The long-running Pokemon franchise, which celebrated its 15th anniversary over the past weekend, is in for a very big year in 2011. One of the highlights of this anniversary will be the back-to-back opening of two Pokemon feature films, the 14th and the 15th features in the franchise history, which will debut in Japan in July.
The two films, Pokemon: Victini and the Black Hero: Zekrom and Pokemon: Victini and the White Hero: Reshiram, will feature the two legendary Pokemon, the black hero Zekrom and the white hero Reshiram. These two heroes are at the center of the Pokemon Trading Card Game: Black & White expansion, which is due out here in April (see “Pokemon TCG: Black & White”), and they are also the focus of the new Pokemon video games that are also due out this spring.
The two films, Pokemon: Victini and the Black Hero: Zekrom and Pokemon: Victini and the White Hero: Reshiram, will feature the two legendary Pokemon, the black hero Zekrom and the white hero Reshiram. These two heroes are at the center of the Pokemon Trading Card Game: Black & White expansion, which is due out here in April (see “Pokemon TCG: Black & White”), and they are also the focus of the new Pokemon video games that are also due out this spring.
The two Pokemon Black & White feature films are short (around 50 minutes each), but according to the Anime News Network, they will also each be accompanied by Pikachu short film.
No date has been set yet for the Pokemon Black & White feature films to debut in the U.S., but there are plenty of 15th anniversary events already scheduled including a mall tour, the DVD release of Pokemon: Arceus and the Jewel of Life, the 12th Pokemon film and the third portion of the Diamond & Pearl trilogy, as well as the airing of the 13th movie, Pokemon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions on the Cartoon Network in February, and the April release of the Pokemon TCG: Black & White expansion (see “Big Year for Pokemon”).