The 2019 film Detective Pikachu was one of the most awaited films of its time. It is well known that a huge fanbase exists for the Pokemon franchise. Moreover, the film also featured Hollywood icon Ryan Reynolds, who voiced one of the main characters in the film. The film was a huge success and was critically acclaimed by fans from around the world. However, it surely was not an easy task to bring the project to life.

Adaptations have become one of the most popular storytelling formats around the world right now. They are thrilling, exciting, and a lot of fun to watch. At the same time, adaptations also bring with them some huge creative risks. And recently, Dan Hernandez, who penned down the script for Detective Pikachu, shed some light on the biggest challenges he faced during the movie.

Screenwriter Dan Hernandez reflects upon his journey of writing the script for Detective Pikachu 

Ranging from video games, animated series, films, and card games, Pokemon is one of the biggest franchises in the world. Unsurprisingly, adapting its story in a never seen format came with huge pressure. During his recent interview with IGN, screenwriter Dan Hernandez revealed, “Detective Pikachu was an extremely challenging script to write.“

Hernandez stated multiple reasons behind the same. He explained how it was not a typical battle or tournament story featuring Ash and Pokémon but a Detective film, and he had to be extremely creative while writing the script. In addition to that, Hernandez added that he had to honor the franchise and its elements. However, at the same time, he had to do something completely different from what the fans were expecting while also sticking to the Pokemon spirit. Interestingly, what Hernandez learned from Detective Pikachu helped him with another major project.

How Dan Hernandez used his learnings from the film in TMNT: Mutant Mayhem

Dan Hernandez also penned down the script for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem, which made its way to our screens recently. During his interview, Hernandez revealed that the idea of calibrating what felt like Pokémon into a different sort of delivery system with Detective Pikachu is what helped him with TMNT as well. 

Those who have watched the movie must have noticed how the film also diverged from the source material to a great extent. TMNT received an incredible response from the fans, who praised the project for its innovative approach to the story. Meanwhile, the film did not gross much due to box-office dominance by Barbie and Oppenheimer.

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