Why do you think OLM, Inc. have produced the Pokémon anime films from the alternate continuity instead of those based on the Sun & Moon series?

[thomaswiencek]

I know that OLM, Inc. has produced Pokémon anime films that:

• Are not actually based on the Sun & Moon series, but from the alternate continuity instead.
• Do not actually star any characters or Pokémon from that series, but only the exclusive characters from the alternate continuity instead.

Now I wonder why you think? Please let me know, and good luck.

 

[HiroHunter]

Well one reason could be that anything that could had been used in movies is in the anime so theirs little to work with.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I think that they wanted to try something different for the movies this time around. They were going to have a big celebration for the 20th movie, so maybe they thought that it would be worthwhile to just set every movie during the seventh generation in its own universe. It probably also helps that all of the elements from Sun/Moon that could have been featured in a movie like Solgaleo, Lunala, Necrozma and the Ultra Beasts were used in the SM series instead. So that would give them less to work with for a movie. I still really appreciate that they wanted to do some experiments with the movies and I really hope that they won't go back to the standard formula during the next series too.

 

[PkmnTrainerV]

I think that they wanted to try something different for the movies this time around. They were going to have a big celebration for the 20th movie, so maybe they thought that it would be worthwhile to just set every movie during the seventh generation in its own universe. It probably also helps that all of the elements from Sun/Moon that could have been featured in a movie like Solgaleo, Lunala, Necrozma and the Ultra Beasts were used in the SM series instead. So that would give them less to work with for a movie. I still really appreciate that they wanted to do some experiments with the movies and I really hope that they won't go back to the standard formula during the next series too.

The fact that the typical legendary fest movies were doing less and less well might be a factor as well.

 

[RetroPokeFan]

To get away from the boring, tired, we’ve-bashed-these-whole-plot threads-to-death legendary focused plot that they’ve a million bazillion times before especially after how worse the box office reception got with later entries.

 

[Daenerys]

Maybe they realized that people wouldn't want to see an hour and a half of characters pulling face faults on the big screen, so they decided to say "screw the rules" and focus on non-canon movies without the SuMo cast around to contaminate the plot.

 

[KyseL]

I'm not sure if that decision is actually on OLM's side (I'm thinking TPCI is the most likely candidate).

However it might have to do with how poorly the BW+XY movies were doing.

I still wish we got to see SM's 10/10 animation on a film budget, though :/

 

[Silktree]

They tried it for the 20th anniversary because it made sense (especially after the XY movies' diminishing returns), then it worked and they rolled with it.

 

[Hassel]

It's totally understandable why they dropped the old formula but I'm also really sad that we didn't get ONE comfy summer movie with the Alola setting and cast. Surely they could've come up with an interesting twist to the "old movie style", considering how much new concepts the SM series has brought to the anime.

 

[Hidden Mew]

The fact that the typical legendary fest movies were doing less and less well might be a factor as well.

Oh yeah. I forgot about that. I'm sure that was a key factor too, especially when the movies have been doing more poorly in the box office for quite some time.

It's totally understandable why they dropped the old formula but I'm also really sad that we didn't get ONE comfy summer movie with the Alola setting and cast. Surely they could've come up with an interesting twist to the "old movie style", considering how much new concepts the SM series has brought to the anime.

After watching The Power of Us, I did think that they could have made a traditional SM possibly work. If they could give everyone from a large movie cast key roles in the story, they possibly could have done that with with SM cast. That might not have been a guarantee though, but it could have worked out better than I expected. Even so, I'm not sure how they could have pulled it off. All of the big Legendary Pokemon and Ultra Beats that could have been featured in a movie were already featured in SM. The only thing I could have seen them do was have a movie about Meltan and featuring some new Galar Pokemon, but then they had Meltan appear in SM too.

