The Pokémon franchise has just announced its latest anime project. The movie is titled Pokémon: Wild Card It was officially announced that it will premiere in 2027, complete with a teaser trailer and key visuals that immediately caught fans' attention.
This film is described as a fully original work centered on the Pokémon Trading Card Game (TCG). The announcement was made live at the 2026 Pokémon World Championships in San Francisco, making it a major moment for both the competitive TCG community and anime fans.
Mikiya and the World of Trading Card Games Take Center Stage
The teaser trailer introduces a character named Mikiya, a Pokémon Card Game player wearing a yellow Mimikyu-style hoodie. Mimikyu itself also appears in the trailer, strongly suggesting that the relationship between the player and their Pokémon partner will be a central element of the story.
With its focus on TCG, *Wild Card* seems to take a different approach from previous *Pokémon* films, which have more often centered on field adventures in the style of the main anime series.
The Big Names Behind the Production of "Wild Card"
Katsuhiko Kitada, previously known as an episode director for *THE FIRST SLAM DUNK*, is directing the series. Character design is handled by Akemi Hayashi, while animation production is being handled by CloverWorks.
This combination of names suggests that *Wild Card* will be produced to a high visual standard, given each creator’s track record on previous major projects.
First Big-Screen Comeback in Seven Years
"Wild Card" will be the first Pokémon movie to hit theaters in about seven years. The previous feature film was "Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle," which premiered in Japan in December 2020.
This long hiatus makes the Wild Card announcement feel even more significant, especially considering that over the years, the Pokémon franchise has released more short anime episodes than full-length films.
Part of the New Pokémon Content Wave
The Wild Card announcement came shortly after the reveal of *Pokémon Winds* and *Pokémon Waves*, the 10th-generation games for the Nintendo Switch 2 that were announced during Pokémon Presents in February 2026. The franchise has also released a number of short anime, including a POKÉTOON episode titled *Wartortle and the Continuation of Summer*, directed by Shingo Yamashita.
In addition, there’s also the stop-motion animated project *Pokémon Tales: The Misadventures of Sirfetch’d & Pichu*, produced by Aardman, which is scheduled to premiere on Disney+ in 2027, making that year quite packed with Pokémon content.
Teaser
