Production Houses: Coming Together

In 2016, when Mary Parent, a former MGM powerhouse and co-vise chairperson of the worldwide production at Universal Pictures, who was behind hit films like, 'The Revenant' 'Godzilla' and 'Kong: Skull Island', got hired to be the chairperson at Legendary, she and her colleagues and co-producers of the film, Cale Boyter and Ali Mendes, came out of the constraints of trying to set up their project for the film as independent producers. This project as proposed by Boyter was about a live-action movie dedicated to the video game/anime franchise, Pokémon.

Plans for a live-action Pokémon film go as far back as 2012 when producers Cale Boyter, Mary Parent, and Ali Mendes, all tried to convince the Pokémon Company to give it a shot, but the company wasn't interested at all. The producers would make monthly meetings with The Pokémon Company's executives to throw around an idea for a live-action Pokémon they could. At one point, Paramount expressed interest in working with the producers for the movie, but the talks failed.

Nonetheless, it wasn't until the release of Pokémon Go in 2016, along with Parent joining Legendary Pictures as vice-chairman of the worldwide productions, The Pokémon Company felt warm to the idea. Among other candidates to acquire the rights to the movie including Warner Bros., Sony, and Netflix, Legendary Pictures managed to make a more convincing proposal than the former three. Apparently, Parent knew The Pokémon Company's General Counsel, Don McGowan from when she wanted to make the movie version of 'Halo' and had recently worked with Toho, the company behind the release of every Pokémon movie to date, for the 2014's 'Godzilla', they were able to get consideration from the Company.  Warner Bros., having had the experience in the Pokémon franchise due to releasing the first three anime films outside Japan, also adamantly participated in the production and distribution of the movie, alongside Legendary, also because of the failing negotiation with its then-distribution partner, Universal. From there, a deal between the Pokémon Company and Legendary. along with Warner Bros., was quickly struck. The Pokémon Company remained actively involved through every step of the development. overseeing character design and story structure, ensuring the filmmakers coloured within the lines. Legendary executives frequently traveled to Tokyo to get the company's approval, while Pokémon executives flew to Hollywood to iron out the production kinks. Translators worked overtime to bridge the English-Japanese divide.

Parent scrambled to enlist a screenwriter to draft a story in time. Within a year and a half of the agreement, Rob Letterman had been installed as the director, and Pokémon: Detective Pikachu was in production. The movie was released on May 10th, 2019, with a PG-8 rating.