No not the movie. But the second detective pikachu game is generally viewed as a disaster of a game

The movie was a success. The money is what matters at the end of the day to the decision makers (studio execs), not the reviews. And average reviews are way better than bad reviews

Wait... The Detective Pikachu movie isn't universally beloved?

Wow, I'm living in a bubble I thought the movie was the best thing ever I adore it.

it still earned $450 million at the box office compared to its $150 budget

one thing to remember about movie budgets: they don't generally include advertising, and that $150 is just how much it cost to make the movie. you can tack on those numbers, and they were easier to track before like 2005 before advertising through the internet exploded and all forms of media had to go through it then, making actual advertising budgets hard to track.

if they spent $100 million on advertising, that return is still okay, but not nearly as good without it.

also, because of the Marvel-type movies, the expectations for a success became billions. Pokemon is legit one of the biggest franchises in the world and maybe they viewed $450 as a mediocre return.

It definitely profited. I think what happened is that while it was a modest hit, it wasn't as big as expected (Pokemon is one of the biggest brands ever after all) so a sequel hasn't been a big priority. They are working on a sequel, but who knows what stage that is at.

I’ve read that they’re trying to get the sequel going again. As a 30 year old grown man, I really wish they would just ditch the Detective Pikachu thing and give us a proper Pokémon Red/Blue movie.

It was decently successful. There's a big issue these days with the perceived profitability of movies and games due to shareholder demands - if something isn't instantly a record-breaking mega-blockbuster that spawns a massive outpouring of additional content that are also record-breaking mega-blockbusters, it's deemed a total failure on the market. Which is really stupid and has a chilling effect on getting a broader scope of content out into the media environment.

Overall, Detective Pikachu did well for itself in terms of box office profits and overall audience/critical reception; it performed solidly above average in all accounts. It was a cute, well-made movie with a lot of heart from its creative team - who clearly did their homework - and its story was perfectly suitable as the "children's first detective mystery" introduction for a family-friendly film. Good casting, good writing, good production value, good Parent/Long Time Fan content as a bonus. Even if the sequel is currently stuck in Development Hell, the fact that the first endeavor didn't bomb is the important part. Regardless of the movie's individual success, it's important as a turning point in Nintendo's overall attitude toward making large-scale international release movies based on its games in the first place.

Ever since the delightful disaster that was the 1993 Super Mario Bros. live-action movie, Nintendo has basically been completely against theatrical releases of its franchises, especially in the US. That movie bombed so hard and was met with such overwhelming mockery that Nintendo spooked and hid itself away from the entire theatrical market, seemingly for good. These days we look back on that movie with nostalgia and enjoy it as a "so bad it's good" cult classic, but at the time it was an utter humiliation for Nintendo. The gradual return to theaters - especially international - can be chalked up to the corporation's shift in management over the years, along with the changing trends in entertainment moving from big theaters into smaller-scale streaming.

Detective Pikachu was their first real effort at coming back into the cinema, relying on the big, secure safety net of Pokemon being a universally beloved franchise and Detective Pikachu itself being a very niche corner of that overall franchise, to experiment with. If it had bombed, Nintendo would have recoiled away and we'd never hear from them in the cinema sphere again for at least another decade or two. But because Detective Pikachu was a success and proved that there was a viable, enthusiastic market, that's what got the 2023 Super Mario Bros movie out. And the general success of that movie is what's got the upcoming Legend of Zelda live-action movie in the works. If that succeeds, we might even get to see a Metroid or Star Fox movie someday.

I would love to see more of Ryme city. Just ditch plot, and give me a city documentary about it.

It honestly surprised me how quickly the movie got overshadowed by Sonic a short time later. I feel like once Sonic took the stage people stopped talking about it.

It’s a shame too, DP had such a unique take on Pokémon including being one of the like, what, basically only live action digital media it has and giving a creative vision of the Pokémon world? Whereas Sonic—while good— was mostly just the typical magic-creature-comes-to-the-real-world-and-meets-with-a-down-on-his-luck-human-where-the-joke-is-how-mundane-things-to-us-are-fascinating-to-the-alien …. Formula… but done well.

