A_Merry_Snowrunt
Snorunt!
With the generation approaching its end coming Autumn,why of all series was Alola exempt from the big screens?
Why make an original and interesting plot when you can bank off nostalgia and remake past movies with shoehorned Mythicals
Hence my emphasis on nostalgia as it’s why the movies got so much tractionIgnoring the fact that the past 2 movies are two of the most unique and acclaimed Pokémon movies in years (especially the most recent one)...
Hence my emphasis on nostalgia as it’s why the movies got so much traction
Since Alola's legendaries and UBs are tied closely to the main anime storyline not much material left for the films.
I disagree about the stories being good but agree to disagreeIts not just nostalgia but the story has been pretty good in both of them, movie 20 was about ash's connection with ho oh though it didn't totally lived up to expectation ash's growth in the movie was seen that hasn't been seen in many years in anime whereas movie 21 is an all time one of the best movies in this anime's history. As for the topic it is unfortunate for SM cast that they will be only cast who will never be seen in the movie.
The same questions applies to the Alola gang. What would they do in a movie? How does the movie deal with them? It's far easier to make movies based around one familiar character or a group of new characters solely designed for the film than it does to make featured movies of TV characters annually.
Hence my emphasis on nostalgia as it’s why the movies got so much traction
I believe that the producers looked at the relative popularity of the XY anime compared to the underwhelming performance of the XY movies and realized that the anime is able to do Legendary Pokémon advertisement far better as a TV series than the actual movies. There's also a limiting factor of making movies based around the series. They are, in the end, just big-budget filler episodes that cannot be directly referenced in the series, and that limits the potential of Ash's character and the characters that occupy the movie. What does Misty do? What does Brock do? What does May and Max do? What does Dawn do? What does Iris do? What does Cilan do? What does Clemont and Bonnie do? Serena?
I believe that the producers looked at the relative popularity of the XY anime compared to the underwhelming performance of the XY movies and realized that the anime is able to do Legendary Pokémon advertisement far better as a TV series than the actual movies. There's also a limiting factor of making movies based around the series. They are, in the end, just big-budget filler episodes that cannot be directly referenced in the series, and that limits the potential of Ash's character and the characters that occupy the movie. What does Misty do? What does Brock do? What does May and Max do? What does Dawn do? What does Iris do? What does Cilian do? What does Clemont and Bonnie do? Serena?
I believe this is the crux of it.
At some point before Sun and Moon began airing, a decision had to have been made about what direction the movie franchise would go in. In comparison to the rest of the series, the XY movies had disappointing returns. According to Wikipedia, the three XY films grossed $74,365,734, while the BW films grossed $135,384,123. That's a significant decrease in just three years.
It was evident that people were getting tired of having a new Pokemon movie every year, especially when that movie would be the same as the last one, just with different Pokemon. Sun and Moon has a new artstyle, new animation direction, bigger cast of characters, etc., but people aren't going to be excited to watch a Pokemon movie if the plot is about yet another legendary or mythical Pokemon.
The problem you highlighted is a huge one. They were limited in what they could do with the characters because the movies weren't strictly canon. At best, they can make Ash the hero as normal and give his companions some bit-part roles but in the end it'll be forgotten. Comparatively, Dragon Ball Super has done very well for itself by having three movies with a lot of canonical significance. People were a lot more excited for the continuation of Dragon Ball and the introduction of new characters and transformations than they were about the weird sidestory movies of before.
While I've praised M20 and M21 for being more original ideas, they haven't fixed the core problem, either. The Power of Us was, in my eyes, the best written and produced film of the entire lot, but it's not going to get fans excited for more Pokemon.
Incidentally, looking at those numbers, it strikes me how weird Diamond and Pearl is to the rest. In other series of Pokemon, the movies do gradually worse numbers with each film (understandable, as fans get fatigued), but for DP each new film did better than the last and I've no idea how that could have happened.
Hmmmm, that was also the only time we had a film trilogy in the series...
Coincidence? Perhaps, but I wouldn't mind seeing future Pokemon films call back to each other.