The Pokémon franchise announced a new movie, Pokémon: Wild Card, scheduled for a worldwide release in 2027. Unveiled during the closing ceremony of the 2026 Pokémon World Championships in San Francisco, the film will focus on a trading card game player and the ghostly Pokémon Mimikyu.
The announcement marks a significant return to the big screen for the brand, which celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2026. This project is the first Pokémon movie made since 2020’s Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle, which saw a theatrical run in Japan and a subsequent global release on Netflix in 2021.
Mimikyu and the Wild Card Plot
A short teaser released alongside the announcement provides a glimpse into the film’s central characters. The story features a trading card game player who is dressed in a yellow hoodie, mirroring the appearance of Mimikyu, a ghost and fairy type Pokémon.
Mimikyu, originally introduced in the seventh generation Sun and Moon games, is known for its deceptive appearance. According to the report, the creature crudely disguises itself as a Pikachu, the mascot of the Pokémon series, but its true form is hidden below the yellow rag that it wears.
Production Team and Animation Studio
The film is being produced by the Japanese animation studio CloverWorks, known for titles such as Spy X Family and Bocchi the Rock. The creative leadership brings a pedigree of high-profile anime experience to the project.
- Director: Katsuhiko Kitada, whose previous credits include The First Slam Dunk, Attack on Titan, and Naruto: Shippuden.
- Character Design: Akemi Hayashi, who has worked on Lazarus and Banana Fish.
Broader Franchise Expansion in 2026 and 2027
The movie is part of a larger wave of content hitting the franchise. While the film targets a 2027 window, the upcoming year will also see the release of Winds and Waves, the 10th generation of Pokémon titles.
This expansion follows a strong year for the brand’s gaming division. In 2026, a spin-off title about building adorable towns and protecting the environment became the highest-rated game in the franchise’s thirty-year history. Players have spent significant time in Pokémon Pokopia, contributing to a year where the brand maintained high visibility across both gaming and competitive circuits.
The cinematic push follows a period of varied theatrical distribution. The last Pokémon film to hit theaters worldwide was 2018’s Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us, which received a limited release by Fathom Events outside of Japan.
The 2026 Gaming Landscape
The success of Pokémon Pokopia occurred within a 2026 calendar year described by Esquire’s editors as completely stacked, despite industry economic woes where prolific studios downsize and slash budgets and lay off talented developers with invaluable institutional knowledge.
Other major releases in 2026 included Resident Evil Requiem, which combined third-person action and first-person survival horror, and action titles such as Onimusha: Way of the Sword, 007 First Light, and Marvel’s Wolverine. In Marvel’s Wolverine, developed by Insomniac, a five-foot-four berserker in a universe where mutants live in secret teams up with a telepath named Jean Grey to stop a powerful industrialist from unleashing a weapon that could kill all mutants.
The year also saw the release of Mixtape by developers Beethoven & Dinosaur. Set in summer 1995 and featuring a soundtrack with Silverchair, Joy Division, and B.J. Thomas, the narrative game follows three California teens. While the title caused a ruckus among gaming circles because players cannot die or fail and the tasks are not challenging, it is described as a love letter to bygone summer days.
Other notable 2026 titles include 007 First Light from IO Interactive, featuring actor Patrick Gibson as a new James Bond in the early days of his MI6 career, and Mina the Hollower from Yacht Club Games. The latter, inspired by GameBoy era Legend of Zelda and gothic dungeon crawlers like Castlevania, features a nineteenth-century mouse who slays monsters to restore power to her home. The year is expected to conclude with Star Wars: Galactic Racer and the November release of Grand Theft Auto VI.