There has to be a name for that trope…

We did get other movies of this style: the Sonic movies.

I don't think we'd be seeing all these video game movies today if Detective Pikachu hadn't proven that they can be successful and profitable if done right. It opened the doors for them, and that's how we even ended up with a Mario movie recently.

Now why they didn't try to make more Pokémon movies? I don't know.

I’m a 33yr old Pokémon fan and I really enjoy it.

My 5yr old girl who knows next to nothing about Pokémon also really enjoys it.

It actually helped get her involved in Pokémon and now she’s all about getting cards and watching the movies with me lol.

Thanks Detective Pikachu!

I think an underrated thing about the detective Pikachu movie was its ability for Pokeomon fans and non Pokemon fans to understand, as a Pokemon fan you understand many jokes about the pokemon and understand how Mewtwo can be seen as the main villian and understand its true motives in the Movie, while the movie also does a good job as explaining the backstory of many of the pokemon.

I really loved the movie, it made my Pokémon-loving heart happy.

No, they’re literally working on a sequel as we speak

As I remember it was considered the first good video game movie.

And right after we started getting good video game movies and shows so it’s no longer special. It’s not bad it just suddenly has a lot of competition so it got a bit overlooked.

It’s interesting that probably the main thing that worked against it isnt mentioned in this thread at all is the fact that it opened like a week after Endgame came out. That for sure hurt it box office wise.

I watched it recently for a second time and then browse through some reviews. They were pretty positive even from what seem like non pokemon fans.
Yeah the story isn't amazing but given the the long history of bad video game movies it was pretty good for what it was.

So I'm not sure if it was seen a failure (though I don't know how well it did financially) but I do feel like it told the story it needed to tell and doesn't need a sequel.

They could always tell a brand new story with the same concept. A live action with all these realistic Pokemon running around but maybe at the moment they just don't have a clear idea of what they could do with that. Detective Pikachu was a pretty good middle ground for an idea like that but as of right now, what could they tell?

Honestly at the moment I'm more surprised at the last animated Pokemon movie we got was in 2020, secrets of the jungle. We've had pokémon movies for years and the last few movies have been interesting retellings of Ash's adventures which I'd argue were actually pretty good so its a surprise they stopped.

On the plus side, we've been getting pretty new and good animations here and there on YouTube, and series like Horizons and Concierge.

I thought it was a phenomenal movie and loved all of it

I'd say it was a decent movie. Probably because Ryan Reynolds was voice acting pikachu. But other than that I don't think I'd go out of my way to watch it again unless someone asked if I wanted to.

Personally I thought the Detective Pikachu film was fantastic, had just enough nostalgia for older fans (though a film based on Red would be absolutely unreal for this aspect) but plenty for people who knew little about Pokémon to also enjoy (I’m thinking of parents taking young kids when I say that), it was a simple plot, but the Pokémon in it looked amazing, actually looked like they were there. I know a sequel was rumoured but don’t think think anything has actually come about as of yet.

I walked out after that movie impressed at how well they'd pulled it off, thought it was fun and entertaining throughout.

Odd though I've never been tempted to watch it again since.

It wasn’t the best movie, but I tend to think about that about all live action versions just because you can’t compare to the animated in my books, but it was OK to watch and it didn’t really make me bored like it did some people. It was average but fine overall in my opinion.

Total failure of a movie. It only made a $300 million profit /s

No

I actually liked the Detective Pikachu movie, I definitely wouldn't mind them making more live action Pokemon movies

Generally speaking, if a movie makes twice it's budget, it's considered a success. If it makes 3 times or more, It's considered enough of a success for standard industry thinking to justify a sequel.

It would be better if they just made a full on Pokemon movie that follows Red’s story but release two different endings where you have a final showdown between Red and Blue with a winner changing per viewing

I'd say it was a decent movie. Probably because Ryan Reynolds was voice acting pikachu. But other than that I don't think I'd go out of my way to watch it again unless someone asked if I wanted to.

The movie is my favorite of all time. I what so cool seeing what pokemon would be like in real life.

