(UTV|COLOMBO) – Warner Bros. Pictures is reportedly set to both take a stake in and take over distribution of Legendary’s upcoming Ryan Reynolds-led Pokemon movie “Detective Pikachu” from Universal Pictures.
Legendary originally setup shop at Warner Bros. Pictures for years, and then in 2013 ended that deal and shifted over to Universal. That still current four-year-old deal expires on New Year’s Eve this year and it’s expected Universal will not renew the partnership following the relationship faltering recently.
The pair’s most recent collaboration, the Dwayne Johnson-led “Skyscraper,” will reportedly ended up being a money loser for the studio. At the same time, the pair had a big win with “Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” which Legendary put up a large portion of the budget.
It’s expected Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman” will mark Legendary’s final film with Universal, and now Legendary and Warners are in early talks for a larger distribution deal with the ‘Pikachu’ move a precursor to that larger move. It’s not clear how much a new agreement would resemble the old one between Warners and Legendary that ran for eight years and included many hits – most notably Chris Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” films.
“Detective Pikachu” is also expected to move from its current May 10th 2019 date to one later on Warners’ calendar.
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