Hollywood Pokemon movie on the way after resurgence in popularity

Pikachu and Ash Ketchum in the cartoon series

A live-action movie franchise based on Japanese video game Pokemon has been confirmed.

Legendary Entertainment, the media company behind Godzilla, Jurassic World and The Dark Night Rises, has signed a deal with the Pokemon Company for the rights to create the feature films.

Hollywood’s interest in Pokemon comes after its recent resurgence in popularity following the launch of successful new app Pokemon Go.

Pokemon Go gamers — Thanks to the success of app Pokemon Go, Hollywood took interest and a live-action movie has now been confirmed (Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)

The first film is said to be based on Nintendo game Great Detective Pikachu, which sees the famous yellow Pokemon act as an investigator on missions with a human accomplice.

Details about the movie are being kept a secret but Legendary said production will begin in 2017.

Pokemon Go was released in July and encourages users to explore the real world using their phone’s GPS and camera to catch the virtual monsters.

Players are known as trainers and must catch as many Pokemon as they can before utilising their unique skills during battles at local ‘gyms’.

The game has become a global phenomenon, with reports of it having 5.9 million daily users.

Pokemon – a portmanteau of ‘pocket monsters’ – launched in 1996 and has spawned several video games, a trading card game and a television show, as well as animated movies.