A traditional kind of SM movie definitely could have been enjoyable. While I do think that the typical formula for the movies has gotten stale over the past couple of series, there were still movies that I enjoyed. Both the Keldeo and Hoopa movies were pretty fun, so I'm sure that they could have made a fun SM movie too. I just think getting different kinds of movies during this series was a much better idea. If the movies primarily focus on Ash and usually aren't referred in the anime, they might as well just have Ash and Pikachu as the main stars and have the movies set in their own universes. I think that gives the writers a bit more creative freedom and makes the movies more distinct at the same time.

 

[Gligarman]

Can't speak for Mewtwo Strikes Back remake, but I'm pretty sure the large amount of people playing Pokemon Go have something to do with it. There's a wider audience available there with many people who love Pokemon Go, remember watching the anime back in the day, but aren't familiar with the current series. This way anyone can watch the movie and enjoy it. That's why objectively speaking I think Everyone's Story is probably the best film because it works on it's own and doesn't require years of knowledge to understand.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

Another reason: SM designs would look awful in big screen.

 

[Hidden Mew]

Can't speak for Mewtwo Strikes Back remake, but I'm pretty sure the large amount of people playing Pokemon Go have something to do with it. There's a wider audience available there with many people who love Pokemon Go, remember watching the anime back in the day, but aren't familiar with the current series. This way anyone can watch the movie and enjoy it. That's why objectively speaking I think Everyone's Story is probably the best film because it works on it's own and doesn't require years of knowledge to understand.

With or without Pokemon Go, there would be a lot of nostalgia for the first generation and first series of the anime. The first movie came out twenty years ago, so it would be nostalgic among a general audience too.

All of the movies have been standalone adventures, so I don't understand why you think that all of them besides Everyone's Story requires years of knowledge to understand them. Even when most of the movies were canon to the series, you didn't really need to follow the specific series or all of the anime prior to that to understand them. I've heard of people who stopped watching the anime years ago, but check out most of the movies. I don't think that's an uncommon approach at least, so I don't quite understand the notion that other movies require having years of knowledge to make them work.

 

[KyseL]

Another reason: SM designs would look awful in big screen.

I literally could not possibly disagree more.

 

[Gligarman]

With or without Pokemon Go, there would be a lot of nostalgia for the first generation and first series of the anime. The first movie came out twenty years ago, so it would be nostalgic among a general audience too.

All of the movies have been standalone adventures, so I don't understand why you think that all of them besides Everyone's Story requires years of knowledge to understand them. Even when most of the movies were canon to the series, you didn't really need to follow the specific series or all of the anime prior to that to understand them. I've heard of people who stopped watching the anime years ago, but check out most of the movies. I don't think that's an uncommon approach at least, so I don't quite understand the notion that other movies require having years of knowledge to make them work.

I was a teenager when the first movie came out. I was very familiar with the series but a lot of the adults in the theater had absolutely no idea what was going on. In that version of the movie they don't even explain what a Pokemon is. As for the later movies, most of them really just aren't that good even if you're a fan. The last two work on their own without any knowledge of the series or even the games and they've been far more successful than many of the previous films as a result.

I know people who have never played the original games or seen the series that are addicted to Pokemon Go. There's no way that wasn't taken into consideration when they produced I Choose You as well as Everyone's Story.

 

[Hidden Mew]

I was a teenager when the first movie came out. I was very familiar with the series but a lot of the adults in the theater had absolutely no idea what was going on. In that version of the movie they don't even explain what a Pokemon is. As for the later movies, most of them really just aren't that good even if you're a fan. The last two work on their own without any knowledge of the series or even the games and they've been far more successful than many of the previous films as a result.

I never quite understood the issue of the movie not explaining what a Pokemon is. Maybe it's just because of how long I've been a fan or how huge the franchise itself has become over the years, but the concept of a Pokemon or what the world of the anime is about isn't really a hard concept to understand. It isn't rocket science. While I'm sure that a lot of adults didn't have any idea what was going on with the first movie, I don't think it was because they didn't stop for a few minutes to explain the concepts of the franchise/anime before starting the actual movie. Plus, I don't know if going back to how adults reacted to a movie twenty years ago makes sense for this claim.

