Pokémon: Wild Card Is a New TCG-Focused Anime Movie Coming in 2027

Pokémon: Wild Card is a new feature-length animated Pokémon film beginning its worldwide rollout in 2027. The unusually TCG-focused project centers on a Pokémon Trading Card Game player and Mimikyu, rather than another conventional monster-collecting adventure.

The Pokémon Company announced the film as the 2026 Pokémon World Championships came to a close, alongside a short teaser and a production site that confirms the title’s core creative team. It is a notably different starting point for a Pokémon movie: the official announcement identifies the story’s leads as a player and Mimikyu, putting the physical card game at the center of a theatrical anime project.

Pokémon: Wild Card is planned for 2027

The official Japanese site uses the English styling Pokémon: Wild Card and lists the film for theatrical release in 2027. Pokémon’s official announcement goes a step further, saying the worldwide rollout will begin in 2027.

There is no exact date yet, and Pokémon has not announced a market-by-market rollout, an English-language distributor, or whether every territory will open on the same day. For now, the worldwide plan is official; the mechanics of that release are still to come.

The short teaser comes from the official Japanese Pokémon YouTube channel. It introduces the player and Mimikyu, and establishes cards as part of the film’s visual language, but it is deliberately guarded about the story around them. Pokémon has not publicly named the human lead or explained the precise relationship between that character and Mimikyu beyond presenting them as the story’s central pair.

That distinction matters. The teaser does not confirm that cards become real Pokémon, that the film takes place inside a literal version of the Pokémon TCG, or that a specific tournament is the plot’s endpoint. It points to a movie built around a player and the card game without giving away its rules.

A Pokémon movie built around the TCG

Pokémon has made card games a major part of its wider business for decades, but a feature-length animated story explicitly led by a TCG player is a different proposition from the franchise’s older theatrical template.

Many of the Ash-era films used a familiar frame: a journey, a threat and a large-scale battle. Wild Card appears to be looking for its drama somewhere else. The announcement makes Mimikyu more than a recognizable mascot in the background, while the player premise makes the act of playing Pokémon central enough to define the movie’s identity.

It is too early to say whether that means competitive play, a championship, or a more personal story about the game. Pokémon has not confirmed any of those details. The best evidence so far is the teaser itself and the company’s concise description of the two leads.

For readers following the card game’s current releases, this is separate from Pokémon TCG Pocket’s incoming dual-type cards. Wild Card is a feature film tied to the broader Pokémon Trading Card Game, not an announced TCG Pocket adaptation.

CloverWorks is animating Wild Card

The official site credits Katsuhiko Kitada as director and Akemi Hayashi for character design. CloverWorks is handling animation production, while STORY inc. receives the planning and production credit.

That is enough to establish the film’s production structure without reading more into it. CloverWorks’ own credits include My Dress-Up Darling and Bocchi the Rock!, as well as co-animation production on SPY×FAMILY. STORY inc.’s role is distinct from CloverWorks’: it is credited on Wild Card for planning and production, not animation production.

Pokémon is returning to feature-length animation

The comparison point is Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle, which opened theatrically in Japan on December 25, 2020. The film later reached Netflix internationally on October 8, 2021, excluding Japan, China and South Korea under that streaming release.

On that timeline, Wild Card marks Pokémon’s return to a new feature-length animated film roughly seven years after Secrets of the Jungle. That is a film-specific gap, not a claim that Pokémon animation disappeared in the intervening years.

It should also not be confused with Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu, the separate Aardman stop-motion project headed to Disney+ in 2027. Pokémon Tales is a series; Wild Card is the newly announced theatrical feature.

What Pokémon has not revealed

Pokémon has not announced the full plot, voice cast, additional characters, runtime, or a detailed distribution plan for Pokémon: Wild Card. There is no confirmed date within 2027, and no English-language release information beyond the worldwide-release wording in the Japanese announcement.

The teaser supplies a strong premise, not a finished explanation. For now, the useful part of the announcement is also the unusual part: Pokémon is returning to feature-length animation with a story that puts a TCG player and Mimikyu at its center.