Detective Pikachu

The Schwartz Is With Us: That Spaceballs Sequel Is Apparently Actually Happening

The long-teased follow-up to Mel Brooks' beloved 1987 Star Wars spoof is said to be in the works.

Movies Cheryl Eddy Jun 18

But She’s Got a New Hat

The Pokémon anime might be done with Ash Ketchum, but Pikachu is forever.

Television James Whitbrook Feb 24

An Ordinary Schmo Tries to Save the World in Hulu’s Koala Man

Hugh Jackman lends his voice to the new comedy co-produced by Rick and Morty 's Justin Roiland.

Trailers Sabina Graves Jan 3

The My Hero Academia Live-Action Film Has a Director

Shinsuke Sato will direct an adaptation of the Japanese manga created by Kohei Horikoshi.

Movies Germain Lussier Aug 13

The Dungeons & Dragons Movie Casts ‘Charm Actor’ on Michelle Rodriguez and Justice Smith

The Fast & Furious franchise and Pokémon: Detective Pikachu stars failed their Wisdom saving throws, and will now star alongside Chris Pine in the upcoming film adaptation of beloved role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. If you’re not up on your wizard spells, I’m not knocking Michelle Rodriguez and Justice Smith—who’ve joined the movie, as noted…

Movies Rob Bricken Feb 8

Let This Colorful, Cool Pop Culture Art Brighten Up Your Day

If 2020 could use anything, it’s a little shot of happiness. And that’s exactly what the artwork of Kevin Tiernan does. This Connecticut-based artist uses strong designs, deceptively simple illustrations, and bold, bright colors to create work that just makes you smile. Tiernan’s work has been featured in numerous Gallery 1988 shows and as part…

Movies Germain Lussier Oct 23

HBO Made a Bunch of Stuff Free to Watch, Here’s What You Should Check Out (or Skip)

HBO is getting in on the social distancing relief. The network has announced that dozens of its shows and Warner Bros. movies have been made available to stream without a subscription, starting today. We’ve picked some things you might want to check out, and some to probably avoid. You’re not that desperate. According to a…

io9 Beth Elderkin Apr 3

The 12 Best (and 5 Worst) Movie Moments of 2019

So many great (and occasionally terrible) movies came out this year (more on them as a whole later this week), but within the genre films of 2019, there were individual moments that delighted or disappointed us. Allow us to share them with you. Obviously, there’s going to be spoilers in this piece, so be warned:…

io9 Io9 Staff Dec 23

Watch the Birth of Detective Pikachu‘s Terrifying Mewtwo in This 10-Minute Clip

Remember when Ryan Reynolds thought it’d be cute to troll everyone with a fake leak of Detective Pikachu before the movie came out earlier this year? Warner Bros. would apparently like to make up for that. Warner Bros. has uploaded the first 10 minutes of Detective Pikachu for all those folks out there who’ve yet…

Movies Charles Pulliam-Moore Sep 10

The Weirdest Detective Pikachu Meme Now Has a Plush, and More Peculiar Toys of the Week

Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9’s regular round up of the cool toys that have an eye on reducing the amount of pennies in our piggy banks. This week: Japan’s weirdest Pikachu meme in a while gets its own plush, Figuarts takes on old Han and old Luke, NECA gets video game-y with the Ninja…

Toys & Collectibles Andrew Liszewski Aug 2

This Week’s Toys Are in Awe at the Size of This Absolute Pikachunit

Welcome back to Toy Aisle, io9’s regular roundup of the merchandise threatening to drain our wallets of their life essences. This week: McFarlane takes on the wizarding world of Harry Potter, Hasbro conjures up an adorable little Simba, and the Voltron you used to ignore gets a rad action figure. Check it out! Bandai Lifesize…

Toys & Collectibles Andrew Liszewski May 31

How the Pokémon Games (and Even Avengers: Infinity War) Influenced Detective Pikachu‘s Wild Climax

Detective Pikachu is already a pretty weird movie—it’s a noir film for kids starring outlandish creatures, one of which wears an incredibly adorable deerstalker hat. But it takes an even weirder turn for its climactic third act. A turn that required VFX studio MPC to explore not only the games for inspiration, but one of…

Movies James Whitbrook May 31

How the Team Behind Detective Pikachu Answered the Existential Questions Around the Movie’s Strangest Pokémon

Pokémon come in all shapes and sizes. Some are cute little sheep, some are giant bugs. Some are gods. Some are ghosts. Some are…your keys? They can get weird. Weird enough that one of the VFX teams behind the movie found themselves asking questions they thought they’d never have to ask themselves. Outside of a…

Movies James Whitbrook May 30

One of Detective Pikachu‘s Grossest Moments Is Even Weirder Than You Thought

Detective Pikachu’s trailers were full of wonderfully cute (and occasionally freaky) Pokémon—but one of the biggest reactions came with the debut of Lickitung. Or rather, Licktung’s ginormous, gross tongue as it slathers Tim Goodman’s face with saliva. It turns out there’s actually a much creepier factoid behind that moment than Pokédrool. We recently had the…

Movies James Whitbrook May 27

This Concept Artist Made a Danny DeVito-Inspired Detective Pikachu Design

When the Detective Pikachu movie was announced, a fan campaign emerged insisting that Pikachu was born to be voiced by Danny DeVito. Turns out, it wasn’t only the fans—the movie’s concept artists got in on the campaign, too. RJ Palmer, a concept artist at Ubisoft who got a job on the Detective Pikachu movie for…

Movies Julie Muncy May 26

How Detective Pikachu Built Its Adorable Star

For visual effects house MPC, Pikachu stood as the ultimate thesis for its approach to designing the world of Pokémon for Detective Pikachu. io9 recently spoke to MPC VFX Supervisor Pete Dionne about his work on Detective Pikachu, and the particular challenges behind bringing the most vital Pokémon to life. Detective Pikachu’s adorably weird approach…

Movies James Whitbrook May 24

Pokémon Sword and Shield‘s New Starters Look Great in Detective Pikachu‘s Style

It’s a fantastic time to be a Pokémon fan, between the arrival of Detective Pikachu in theaters and the two brand new mainline games, Sword and Shield, coming to the Switch later this year. But what if we could have the best of both in one go? Well, artist RJ Palmer is back to imagine…

Games James Whitbrook May 17

The Weird Video Game Moment Behind Detective Pikachu‘s Bonkers Third Act

The climax of Detective Pikachu goes to a completely wild place, a place it arrives at seemingly out of nowhere. Partially because it’s not particularly set up well by the movie, but also partially because it’s completely insane. But it actually has some interesting connections to a moment from the very first Pokémon games. There…

Movies James Whitbrook May 13

Theater Accidentally Shows Mother Drowning Her Child at Detective Pikachu Screening

The Curse of La Llorona is based on a Mexican legend about the ghost of a mother who drowned her children and now wanders the Earth snatching up lost kids. Much like Pokémon, you could say she’s “gotta catch ‘em all.” So perhaps it was fitting that a Montreal theater accidentally played the R-rated horror film…

Movies Jennings Brown May 13