really... "stop that low". Like that sounds kinda douchy but I highly doubt they would hand over the movie rights to any of their properties in this day and age. They've stated several times that they have no interest in film or TV adaptions.



No, PokeCo. will. It's not Nintendo's place to do so. While the two are closely related, PokeCo acts autonomously for the most part.

1) Nope. You said I'm giving them too much credit, I'm actually not giving them a lot of credit at least until the movie comes out. Also what we consider as a box office success and what studios consider as a box office success are two different things. It will make a lot of money but I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't make up enough even though it was trending.
2) Actually what I'd mean is that they slowly gain interest in film and TV adaptations, and similar to Marvel, they'd want to keep doing films but would want way more tighter control in the same way Disney does.
3) I don't know about that. Nintendo owns the entire franchise I believe since Pokemon is a second-party series and by extension their influence runs deep in the Pokemon Company which handles much of the merchandise outside of the games.

 

[Bguy7]

I think that this is going to fail.

Care to give a reason, rather than giving vague, seemingly baseless, prophecies of failure?

 

[Pokegirl Fan~]

I feel like it's going to do really well to be honest, since it's starring Ryan Reynolds, plus Pokemon is still popular enough that it's name alone will probably make it a successful film.

 

[RileyXY1]

Care to give a reason, rather than giving vague, seemingly baseless, prophecies of failure?

Video game movies almost always fail, despite how successful the source material is. Also, Detective Pikachu will have to compete against Avengers: Endgame.

 

[Bguy7]

Video game movies almost always fail, despite how successful the source material is.

I really wish people would stop using this narrative. Just because we've had a handful of bad video game movies (many of which are getting pretty old at this point), doesn't mean all video game movies are bound to fail. Even looking back at past movies, there's no reason that, for example, the Mario Bros movie had to be bad, it just was because the writers and director had no clue what they were doing. Had they been more competent, and Nintendo more careful about the freedom they allowed, I'm sure that movie would have been much better.

Also, Detective Pikachu will have to compete against Avengers: Endgame.

And people can't watch two movies?

 

[Prof. SALTY]

Nope. You said I'm giving them too much credit, I'm actually not giving them a lot of credit at least until the movie comes out.

Fair enough, thanks for explaining.

Also what we consider as a box office success and what studios consider as a box office success are two different things. It will make a lot of money but I wouldn't be surprised if it doesn't make up enough even though it was trending.

No, a box office success is pretty objective... The studio can be unsatisfied with how much a film makes but if the earnings beat it's budget+marketing+production costs, it's a success.

2) Actually what I'd mean is that they slowly gain interest in film and TV adaptations, and similar to Marvel, they'd want to keep doing films but would want way more tighter control in the same way Disney does.

Marvel has literally always wanted TV and movie stuff though, Nintendo got sick of that in the 90s. Tight control is just not a possibility these days and Nintendo knows it.

3) I don't know about that. Nintendo owns the entire franchise I believe since Pokemon is a second-party series and by extension their influence runs deep in the Pokemon Company which handles much of the merchandise outside of the games.

No...? PokeCo owns the rights. Nintendo PARTIALLY has the rights to PokeCo but so do like 3 other companies. They are very much their own thing and have been acting autonomously for years.

 

[shoz999]

Fair enough, thanks for explaining.



No, a box office success is pretty objective... The studio can be unsatisfied with how much a film makes but if the earnings beat it's budget+marketing+production costs, it's a success.



Marvel has literally always wanted TV and movie stuff though, Nintendo got sick of that in the 90s. Tight control is just not a possibility these days and Nintendo knows it.



No...? PokeCo owns the rights. Nintendo PARTIALLY has the rights to PokeCo but so do like 3 other companies. They are very much their own thing and have been acting autonomously for years.

Fair enough to the first three.
4) Has to re-look at that. Apparently they own 1/3rd of the Pokemon Company.

 

[RileyXY1]

I really wish people would stop using this narrative. Just because we've had a handful of bad video game movies (many of which are getting pretty old at this point), doesn't mean all video game movies are bound to fail. Even looking back at past movies, there's no reason that, for example, the Mario Bros movie had to be bad, it just was because the writers and director had no clue what they were doing. Had they been more competent, and Nintendo more careful about the freedom they allowed, I'm sure that movie would have been much better.



And people can't watch two movies?

It's a growing tendency for video game movies to fail, regardless of how successful the source material is. Pokemon is not immune to failure. Also, you don't know how significant Avengers: Endgame is. It's the grand conclusion of 22 films across 11 years. Detective Pikachu is also getting massive criticism for how the Pokemon look. Not a good start.

