The worldwide success of Nintendo’s mobile game Pokémon Go has led to renewed talks over a live-action movie.
According to Deadline, Legendary Pictures is close to finalising a deal to purchase big-screen rights to the Japanese franchise. Details are yet to be announced but Victor Frankenstein writer Max Landis has been rumoured to be in charge of the screenplay.
After the augmented reality game was launched earlier this month, Nintendo saw its stock price rise 25%, adding $9bn (£6.8bn) to the company’s value. Pokémon Go is now the fastest ever game to top both Apple and Google charts, despite reports of privacy concerns and inappropriately located “Pokéstops”.
Legendary Pictures has been behind blockbusters such as Inception, Jurassic World and Interstellar and earlier this year it was bought by the Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group for $3.5bn.
The Pokémon franchise has had mixed success at the box office. Pokémon: The First Movie took $163m worldwide in 1999, but the most recent film, Pokemon Heroes, brought in just $28m four years later.
