The Pokémon Company has released a teaser trailer for Pokémon: Wild Card, a 2D animated movie. Releasing some time in 2027, the film is a pretty big departure from previous movies, as it centers on the trading card game, not physical Pokémon battles.
While we don't know whether this film takes place in the same world of Pokémon as Ash Ketchum's adventures, what does seem clear is that Pokémon still exist in this setting. The Pokémon website says the feature-length animated movie "tells the story of a Pokémon TCG player and his partner Mimikyu". That Mimikyu isn't an illustration stuck on a card, it's moving about being a spooky little guy.
The trailer, which you can see above, doesn't reveal much about the plot - though it's still worth watching for that nostalgia-tugging orchestral theme alone. In fact, we've got almost no details beyond what we've already shared. We don't even know the protagonist's name!
It is interesting though that the teaser says Wild Card is coming in "2027 and beyond". Movies don't typically have multiple release dates, so could this be teasing an immediate sequel or, perhaps more likely, an upcoming series?
Whereas past Pokémon movies have been produced by Japanese animation studio OLM, The Pokémon Company has broken with tradition for this film, which is being created by CloverWorks.
The studio responsible for the ill-fated Promised Neverland adaption, CloverWorks has had a string of successes since then, with Spy X Family, My Dress-Up Darling, and Wonder Egg. Other key credits include the character designer Akemi Hayashi, and director Katsuhiko Kitada, who were both key animators on Evangelion 2.
This is the first proper Pokémon movie in 5 years, as the last big animated Pokémon adventure to hit the silver screen was Pokémon The Movie: Secrets of the Jungle, which came out in early 2021. Whether the reasons were pandemic-related or not, after that TPC took a big long break from animated movies.
This isn't actually the first time the Pokémon TCG has appeared in official animation, as a few years ago we got 'Path to the Peak', a miniseries following a child's journey to competing at Worlds.
This seems like it's going to be a less realistic but far more dramatic affair, however, and probably a better advert for the TCG as a whole.
Let us know what you think the movie will be like over on the Wargamer Discord.