

Starting with Pokémon: Lucario and the Mystery of Mew, Viz Media is the only North American licensee. In these four movies distributed by Miramax, there were partly or completely different dubbing casts than in the TV series in many countries. (now known as Entertainment One, a subsidiary of Hasbro), which was responsible for Canadian distribution of Miramax Films. In Canadian releases, they were licensed by Alliance Atlantis Communications, Inc. licensed the first three animated films in North America, and Miramax Films licensed the following four films. There are also two animated television specials that were broadcast on TV Tokyo featuring Ash and Ash's Pikachu and ten short animated films. Detective Pikachu film is based on the 2016 video game Detective Pikachu and stars Ryan Reynolds as the motion capture role of Detective Pikachu, with Justice Smith and Kathryn Newton as the lead human roles. The films star the Pokémon trainer Ash Ketchum and his electric mouse partner Pikachu. It is distributed in Japan by Toho, and outside of Japan and China by Warner Bros. A live-action film, Pokémon Detective Pikachu, was produced by American studio Legendary Entertainment, directed by Rob Letterman, and written by Letterman and Nicole Perlman. The first Pokémon animated film, Pokémon: The First Movie, was released in Japan in 1998, which was remade into Mewtwo Strikes Back: Evolution. They were directed by Kunihiko Yuyama and Tetsuo Yajima, and written by Takeshi Shudo, Hideki Sonoda, Atsuhiro Tomioka, Shōji Yonemura, Eiji Umehara, and Aya Takaha. The films are produced by the animation studios OLM, Production I.G, Xebec, and Wit Studio, and distributed in Japan by Toho, with various studios distributing the films in North America. The 20th, 21st and 23rd animated films are set in an alternate continuity to the anime.

The first nineteen animated films are based on the anime television series of the same name, with the original film being remade into the 22nd.

As of 2020, there have been 23 animated films and one live action film. Pokémon is a media franchise created by video game designer Satoshi Tajiri that centers on fictional creatures called Pokémon. Pokémon live action films release timeline 2019 Pokémon 4Ever: Celebi - Voice of the Forest Pokémon 3: The Movie - Spell of the Unown Pokémon anime films release timeline 1998