I disagree that most of the movies aren't good even if you're a fan. There are some weaker/more boring movies, but there are good movies out there too. I know that the previous two movies did better than at least the XY movies financially. I don't know how they'd rank up compared to some of the other box office results for the franchise though. I just don't see how you absolutely need to have any knowledge of the series or the games to follow along the other movies. That notion just kind of confuses me when the other movies are standalone adventures too. The only difference is that the vast majority of them are canon to the anime, while I Choose You and The Power of Us are not. That does give them more creative freedom, but I don't see how that makes them that much more accessible to the general audience, especially when there are people who just watch the movies every now and then instead of watching the anime.

I know people who have never played the original games or seen the series that are addicted to Pokemon Go. There's no way that wasn't taken into consideration when they produced I Choose You as well as Everyone's Story.

I don't know if those kind of players make up a large portion of the Pokemon Go fanbase though. It might be more than I realize, but most of the people who are/were into it are older fans who have been into it since the original games/series. Most Pokemon Go players have played other Pokemon games at least. I don't know if they'd take that into consideration that much for either of these movies. I'm sure that they were going to do something like I Choose You for the 20th movie regardless of how well Pokemon Go did simply because it was an anniversary movie and I didn't get much of an impression that Go factored into what they decided for The Power of Us.

 

[Gligarman]

I never quite understood the issue of the movie not explaining what a Pokemon is. Maybe it's just because of how long I've been a fan or how huge the franchise itself has become over the years, but the concept of a Pokemon or what the world of the anime is about isn't really a hard concept to understand. It isn't rocket science. While I'm sure that a lot of adults didn't have any idea what was going on with the first movie, I don't think it was because they didn't stop for a few minutes to explain the concepts of the franchise/anime before starting the actual movie. Plus, I don't know if going back to how adults reacted to a movie twenty years ago makes sense for this claim.

I disagree that most of the movies aren't good even if you're a fan. There are some weaker/more boring movies, but there are good movies out there too. I know that the previous two movies did better than at least the XY movies financially. I don't know how they'd rank up compared to some of the other box office results for the franchise though. I just don't see how you absolutely need to have any knowledge of the series or the games to follow along the other movies. That notion just kind of confuses me when the other movies are standalone adventures too. The only difference is that the vast majority of them are canon to the anime, while I Choose You and The Power of Us are not. That does give them more creative freedom, but I don't see how that makes them that much more accessible to the general audience, especially when there are people who just watch the movies every now and then instead of watching the anime.



I don't know if those kind of players make up a large portion of the Pokemon Go fanbase though. It might be more than I realize, but most of the people who are/were into it are older fans who have been into it since the original games/series. Most Pokemon Go players have played other Pokemon games at least. I don't know if they'd take that into consideration that much for either of these movies. I'm sure that they were going to do something like I Choose You for the 20th movie regardless of how well Pokemon Go did simply because it was an anniversary movie and I didn't get much of an impression that Go factored into what they decided for The Power of Us.

I didn't necessarily mean that most of the movies are bad, but most of them really aren't that good. As a fan there's really only one that I actively dislike but that's a discussion for another day. However, objectively speaking most of them are just alright at best because they didn't need to be anything more to attract its fanbase. Even before the previous two movies there were several that I thought were really good and a few that I thought worked well on their own.

 

[Dogasu]

But also, the movies have that weird ban on Pokemon Bestiaries and the Sun & Moon cast just happens to feature one in its main cast.

 

[MarshiyanMisutaa]

I literally could not possibly disagree more.

Even SM's showrunners kinda agree that it doesn't look good, considering they backtracked from it to a degree.

Spoiler

 

[Trainer Gabriel]

But also, the movies have that weird ban on Pokemon Bestiaries and the Sun & Moon cast just happens to feature one in its main cast.

This is what I was thinking, too. Because, for whatever reason, a Pokédex is never used or even shown in any Pokémon movie, I honestly wondered if Rotomdex was at least one of the reasons why the SM cast has never had their own movie... considering Rotomdex, a talking Pokédex, is just as much a part of the main cast as anyone else, as you stated.