For the first time, a Pokémon movie is putting the Pokémon Trading Card Game at the heart of its story. Pokémon: Wild Card, the newly announced feature-length animated film, will follow an aspiring Pokémon TCG player and Mimikyu as they chase their own path toward becoming a champion.
The movie was unveiled during the closing ceremony of the 2026 Pokémon World Championships in San Francisco, where The Pokémon Company also celebrated the franchise’s 30th anniversary. A short teaser introduced the mysterious player and Mimikyu, giving fans only a small taste of the story but immediately establishing the trading card connection.
The Pokémon Company describes the project as an all-new animated feature and has confirmed a worldwide theatrical release beginning in 2027. An exact release date has not been announced yet, with the official teaser using the broader “2027 and beyond” window.
Wild Card Has a Very Different Pokémon Story
The biggest surprise about Pokémon: Wild Card is its central character. Instead of building the movie around a familiar Pokémon trainer from the franchise’s previous animated adventures, the story follows a player of the Pokémon Trading Card Game who is trying to become a champion.
That shift gives the movie a different way into the Pokémon universe. Competitive card battles have become a major part of the wider franchise, with the Pokémon TCG attracting players and collectors around the world, and the new film appears ready to turn that competitive world into a cinematic adventure.
Mimikyu is the player’s partner, and the teaser deliberately keeps the Pokémon mysterious. Known as the Disguise Pokémon, Mimikyu hides beneath a rag resembling Pikachu, making it one of the stranger and more visually distinctive Pokémon introduced in the modern games.
The teaser also plays with that connection. The player appears in a yellow hoodie that visually echoes Mimikyu’s disguise, while the Pokémon itself watches from nearby as the card game takes center stage. The brief footage does not reveal the larger conflict, but it suggests that the relationship between the player and Mimikyu will be central to the film.
CloverWorks Leads the New Pokémon Movie
The creative team behind Pokémon: Wild Card gives the project another reason for anime fans to pay attention. Katsuhiko Kitada is directing, while Akemi Hayashi is handling character designs, with CloverWorks responsible for animation production and STORY inc. handling planning and production.
Kitada’s previous work includes The First Slam Dunk, Attack on Titan and Naruto: Shippuden, while Hayashi has worked on projects including Banana Fish and Lazarus. CloverWorks, meanwhile, has become one of Japan’s most recognizable animation studios through productions such as SPY x FAMILY and Bocchi the Rock!.
That combination makes the film particularly interesting from a visual standpoint. The official teaser is extremely short, so it is too early to judge the movie’s full animation style, but the project has brought together a team with experience across major anime productions.
There is also a bigger reason the film matters to Pokémon fans. Wild Card marks the franchise’s return to feature-length animated movies after Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle, which debuted in Japan in 2020 before its international release through Netflix in 2021. The new film therefore arrives after a roughly seven-year gap between new Pokémon feature films.
Pokémon Is Entering a Big 2027
The timing of Wild Card is significant because Pokémon is heading into another major year. The franchise celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2026, and 2027 is already set to bring the next generation of mainline Pokémon games, Pokémon Winds and Pokémon Waves, to Nintendo Switch 2.
The Pokémon Company has also announced that the 2027 Pokémon World Championships will take place in Singapore. That means Wild Card will arrive during a period when the company is already expanding the franchise across games, competitive play and animation.
The movie’s TCG focus could make that wider strategy even more interesting. Rather than simply using the card game as an occasional element inside a traditional Pokémon adventure, Wild Card is making the TCG player’s journey its starting point.
There is still plenty that the studio is keeping secret. The full plot, voice cast, supporting characters and exact worldwide release schedule have not been revealed, so the teaser is currently more of a statement of intent than a detailed preview. But after years without a new Pokémon feature film, simply seeing the franchise return to cinemas is already a major development.
For longtime fans, the most intriguing question may be whether Wild Card becomes a one-off experiment or the beginning of a different kind of Pokémon movie series. The “2027 and beyond” wording in the teaser leaves that possibility open, although no follow-up films have been officially announced.
For now, Pokémon: Wild Card has one clear mission: take the competitive card game that millions of fans know from tabletop battles and turn it into a feature-length animated adventure. With Mimikyu at its center and CloverWorks behind the animation, Pokémon’s next big-screen chapter could look very different from what came before.
Pokémon: Wild Card — 6 Questions Answered
What is Pokémon: Wild Card about?
The film follows an aspiring Pokémon Trading Card Game player and their partner, Mimikyu. The player is described as someone battling and striving to become a champion.
Is Pokémon: Wild Card based on the Pokémon TCG?
Yes. The Pokémon Company has specifically announced the movie as a story centered on a Pokémon Trading Card Game player, making the TCG a central part of the film’s premise.
When will Pokémon: Wild Card release?
The movie is scheduled to begin its worldwide release in 2027. An exact release date has not been announced yet.
Who is directing Pokémon: Wild Card?
Katsuhiko Kitada is directing the movie, with Akemi Hayashi handling character design. CloverWorks is producing the animation, while STORY inc. is involved in planning and production.
Why is Mimikyu important to the movie?
Mimikyu is the partner Pokémon of the central TCG player and features prominently in the teaser. Its distinctive disguise, which resembles Pikachu, gives the film a visually recognizable character at the center of its new story.
Is Pokémon: Wild Card the first new Pokémon movie in years?
Yes. It is the first new feature-length Pokémon animated movie announced since Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle, which was released in Japan in 2020. The Pokémon Company describes Wild Card as the franchise’s first movie in seven years.
