LIVE ACTION....(is this a good idea?)

D

Dennis Mikula Films

I came up with this idea with a friend of mine a while back. Make a pokemon live action movie!

I would want it a little darker, kind of like The Dark Knight did it.

But I think it could be amazing with the pokemon being actual crazy creatures. PLUS I think the generation of everyone who loved pokemon are in the perfect age range to want to see a movie like this.

I think it would make a shit load of money...as well as cost a shit load of money.

Thoughts?
 
Dennis Mikula Films said:
I came up with this idea with a friend of mine a while back. Make a pokemon live action movie!

I would want it a little darker, kind of like The Dark Knight did it.

But I think it could be amazing with the pokemon being actual crazy creatures. PLUS I think the generation of everyone who loved pokemon are in the perfect age range to want to see a movie like this.

I think it would make a shit load of money...as well as cost a shit load of money.

Thoughts?
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You talkin' CGI?
 
Just remember to get the rights to the Pokemon characters if you plan on using already established ones. :) I wasn't ever a Pokemon player but I'm sure a lot of people would enjoy it. You won't know if you don't try it! Go for it and have fun.
 
I guess my next question is....how do I go for it???

I would need a MASSIVE amount of money to make it even worth it for my vision.

Do I try to fund a smaller short and use that to look for a good amount of funding??

The CGI will definitely have to be perfect.
 
Well HOW should I go for it? lol

Do the District 9 way and make a good short using great CGI to get interest in the project?

I actually feel that this project would be a good candidate for crowdfunding..
 
I don't think you could get away with it. Nintendo is pretty strong, but fair, regarding their IP. Example: the Hero of Time fan-film was created...Nintendo said, yeah, you can't do that, but we'll give you until the end of the year to make your film available, so long as it's free, and a fan project rather than a commercial film. That film was 100% respectful of Zelda (maybe not GOOD, but they had fun with it).

Now, what you want to do, making Pokemon "darker and edgier" is completely opposite of what Nintendo is currently doing with the IP. They are still putting out games, and they're still going for "kid friendly". They wouldn't shut you down because you are doing a fan work...they'll shut you down because you're doing something they don't want associated with Pokemon at this time.

If you can do it on the cheap, as a fan-film, go for it. If you want to try to make a commercial film with it, I can't imagine Ninty ever giving the go-ahead. And buying film rights for Pokemon would be a multi-million dollar sort of deal (don't know how much they're currently earning on Pokemon, but the franchise is far from dead).

Now, all that said, if you can come up with your own creature designs and do an Asylum-style rip-off film, you can probably tap into that fanbase. Crowdfunding might not be a bad plan; other fan-films are crowdfunded for that exact reason. Similar, but distinct should be your goal. Not Pikachu, but Electricus Rodentia. Or Elcrat. You get what I mean.

Either way, keep us in the loop, of course!
 
The hassle-reward factor is sky high.

Move on to a different project, delightful and entertaining as this one seems.
The feasibility just ain't there, IMHO.
 
I think JoshL might be on to something.

What you could do is tie into a product that doesn't (yet) exist.

Here's what I mean.

A local Pokemon League Leader is designing his own new card game. New game mechanics, designs, backstory, strategies, etc.-- the whole nine yards, and he would like to shop it around to various potential distributors.

If you could catch someone like that (just on the verge of making a big sale) while they still owned all the rights to all of the characters, then BOOM-- that person gets extra promotion from your film, and you get your chance to demonstrate a "proof of concept" with an honest-to-goodness real-life product that would give you tons of exposure.

It wouldn't even have to be a feature-length endeavor, but even a short of that caliber would still benefit from a large (potentially even partially crowd-sourced) budget.

Maybe someone from https://community.thegamecrafter.com/forums already has the next big thing.
 
ha ha! You know I've also thought about a live action pokemon movie. Great minds huh? I was even talking to a zoologist about it (that was a crazy night). My opinion though, i'd stick with the light hearted concept as opposed to gritty dark knight-esq, purely because of the merchedise aspect. Think of it this way, if you went gritty you'd be, like you said, attracting a crowd who are now 13-15 and mostlt male?? Whereas if you kept the original fun concept your audiance would be much broader (anyone under 16 maybe? Both male & female) I think if someone did that it has potential to make ALOT of money!! I think it would even better Harry Potter. But then it all depends on if your making it just for fun or making it with the intention of milking it for every penny.

I saw a trailer for a fan film a few years ago which was a darker and grittier take on the pokemon world. Think it had Ash fighting in underground pokemon battles, trying to come to terms with Pikachus death. Lol. Ill try and find it for you
 
All very interesting ideas everyone! I actually really like the idea of creating a film for an upcoming game. Im going to seriously look into that for my next project!
 
Dennis Mikula Films said:
All very interesting ideas everyone! I actually really like the idea of creating a film for an upcoming game. Im going to seriously look into that for my next project!
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Don't.

You dont own the IP meaning if you tried doing festivals or selling it and the like then you would have lawyers on you immediately. For Youtube stuff then it'd probably be alright, unless you then made any money from it - then, again, they would be all over you. A Zelda fan film was produced and had some screenings and put up online for streaming. Nintendo canned the whole thing - Four years of filmmaking down the pan.

http://www.theherooftime.com/2009/12/the-hero-of-time-update-01-01-10/
 
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