‘Detective Pikachu’ Trailer Perfectly Recreates Hilarious ‘Pokemon’ Meme

The first trailer for Legendary Pictures and The Pokemon Company’s live-action/CG take on the famous franchise premiered recently, and fans are split as to how to feel about how Pokemon are translated into the real world.

Though if Detective Pikachu can continue to successfully recreate Pokemon memes, then fans should be in for a fun ride.

As spotted by @msdanifernandez on Twitter, one shot from the debut trailer of Detective Pikachu features a hilarious recreation of a popular screenshot that’s quickly become a meme over the last week. Fans can quickly see Ryan Reynolds’ Pikachu slightly shocked face when he’s first discovered by Justice Smith’s Tim and realizes someone understands him.

While this is unintentional, as the now infamous screenshot of a shocked Pikachu became a meme just recently, this is just another showcase of how Pokemon would be translated into real life. Fans have been split over the hyper realistic take on the famous monsters in this debut trailer, but if the film delivers on the promise of its first trailer, it just may make a major cinematic rival to the hold the Marvel Cinematic Universe has on theaters. Though that is a steep challenge for any major motion picture, even for a franchise as popular as this one.

Directed by Rob Letterman, and co-written by Nicole Perlman, Pokemon: Detective Pikachu is currently scheduled for a release on May 10, 2019. The film stars Ryan Reynolds (as the voice of the titular Pikachu), Justice Smith, Kathryn Newton, Ken Watanabe, Khary Payton, Bill Nighy, Suki Waterhouse, Chris Geere, Rita Ora, and Omar Chaparro.

The official synopsis for Pokemon: Detective Pikachu reads as such:

“The story begins when ace detective Harry Goodman goes mysteriously missing, prompting his 21-year-old son Tim to find out what happened. Aiding in the investigation is Harry’s former Pokémon partner, Detective Pikachu: a hilariously wise-cracking, adorable super-sleuth who is a puzzlement even to himself. Finding that they are uniquely equipped to communicate with one another, Tim and Pikachu join forces on a thrilling adventure to unravel the tangled mystery. Chasing clues together through the neon-lit streets of Ryme City—a sprawling, modern metropolis where humans and Pokémon live side by side in a hyper-realistic live-action world—they encounter a diverse cast of Pokémon characters and uncover a shocking plot that could destroy this peaceful co-existence and threaten the whole Pokémon universe.”