Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle Premieres on Netflix Next Month
Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle, the latest anime feature film based on the popular multimedia franchise, is set to premiere on the Netflix streaming service worldwide (excluding Japan, Korea and China) on 8th October 2021, the streaming service announced today.
The film, under its original title Pokémon the Movie: Coco, was released in Japanese cinemas on Christmas Day 2020, after the COVID-19 pandemic delayed its originally planned release of 10 July 2020. The film marks a return to a majority 2D-styled animation style more in line with 2017’s Pokémon the Movie: I Choose You and 2018’s Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us.
Pokémon the Movie: Secrets of the Jungle is directed by Tetsuo Yajima (Pokémon the Movie: The Power of Us) at OLM, Inc (ODDTAXI) with a script cowritten by Yajima and franchise regular Atsuhiro Tomioka (One Piece). The Pokémon Company International describes the film’s story as:
Deep within the Forest of Okoya, the Mythical Pokémon Zarude live in a troop and maintain a strict rule that forbids outsiders from entering their territory. Elsewhere in the jungle lives Koko, a human boy raised by a lone Zarude who left the troop. Koko has grown up never doubting that he is a Zarude. But one day, a chance meeting with Ash and Pikachu leaves Koko with his first human friend. Is he truly a Pokémon? Or is he, in fact, a human? When danger threatens the jungle, the bonds between Pokémon and human—and the love between parent and child—will be put to the test.
This marks the second time that Netflix have partnered with The Pokémon Company International for the release of a new film, following 2020’s release of CGI remake Pokémon the Movie: Mewtwo Strikes Back Evolution. In the United States, the Pokémon Journeys TV anime series has also been premiering on Netflix.
As a tie-in event to mark the release of the film, people who sign up to The Pokémon Company International’s Trainer Club Newsletter and opt in to receive emails by 25th September 2021 will receive codes to obtain a shiny Celebi, as well as the Dada form Zarude in their Pokémon Sword or Pokémon Shield Nintendo Switch games. The codes will be sent on 7th October 2021, a day before the film release.
