Pokémon Returning To The Big Screen With ‘Wild Card’ Animated Feature
The Pokémon Company has announced that a new feature-length animated film, Pokémon: Wild Card, will arrive in cinemas in 2027, marking the franchise's first big-screen animated outing in years. The film, produced with Japanese animation studio CloverWorks, was unveiled during the closing ceremony of the 2026 Pokémon World Championships in San Francisco, alongside a short teaser trailer, and follows a Pokémon Trading Card Game player and his partner, the ghostly Pokémon Mimikyu, as they face a high-stakes challenge.
The teaser confirms the film is coming "in 2027 and beyond", hinting at further instalments or content to follow. It marks a return to feature animation for the franchise, whose last cinema release, Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle, came out in Japan in 2020 and the US in 2021. Separately, Disney+ has commissioned a new stop-motion series, Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch'd & Pichu, which will debut on Disney XD and stream on Disney+ in 2027 as part of a global distribution deal with The Pokémon Company International.
In short
- New Pokémon animated film, Wild Card, confirmed for 2027 release
- Made with CloverWorks; follows a TCG player and Mimikyu
- Disney+ also greenlights a separate stop-motion Pokémon series for 2027
Explained simply
Pokémon began as a series of video games in which players collect and train creatures, and it has since grown into a global entertainment franchise spanning games, cards, television and films. The Pokémon Trading Card Game lets players build decks of cards featuring Pokémon and compete against one another.
The Pokémon Company manages the franchise, while CloverWorks is a Japanese animation studio. Mimikyu, the ghostly Pokémon featured in the film’s premise, is one of many creatures in the series. The film’s return to cinemas follows several years without a new Pokémon animated feature, while a separate television series is also planned for 2027.
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