Finally, we are one step closer to a full-on Pokémon land coming to a theme park in the United States. Universal Studios Japan just made the first move in making our Poké friends into an amusement park staple. Pokémon International and USJ are expanding their collaboration by creating “an unprecedented, innovative experience” that will first debut at Universal Studios Japan before expanding to other theme parks globally. Currently, USJ offers parades and holiday experiences featuring Pokémon characters, but it has never had a dedicated area or attraction for the beloved IP. “As Pokémon celebrates its 30th anniversary this year, we are thrilled to launch this new project at such a significant milestone,” Pokémon Company president Tsunekazu Ishihara shared in a press release. “Our mission is to enrich both the real and virtual worlds through Pokémon, and with this project, we aim to create theme park entertainment that surprises and delights fans around the globe.”
As for any other details? They’re still very slim, however, USJ promises the experience will be a “hyper-realistic experience that stimulates all five senses.” Like the smell of a Trubbish loitering around, kind of five senses? Or more like an Aromatisse sprinkling the scent of perfume around? Fingers crossed it’s the latter.
Nintendo’s Pokémonseries has had a powerful grip on pop culture for decades, and it’s doubtful to change anytime soon. The bulk of that power comes from the video and trading card games, along with the eternally ongoing anime and the movies and shows that’ve spun out of that. So how do you make one of the biggest video game properties even bigger? You take the big, bold jump to Hollywood.
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First released in Japan on May 3, 2019 and then the following week in the US, Detective Pikachuwas the first ever live-action Pokémon movie, and also Nintendo’s first video game movie since Super Mario Bros. If anyone ever thought Pokémon would get a big budget flick, they probably didn’t think it’d come courtesy of Warner Bros. and Legendary Pictures, let alone based off a 2016 spinoff game where brand mascot Pikachu is a private eye with the voice of Ryan Reynolds. Yeah, the monsters all looked impressively real and tangible in ways fans had always dreamed, but having Deadpool as the leading ‘mon could’ve undercut everything. Was this going to work?
Image: Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures/The Pokémon Company
The answer turned out to be “yes”: Detective Pikachu netted fairly positive reviews and made $450.1 million worldwide. Back then, it’d been the highest-grossing video game movie of its time, at least until the Super Mario movie knocked it off its pedestal last year. If the world hadn’t been hit with the pandemic and Hollywood strikes in the 2020s so far, we’d likely have a sequel by now; Portlandia co-creator Jonathan Krisel was tapped to direct it last year working off a script by Chris Galetta, but it seems at least two years off, minimum. (Coming out as Avengers: Endgamewas still in theaters probably wasn’t right move, either.) As is, it’s a well-regarded movie that made a decent impression in the video game movie space whose future got buried underneath some bad luck.
At the same time, it appears to have made a decent impact when it comes to Pokémon’s transmedia output. The anime was always going to persist whether it did well or not, but the film’s success has certainly helped open Nintendo’s mind to the possibilities of what this franchise could be. Without it, we likely wouldn’t have Pokémon Conciergeor the original drama series Pocket ni Bōken wo Tsumekonde, which is about the reach and impact of Pokémon rather than being set in its world. And this is just what we know about—a Pokémon Direct or two from now, we may learn that Nintendo’s got plans of doing up a movie universe in the vein of what Paramount’s doing with Sonic the Hedgehog.
Image: Warner Bros./Legendary Pictures/The Pokémon Company
Compared to other video game adaptations like Falloutand The Last of Us, or even Arcane, it wouldn’t be wrong to feel like Detective Pikachu has gotten overlooked. Its time in the sun will surely come whenever that sequel rolls around. In that way, it’s like the anime: whatever comes next will hopefully be an evolution that buils upon the winning formula of its predecessor. And if not, well, at least we’ve got a video of Pikachu dancing to brighten the day.
