You didn’t think The Pokémon Company was going to sit back and let Ryan Reynolds have all the fun now, did you?
Hot on the heels of Detective Pikachu and its global success story, the Japanese arm of The Pokeémon Company is about to launch Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution, a CG retelling of the classic movie from 1998, in which Ash, Misty, and Brock come face-to-face with a legendary Pokémon and live to tell the tale.
The title is admittedly a bit of a mouthful, but Pokémon: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution won us over on nostalgia alone, and this surprisingly musical trailer – set to the tune of Rita Ora’s “Let You Love Me” – is sure to bring back fond memories of Generation 1. Even if it threatens to spoil the film’s most gut-wrenching moment.
Here’s the official synopsis for Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution, courtesy of the company’s Japanese YouTube channel (excuse the broken English):
A phantom pokemon of an appearance that appears only before an adventurer with the two Mew. It is said that all Pokemon “start”, and while Pokémon researchers all over the world follow their way, one scientist finally discovers Mew’s fossils.
The phantom, as we all know, is Mew, the rarest of all Pokémon who is so incredibly powerful he (she?) prompts human scientists to go ahead and create their own man-made clone. And so, Mewtwo is born.
If you happen to be located in Japan, you’ll be able to see those pocket monsters on July 12th, when Pokémon The Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution is scheduled to release. There’s currently no mention of when the CGI remake will make its way west, but it’ll likely be some time in 2019, given the Pokémon franchise will soon be firing on all cylinders when Sword and Shield make their way onto the Nintendo Switch.