Legendary Entertainment will be launching the first live-action film franchise based on the wildly popular Pokemon games. Following the frenzy surrounding new title Pokemon Go, studios were eager to obtain exclusive rights to produce a new film based on the Japanese pocket monsters.

The Hollywood Reporter says the feature film will be based around Detective Pikachu, whose character was introduced to the Pokemon universe through the Japanese video game. Production is set to begin next year and Universal Studios will be distributing throughout all territories other than Japan, through it’s standing deal with Legendary Entertainment.

Rumors about a new live-action franchise began circling months ago, and gained motion through the excitement surrounding the release of Pokemon Go and the renewed interest in the Pokemon universe itself. The screenwriter Max Landis (Victor Frankenstein, Chronicle) has been mentioned as a possible participant in the promising project.

Pokemon games, trading cards and animated series’ have been beloved since their inception in 1996, but the launch of the most current mobile gaming app Pokemon Go, interest in the franchise is at an all-time high.  Go has become  so instantly popular that it’s debut spiked Nintendo’s stock by 25%, which in layman’s terms is an increase of an incredible $7.5 Billion dollars. That’s right, $7.5 BILLION in a matter of days. Pokemon Go has become such a widely played and appreciated app that it even showed up in the activity surrounding the Republican National Convention this week.

According to The Pokemon Company, Pokemon has sold more than 279 million video games since its creation, and 21.5 billion trading cards in 74 countries. The animated series where many of us learned the names, history and abilities of the pocket monsters, has been running for 19 seasons.

The Pokémon Company’s long time movie collaborator, Toho, will be handling distribution of the film franchise in Japan, as it had previously done in its partnership with Legendary on Godzilla.

Stay tuned right here for more information about the live-action movie as it develops, and remember – GOTTA CATCH ‘EM ALL!