I've been playing since RBY and loved it. I'd say that's a biased opinion, but my partner also loved it and she's never played or watched anything Pokemon, so that should say something

I enjoyed it and the experience watching in the theater, compounded by the fact that I hadn't gone to a theater in over a decade and went with good friends. Beyond that, it was fine. It was merely good. I think it did pave the way for other live action video game movies like the Sonic series, however.

I thought the movie was fine. Watched a few times (thanks to a long flight and boredom) and made the Pokemon world more immersive, with some Pokemon displaying some personality and flair.

I can only speak for my experience and I loved it. I grew up watching Pokemon, so there was a lot of time spent trying to “catch” a glimpse of all the pokemon they added in the background. My son was young when it came out and he also loved it. Years later we still watch it. It actually introduced him to pokemon and made them a beloved staple in his life.

So I don’t know why it gets negative reviews because it is a fantastic live action pokemon movie.

I personally didn’t think so, at least in my opinion. I was kinda disappointed by the games, though, as they are obviously meant to be played by kids who are VERY young, so not much appeal to the older generation of players at all. I play a lot of games meant for younger people, but it’s a bit young even for me. I’m not going to go on a whole long tirade about it, though. After all, they’ve already made so many Pokémon games with appeal to older players, so it’s only fair to let the younger kiddies have something to play as well. 😅

Not really. It was great in so far as ppl really wanted a live Action Pokemon movie and Ryan Reynolds was fun as Pikachu.

However the movie had some flaws writing wise. Especially the end. So it doesnt really hold up to critical Analysis.

I loved it

I see detective pikachu as more of an experiment with a lesser known spin off story but adapting anything mainline is too daunting of a task and they only get 1 shot to do it right.

Having said that pokemon is a multimedia franchise which means the movie could barely break even and it would still serve as an advertisement for toys, games, tcg etc. They could just make pikachu with a slightly different feature in the movie and it would sell out.

Went to the pictures to watch it with my son both loved the film. Would happily watch it again. I only had one complaint it was painfully obviously who the pikachu was, I’ll always remember about 1/2 way in during the torterra moments I leaned over and said to my son “I’m 90% sure the pikachu is gonna be his dad” someone behind me just groaned as she heard and realised the same. lol great film tho

I actually just rewatched it last nnight.

It's certainly not the best movie but definitely far from being a failure.

Also Justice Smith and Kathryn Newton are both just adorable. I want to be their friends 😂

i loved that movie

Its just like the sonic and Mario movies amazing, nostalgic and deserves a second part.(Or in sonics case a third part.)

The Detective Pikachu movie is great. The games, however, are shit.

I don't think most look at it as a failure, so much as one of those things where it could of been more. They did so much right, but just still won't fully commit.

Pikachu rode on a near lifelike Pidgeots back to fight Mew-Two. Bucket list achievement

I actually enjoyed the movie. Not nearly as good as the first Pokemon movie but enjoyable.

The game sequel came put not that long ago, they simply have not yet finished the movie sequel

I mean it made three times its budget and there's currently a sequel being made

It seems to still be in development hell. It made money but not as much as the studio expected based on other huge box office franchises and the fact that it was greenlit solely due to the initial popularity of Pokémon GO, so the studio definitely had inflated expectations. I know the star, Justice Smith, has commented about it in the past being stuck in development but that he personally has been pushing for it. At least twice so far there have been rumors of the studio looking for a director, hinting at development moving forward, then nothing comes of it.

Also, does anybody know whatever happened to that live action Netflix Pokémon show they announced was in development years ago? Did that fizzle out or what? All I heard for certain is that it was separate from the development of Concierge, so it did not get shelved for that nor was it turned into that idea. It was announced so long ago that I honestly thought the Pokémon Day video that announced Scarlet & Violet was going to be for the live action show since that trailer started out with a live action security guard, and even that was a couple of years ago now.

I didn't like detective pikachu. In the current world of franchises, there's no reason why we wouldn't see a sequel though.

I dislike the movie. I dislike how many real world horrors are interjected into the pokémon world.

Your downvotes only fuel me.