Pokémon is getting ready to answer the question of whether its massively successful trading card game would still exist in a world where Pokémon are real, and it will do so with the franchise’s first theatrical movie in seven years. Pokémon: Wild Card is a new animated feature film announced during Pokémon XP, coming to the big screen “in 2027 and beyond.”
The trailer shared during the convention shows a boy described as a “Pokémon TCG player” alongside a Mimikyu, followed by a glimpse of a table set up for a game of Pokémon. The movie will be animated by CloverWorks (Spy x Family, The Elusive Samurai), directed by Katsuhiko Kitada (Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance), with character design by Akemi Hayashi (Banana Fish).
Pokémon: Wild Card will be the 25th movie in the franchise (including 2019’s live-action Detective Pikachu), and the first to follow 2020’s Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle. This will also be the first animated movie not to feature longtime anime protagonist Ash/Satoshi, and to focus on the Pokémon TCG. Until now, all the Pokémon movies have been treated more or less as spin-offs of the anime, but with the conclusion of the original series in 2023, it seems that the franchise is finally moving in a different direction.
Interestingly, the Pokémon TCG has never been explicitly confirmed to exist in the world depicted by the anime, except for a few references and Easter eggs. For example, in episode 73 of Pokémon The Series, “Bad to the Bone,” a few Pokémon TCG cards are briefly shown among Team Rocket member Jessie’s possessions, but the cards were edited out in the English version of the episode. Moreover, the villain of Pokémon The Movie 2000 owns an Ancient Mew card, which was also distributed at cinemas for the movie’s release.
Despite that, fans have never seen a character playing the Pokémon TCG in-universe, which could mean that Pokémon: Wild Card takes place in a different continuity from the anime (or not; the franchise never cared too much about this stuff). It will be interesting to see what role Mimikyu will play in the movie; is it just the main character’s partner? Or can it play the game? The trailer shows the yet-unnamed protagonist playing a Psychic deck with a Mimikyu card, so their connection probably extends to the game. More importantly, will scalpers play the role of villains? These guys surely make Team Rocket look like amateurs, so I wouldn’t dismiss the option so easily.
Many popular franchises are looking at anime movies with increasing interest after the impressive financial success of films like Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle and Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze Arc. Pokémon was a pioneer in the field, but its movies mostly banked on the popularity of the anime, which has surely decreased in recent years. The Pokémon TCG, on the other hand, keeps getting bigger, so it makes sense to tell a completely original story tied to one of the franchise’s most profitable properties.
Pokémon: Wild Card is advertised for release in 2027 and beyond, meaning that production delays or the timescale for international distribution could make a 2028 date more likely.