Video game movies still have something of a stigma but in recent years it feels like films based on popular games have started to find their footing. One of the big reasons was the success of Detective Pikachu which became the highest grossing domestic box office film based on a video game at the time. While it recently lost that record to Sonic the Hedgehog, it's still the number two video game movie by box office worldwide and that sort of success almost always does, and in this case did, set off talk of a sequel.
However, Detective Pikachu just celebrated its first anniversary, and the film only celebrated the existence of the original movie, without any mention of any projects that might be too come. So what's going on with Detective Pikachu 2?
Setting aside the fact that it doesn't seem right that Detective Pikachu only came out a year ago, at this point it feels like that movie must have been released the better part of a decade ago, considering how hyped everybody was for the idea of a sequel 12 months ago, you'd think we would have heard something by now.
The first rumblings of a potential sequel came so fast they actually hit moths before the first Detective Pikachu hit theaters. After the movie opened, however, and was a clear box office hit, the sequel was all but confirmed. If the project is an active concern you'd expect to hear more about it, even if what we were hearing was news of behind-the-scenes issues causing delays.
Instead, we're hearing nothing, and it isn't just us. Earlier this year, Justice Smith, who starred in the first Detective Pikachu alongside Ryan Reynolds as the title character, admitted that he also hasn't heard anything about the sequel. So it isn't just that news about the film isn't getting out, but it looks like there really isn't any at this moment.
Of course, no Detective Pikachu sequel is going to be starting production anytime soon. Most films are still shutdown and even if the movie was ready to start filming tomorrow, it would have to wait not only for the all-clear, but likely for other currently delayed films to finish so that cast and crew will be available to make the movie in the first place.
There's certainly no rush to announce new projects while Hollywood is largely closed for business, so it's not necessarily a shock that we're not hearing much about Detective Pikachu 2 right now, though it's always possible that we will get an announcement that it's on the way just as a way to get fans excited during uncertain times.
And perhaps, if the problem is that the script isn't ready yet, this period of time will be used to get to ready. It's not like there's a lot else to do these days.
