London to host Detective Pikachu feature

A US live-action feature based on a character from the Pokemon universe is setting up for production in the UK early next year. 

By Nia Daniels 13 Oct 2017

London to host Detective Pikachu feature
Rob Letterman

A US live-action feature based on a character from the Pokemon universe is setting up for production in London early next year.

Legendary Entertainment is making Detective Pikachu with Rob Letterman (pictured) attached to direct from a screenplay by Nicole Perlman and Alex Hirsch. Legendary’s Thomas Tull produces.

The Pokemon franchise was created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1995 with the first video game iteration arriving on Game Boy in 1996.

Production on big-budget US features continues apace in the UK with Disney having bedded into Pinewood and Shepperton Studios over the past year for projects such as Mary Poppins Returns and The Mummy, as well as the continuing Star Wars franchise.

Other major American films currently gearing up for production in the UK include Disney’s Artemis Fowl and Robert Downey Jr’s Doctor Dolittle for Universal.

A report published by the BFI earlier this year showed that in the first six months of 2017, 30 of the 86 projects that began filming were inward investment projects that spent a total of £982m, a huge 90% of the total production spend over that period.


Rob Letterman photo via Getty Images/WireImage/Jeffrey Mayer.

Legendary Entertainment is making Detective Pikachu with Rob Letterman (pictured) attached to direct from a screenplay by Nicole Perlman and Alex Hirsch. Legendary’s Thomas Tull produces.

The Pokemon franchise was created by Satoshi Tajiri in 1995 with the first video game iteration arriving on Game Boy in 1996.

Production on big-budget US features continues apace in the UK with Disney having bedded into Pinewood and Shepperton Studios over the past year for projects such as Mary Poppins Returns and The Mummy, as well as the continuing Star Wars franchise.

Other major American films currently gearing up for production in the UK include Disney’s Artemis Fowl and Robert Downey Jr’s Doctor Dolittle for Universal.

A report published by the BFI earlier this year showed that in the first six months of 2017, 30 of the 86 projects that began filming were inward investment projects that spent a total of £982m, a huge 90% of the total production spend over that period.


Rob Letterman photo via Getty Images/WireImage/Jeffrey Mayer.

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