Popular Streaming platform Netflix and The Pokemon Company both announced on Tuesday that the 22nd film of the Pokemon franchise titled Pokemon: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution will be added to Netflix’s streaming library on February 27. The film will be available for streaming worldwide (excluding Japan and Korea). The film is the 3D CG remake of the first-ever animated film of the franchise Pokemon: The First Movie (Pocket Monsters: Mewtwo no Gyakushū). You can check out the trailer for the film here.

The film initially premiered in theaters in Japan last year. A special screening at Anime Expo also happened in July.

The release date of the film coincides with Pokemon Day, which is a celebration on the release of the original Pokemon Red and Pokemon Green games on February 27, 1996, in Japan.

The film’s Japanese title is a reference to the first film’s English title Pokemon: The First Movie. Kunihiko Yuyama, the director of the previous Pokemon films, also directed this movie along with Motonori Sakakibara. The late Takeshi Shudo was credited as the scriptwriter for the first film. He passed away in 2010.

The main cast of the Pokemon anime series reprised their roles for this film, including Team Rocket cast. The original Japanese voice of Metwo, Masachika Ichimura, also returned to voice Mewtwo in this film. The film’s theme song, “Kaze to Issho ni” (With the Wind) is performed by popular Japanese singer Shoko Nakagawa and enka singer Sachiko Kobayashi. This is actually a duet of the same theme song used in the original 1998 film.

Just this month, The Pokemon Company announced that another Pokemon is slated to be released this year. This upcoming film is confirmed to be the sequel for the 2017 “I Choose You” film.

The announcement and the unveiling of the new trailer to the upcoming Pokemon anime film title Pokemon the Movie: Coco happened in the Japanese morning program Oha Suta that aired on January 10. While the previous film was produced in CGI, this upcoming movie will be done in traditional animation.

As of this time, we don’t have much info on what the story of the upcoming film. However, it slated to be released in Japan on July 10. The director for Pokemon the Movie: Coco is Tetsuo Yajima, who previously directed the Pokemon the Movie: The Power of Us movie. Long-time Pokemon writer Atsuhiro Tomioka is confirmed to the scriptwriter for the new film.

In relation to the franchise’s hit games, Pokemon Sword and Pokemon Shield were released worldwide on November 15. The two versions of the game feature Pokemon from the Galar region, and players can choose one of the three basic starter Pokemon namely Gookey, Scorbunny, and Sobble. This is also the game where the Gigantamax forms are featured, in which Pikachu, Eevee, Meowth, Butterfree, Charizard, Alcremie, and Corviknight will be having their own, said forms in this game. Two legendary Pokemon will also be introduced.

Other features in the Pokemon Sword and Shield game include the Max Raid Battles, Dynamax, Gigantamax forms, the Battle Stadium, Poke Jobs, Pokemon Camp, and Surprise trades. This is the second Nintendo Switch game for the popular franchise.

Even before the release of the two games, people have already shared their frustration and disappointment over some Pokemon that are missing from the game. Fans say that this is saddening as people expected so much from the game’s developer Game Freak thinking that it would be better than its first Nintendo Switch games of the franchise, Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu! and Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee! which were based on the 1998 video game Pokemon Yellow: Special Pikachu Edition.

The first Nintendo Switch games Pokemon: Let’s Go, Pikachu, and Pokemon: Let’s Go, Eevee! were released in November 2018. The release of the games was a huge success as it had a record of more than 11.28 million combined sales as of September 2019. This huge number has made the games known as one of the best-selling games for the Nintendo Switch.

Nintendo announced previously that the Pokemon Sword and Shield games will have seven net anime shorts titled Twilight Wings (Hakumei no Tsubasa). The shorts will be produced by Studio Colorido, the same studio that produced Fastening Days, Penguin Highway, and Typhoon Noruda).

Things like this are expected in the growing franchise as they are also not only catering for gamers but also for those who are anticipating for animated adaptations based on the trending game. The first episode is slated to premiere on January 15, which will then be followed with one episode every month thereafter.

Last year, Pokemon Detective Pikachu released in theaters on May 10. The movie highlights a 3D CGI Pikachu voiced by Ryan Renolds (Deadpool). Other main casts include Justice Smith as Tim Goodman, Ken Watanabe as Detective Yoshida, and Kathryn Newton as Lucy.

The movie is based on the Nintendo 3DS game of the same name released in 2016 in Japan, then in March 2018 in US, Europe, and Australia.

It was confirmed in a report by the entertainment news website The Hollywood Reporter that Legendary is now working on a sequel for the film. Oren Uziel, the screenwriter of 22 Jump Street and the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie, is confirmed to be writing the script for the Detective Pikachu sequel.

Previously, the website We Got This Covered reported that the company is working on a “Pokemon Red and Blue” movie based from the first Pokemon games released for the Gameboy Color, Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue.

According to their “official sources,” this upcoming movie project will be set in the Detective Pikachu universe but will introduce movie audiences to the lore of the franchise, the same as how players were first introduced to everything about Pokemon through the game. No plot info about the upcoming sequel was confirmed as of this time.

Source: Anime News Network