Pokémon Announces The End Of A 29-Year Old Era With New 2027 Release

Published Sep 1, 2026, 11:00 PM EDT

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The Pokémon franchise is officially flipping the script, as it moves from catch ’em all to collect ’em all. After nearly three decades of traditional theatrical movies built around Pokémon battles and adventures, the series is finally putting its biggest current phenomenon front and center: the Pokémon Trading Card Game. Announced during the closing ceremony of the 2026 Pokémon World Championships, the franchise announced a new anime movie titled Pokémon: Wild Card for 2027, and it is already shaping up to be unlike anything the franchise has done before.

Currently being produced by CloverWorks, Wild Card will follow a Pokémon TCG player and his partner, Mimikyu, one of the franchise's most tragic Pokémon. While the plot is still being kept under wraps, early details paint a world where Pokémon and the physical card game exist side by side.

That alone makes Wild Card a pretty wild departure from the usual formula, but simply swapping out Pokémon battles for deck-building isn't the only reason this 2027 release feels like the end of a 29-year-old era for the franchise.

Wild Card Abandons Ash Ketchum For An Underground Pokémon Card Game Vibe

Pokémon: Wild Card officially marks the first theatrical Pokémon anime movie to completely ditch Ash Ketchum. For nearly three decades, Ash has been the undisputed face of the franchise's movies, either leading the adventure himself or popping up for a cameo across all 23 previous films. But this time, he's nowhere to be seen. Instead, the brief teaser trailer gives the movie a completely different, almost underground card game vibe. It shows a hoodie-wearing competitive TCG player slamming down a Mimikyu card, making Wild Card feel much closer to the high-stakes drama of Yu-Gi-Oh! than a traditional Pokémon adventure.

But the protagonist swap isn't even the biggest shake-up behind the scenes. Wild Card will also be the first animated Pokémon movie in franchise history not produced by OLM. For 29 years, OLM has been the backbone of Pokémon animation, handling every theatrical release since the very beginning. Now, the studio is completely out of the picture, with The Pokémon Company handing the massive project over to Story Inc. and CloverWorks, the modern animation powerhouse behind hits like The Elusive Samurai, Bocchi the Rock!, and My Dress-Up Darling. With Katsuhiko Kitada directing and Akemi Hayashi handling character designs, Wild Card is already set to have a very different visual identity from what fans are used to.

Between replacing traditional Pokémon battles with TCG strategy, moving past Ash Ketchum's theatrical reign, and bringing in a completely new animation studio, Wild Card feels like the boldest risk the Pokémon franchise has taken in nearly 30 years.

Bringing Card Battles To The Big Screen Is The Perfect Shakeup For Pokémon

After decades of relying on traditional trainer adventures, seeing the Pokémon franchise finally pivot toward the massive phenomenon that is the Trading Card Game is exactly the kind of shakeup the fandom has been waiting for. The TCG is undeniably the most hyped and profitable division of the franchise right now, so giving card battles the same kind of weight as actual Pokémon battles could make Wild Card something very different from the movies that came before it.

But the biggest takeaway might be just how stacked the 2027 theatrical anime calendar is becoming. With Wild Card officially joining the fray, next year is turning into a ridiculous year for anime fans. While CloverWorks and Story Inc. haven't locked in an exact premiere month yet, a late 2027 release would make plenty of sense. With One Piece Film: God Valley already claiming the massive Summer 2027 window, holding Wild Card for the holiday season could give Pokémon the perfect chance to close out the year with a brand-new kind of adventure.

After 29 years of Ash, OLM, and the same basic movie formula, Pokémon: Wild Card isn't just another Pokémon movie. It could be the start of an entirely new era for the franchise.

Pokémon is a Japanese multimedia franchise created by Satoshi Tajiri and Ken Sugimori, launched by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures in 1996. Centered on fictional creatures called Pokémon, the series spans video games, trading cards, animation, films, merchandise, and competitive events. Players assume the role of Trainers who capture, battle, and trade Pokémon. It is one of the highest-grossing entertainment franchises in history.