Live-action Pokémon Film Casts Deadpool's Ryan Reynolds As 'detective Pikachu'

The film will reportedly use motion capture
Entertainment news source The Hollywood Reporter revealed on Wednesday that Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) will play the "titular character" Detective Pikachu in Legendary Entertainment's planned live-action Pokémon film. The Hollywood Reporter described Reynolds' character as "a peculiar sort from the Pikachu set, a self-styled investigator who is good at finding things." The report also cites unnamed sources that say the role will be "motion-capture in nature."

As with previous reports, the current report refers to the film's title as "Detective Pikachu," and it will will feature the Detective Pikachu character, which debuted in the February 2016 Meitantei Pikachu Nintendo 3DS game.

Variety previously revealed that Justice Smith (The Get Down) will star as the lead actor in the film, and The Hollywood Reporter revealed that the film's story begins when "Smith's character's father is kidnapped, forcing the teen to team up with Pikachu in order to find him." The Hollywood Repoter previously revealed that Kathryn Newton (Big Little Lies) will play the "sassy journalist" Lucy in the film.

Rob Letterman (Shark Tale, Monsters vs. Aliens, Goosebumps) is directing the film, with scripts by Alex Hirsch (Gravity Falls) and Nicole Perlman (Guardians of the Galaxy).

The film is slated to start production in London in mid-January. TOHO will distribute the film in Japan, while Universal Pictures will distribute the film outside of Japan.

Legendary Entertainment acquired the live-action film rights for the Pokémon franchise in July 2016. The Hollywood Reporter reported in April 2016 that Legendary Entertainment, Warner Bros., and Sony were engaged in an auction for the rights. Warner already released several of the animated Pokémon films, starting with Pokemon: The First Movie in North American theaters in 1999. Warner then released Pokemon 2000 - The Movie and 2001's Pokemon 3 - The Movie.