The live-action Detective Pikachu movie now has an official release date and will hit theaters on May 10, 2019. Universal Pictures and Legendary Entertainment are releasing the big screen adaptation of the Pokémon multimedia franchise, which itself began as a simple video game series that debuted in the mid-1990s. The property enjoyed a resurgence in popularity stateside around the time of its twentieth anniversary last year, when the augmented reality game Pokémon Go hit the marketplace.


Detective Pikachu is loosely based on the Pokémon spinoff game series of the same name and is being directed by Rob Letterman (Goosebumps), from a script written by Alex Hirsch (creator of Gravity Falls) and Nicole Perlman (co-writer of the original Guardians of the Galaxy movie). Along with the news that Deadpool himself, Ryan Reynolds is voicing the eponymous character in Detective Pikachu, it emerged this past week that the live-action/CGI film will revolve around a young man (played by The Get Down‘s Justice Smith) who seeks out the crime-solving Pikachu’s help after his father is mysteriously kidnapped.


Universal Pictures has officially claimed May 10, 2019 as the U.S. theatrical release date for Detective Pikachu, ahead of production on the film getting underway next month, e.g. January 2018. Also starring in the movie, as its human female lead, is Kathryn Newton (Supernatural, Halt and Catch Fire) as a “sassy journalist” who helps Smith’s character and Pikachu out with their wayward investigation.


Detective Pikachu is currently scheduled to arrive one week after Marvel Studios’ as-yet untitled Avengers 4 opens in theaters, as well as one week before both John Wick: Chapter 3 and an as-yet untitled Men in Black spinoff film hit the scene. However, seeing as the live-action/CGI Pokémon movie will be appealing more directly to families with kids than any of those franchise movies – and won’t have any real competition for the family crowd until Disney’s live-action Aladdin arrives two weeks later – it should be able to carve out a decent sized slice of box office pie for itself.


Letterman has proven himself to be a mostly reliable director when it comes to delivering solid family-friendly entertainment, with modest hits like Goosebumps and Monsters vs. Aliens under his belt. However, if anything’s going to elevate Detective Pikachu above being more than a generic live-action movie based on a popular IP, it’s probably going to be a combination of Hirsch and Perlman’s uniquely quirky writing, plus the outside-the-box casting of Reynolds as everyone’s favorite yellow, lightning bolt-throwing, pocket monster.