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Pokemon returns to U.S. theaters in 2027 with Wild Card

For the first time in nearly a decade, it looks like we're getting an international release of the next Pokémon movie.

Pokemon Wild Card Screenshot — Image credit: CloverWorks

News by Trent Cannon, Senior Contributing writer

Published on Tue Sep 01 2026

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It is difficult to put into words just how important the Pokémon franchise is in the history of Western anime fandom. What started as a simple RPG on the Game Boy would eventually become a media franchise so huge it turned VIZ Media into a $120 million-a-year company almost singlehandedly. So it is always safe to say that fans are excited that Pokémon is headed back to cinemas in 2027 with a brand-new movie.

At the closing ceremony of the 2026 Pokémon World Championships, which brings some of the best trading card game players together, it was announced that Pokémon: Wild Card is going to be the next movie in the long-running anime series. We got a brief teaser for the movie, which featured a trading card game player and Mimikyu, a ghost and fairy type that uses its Disguise ability to cause problems for enemy trainers.

We don’t have a specific release date for Pokémon: Wild Card, but we do have a bit of information about who is making it happen behind the scenes. CloverWorks, the studio that has struggled financially in recent years despite producing hits like Spy x Family and My Dress-Up Darling, is producing the animation. Katsuhiko Kitada is directing; Kitada was a unit director on The First Slam Dunk and an animation director on the first season of Attack on Titan.

While Pokémon hasn’t exactly gone away in recent years, it has become less visible in the anime fandom. The last movie that got an international release was in 2018 when Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us got a limited release outside of Japan. The fact that Pokémon: Wild Card is already being promoted in the US gives us hope that this new film will get a wider release, especially in the wake of movies like Demon Slayer: Infinity Castle and Chainsaw Man: Reze Arc have had with international audiences.

Each week, Popverse's resident anime expert Trent Cannon runs down the latest and, dare we say "greatest," in anime and manga in Popverse Jump. Some recent columns have included...