Pokémon: Wild Card — A Trading-Card Anime Film Announced for 2027
A new Pokémon anime film is on the way. During the closing ceremony of the 2026 Pokémon World Championships in San Francisco, The Pokémon Company president and CEO Tsunekazu Ishihara took the stage to announce Pokémon: Wild Card, a feature-length animated film billed as "coming 2027 and beyond" in its teaser The Hollywood Reporter.
The premise folds the franchise's trading-card game directly into the story. Ishihara told the crowd that the main character is a Pokémon trading-card game player battling to become a champion, and the official Pokémon newsroom adds that this protagonist teams up with Mimikyu — the ghost-fairy Pokémon best known for hiding beneath a Pikachu-shaped disguise The Hollywood Reporter; Pokemon.com.
Behind the camera, the creative team pairs names that anime fans will recognise. Katsuhiko Kitada directs, with character designs by Akemi Hayashi. Animation is handled by CloverWorks — the studio behind Spy x Family and Frieren: Beyond Journey's End — and production is by Story Inc. The Hollywood Reporter.
A short trailer played during the closing ceremony, giving the arena audience a first look Pokemon.com. The Pokémon Company also published its own announcement on pokemon.com on August 28, three days before the ceremony reveal Pokemon.com.
Wild Card arrives after a long gap on the film front. The last Pokémon movie, Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle, reached Japanese cinemas in 2020 and arrived in the United States the following year The Hollywood Reporter.
For fans, the wider Pokémon animation slate is expanding in parallel. A separate series, The Misadventures of Sirfetch'd and Pichu, is set to debut on Disney+ and Disney XD in 2027, the same window targeted for Wild Card The Hollywood Reporter.
No firm release date beyond the 2027 window has been given. The teaser's "2027 and beyond" phrasing leaves the corridor open, and no distribution or theatrical-streaming split has been announced.
