Legendary Entertainment announced Thursday that Goosebumps and Monsters vs. Aliens director Rob Letterman has been hired to helm the upcoming live-action Detective Pikachu movie based on the Nintendo game of the same name. Letterman will direct the film from a script penned by Nicole Perlman and Alex Hirsch, who penned the Guardians of the Galaxy movie and Gravity Falls series, respectively.
The Pokémon spinoff game Great Detective Pikachu was released earlier this year, and the announcement of the movie, the hiring of writers, and the attachment of Letterman have all happened in a relatively short time, suggesting that the project is being fast-tracked by the studio.
Plot details for Detective Pikachu are scarce at this point, but if the movie follows the storyline of the game, it will have Pikachu teaming up with human pals to solve a mystery set in the Pokémon universe.
Along with directing the 2015éé live-action Goosebumps movie, Letterman wrote and directed the animated features Monsters vs. Aliens and Shark Tale.
Although they haven’t done well in the U.S., movies based on the Pokémon franchise have done respectable business outside North America. Five films based on Pokémon were released between 1999 and 2003, earning a collective $414.9 million at the worldwide box office.
Production on Detective Pikachu is expected to begin in 2017.
