Hollywood
Pokémon announces Wild Card movie for 2027 theatrical release
New animated film follows a Pokémon TCG player chasing a championship dream
MUMBAI: Gotta catch ’em all? This time, Pokémon is asking fans to catch a movie ticket. The Pokémon Company has announced Pokémon: Wild Card, a new animated feature that will hit the big screen in 2027, marking the franchise’s first new Pokémon movie in seven years.
The announcement came during the closing ceremony of the 2026 Pokémon World Championships in San Francisco, where Pokémon Company president and CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara revealed that a new film was on the way.
Ishihara said the film’s central character is a Pokémon Trading Card Game player who is “battling and striving to be a champion”, giving the movie a distinctly competitive twist.
A teaser unveiled at the event offered the first glimpse of the protagonist, who appears in a yellow hoodie inspired by Mimikyu. While the film is confirmed for 2027, the teaser’s wording “coming 2027 and beyond” suggests the announcement could be the beginning of a larger rollout of information around the project.
Katsuhiko Kitada is directing Pokémon: Wild Card, with Akemi Hayashi handling character designs. Story Inc. is producing the film, while CloverWorks is responsible for the animation.
The new feature arrives after a relatively long wait for Pokémon fans. The last film, Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle, was released in Japan in 2020 before reaching the US in 2021.
The franchise is also expanding its screen presence in 2027 beyond the cinema. The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d and Pichu, a new Pokémon series, is set to debut on Disney+ and Disney XD that year.
With Wild Card putting a card-game player at the centre of its story, Pokémon appears ready to shuffle its cinematic deck for a new generation, this time with the championship battle starting on the big screen.