 

[Prof. SALTY]

It's a growing tendency for video game movies to fail, regardless of how successful the source material is. Pokemon is not immune to failure. Also, you don't know how significant Avengers: Endgame is. It's the grand conclusion of 22 films across 11 years. Detective Pikachu is also getting massive criticism for how the Pokemon look. Not a good start.

Majority opinion seems to be "pokemon look good in CGI" based on the comments I've seen and talking to people in real life. I believe it will be a financial success and will review... Decently.

Fair enough to the first three.
4) Has to re-look at that. Apparently they own 1/3rd of the Pokemon Company.

My bad, 2 other companies.

 

[shoz999]

It's a growing tendency for video game movies to fail, regardless of how successful the source material is. Pokemon is not immune to failure. Also, you don't know how significant Avengers: Endgame is. It's the grand conclusion of 22 films across 11 years. Detective Pikachu is also getting massive criticism for how the Pokemon look. Not a good start.

Personally I think it's completely understandable that you don't think you should give Detective Pikachu a chance. In fact, people have every right to think Detective Pikachu will not be a good film based on the long and consistent history of failed video game adaptations alone. However, just remember this. The Marvel Cinematic Universe started with a few films during a time when superhero films and the idea of a shared cinematic universe were still considered a hard-to-grasp subject and even in some cases just downright impossible even with the success of Superman or Spiderman.

 

[RileyXY1]

Personally I think it's completely understandable that you don't think you should give Detective Pikachu a chance. In fact, people have every right to think Detective Pikachu will not be a good film based on the long and consistent history of failed video game adaptations alone. However, just remember this. The Marvel Cinematic Universe started with a few films during a time when superhero films and the idea of a shared cinematic universe were still considered a hard-to-grasp subject and even in some cases just downright impossible even with the success of Superman or Spiderman.

That's not the only reason why I think that it will fail. Detective Pikachu will face very tough competition, considering 2019 is a very crowded year in terms of movies. Among the movies that Detective Pikachu will have to compete with include Hellboy, Avengers: Endgame, Aladdin, Godzilla: King of the Monsters, X-Men Dark Phoenix, and The Secret Life of Pets 2.

 

[Dragalge]

Dude they moved Endgame to April from its intended May target, the same month being when Detective Pikachu will be released. Pokémon’s brand -> Marvel.

Detective Pikachu will not fail!

 

[RileyXY1]

Dude they moved Endgame to April from its intended May target. Pokémon’s brand -> Marvel.

Detective Pikachu will not fail!

It will still release during while Endgame is in theaters. Pokemon isn't immune to failure.

 

[BCVM22]

Video game movies almost always fail, despite how successful the source material is.

It's a growing tendency for video game movies to fail, regardless of how successful the source material is.

It will still release during while Endgame is in theaters. Pokemon isn't immune to failure.

What you haven't done and aren't doing is giving any actual predictive metric as to why it's going to fail. The closest thing to that you offer, "growing tendency for video game movies to fail" doesn't even make sense - the last two major video game adaptations (Rampage, Tomb Raider) grossed nearly $500 million and nearly $300 million, respectively, even if the reviews for both were uneven. So even for as bad a metric as that is, it's not particularly true or useful.

Like, maybe it will end up not very good and maybe it does end up falling short of box office expectations (whatever they are). I'm not saying it won't or can't do that. But what you're offering is a whole lot of "it's going to fail because it's going to fail, and my reasoning is that it's going to fail." It's perfectly circular logic and it doesn't tell us anything particularly predictive or noteworthy.

Detective Pikachu is also getting massive criticism for how the Pokemon look. Not a good start.

Criticism from who? Who cares? How would these all-important people whose opinions dictate policy have preferred the Pokémon look? Seems like a lot more shock that turns into acceptance or just plain whining than it does "massive criticism," to whatever extent any of it matters.

 

[Kutie Pie]

I just want to point out in that even if Detective Pikachu were to bomb, it can become a cult classic like the Super Mario Bros. movie did over the years. There's no harm in that, for the audience.

Real talk, when was the last time anyone here has watched the Mario Bros. movie? And was that viewing enjoyable? Personally have to admit that the set design was pretty neat if I were to say one good thing about it. If Detective Pikachu ends up in the same boat, I can already say from the trailer alone that it'll still be a fun film to watch with friends. The details alone in the set design are quite lovely.