LOS ANGELES, July 17 — Theatres in five remaining territories still showing Pokemon Detective Pikachu propelled the adventure movie past US$436 million (RM1.79 billion) worldwide, a new record for films based on video games.

Pokemon Detective Pikachu is now the most commercially successful movie to be based on a video game, after weekend takings pushed it into top spot.

Cinemas in Norway, New Zealand, Slovenia, Portugal and Colombia generated US$6,994 over the weekend of July 12-14, per data published by Amazon’s Box Office Mojo.

By adding that to tallies of US$143.3 million (domestic, as of July 14) and US$286 million (foreign, as of July 7), at US$436 million Pokemon Detective Pikachu overtakes Warcraft in terms of both critical response and box office revenue.

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Pokemon Detective Pikachu was already the best-received video game adaptation, usurping Dwayne Johnson monster movie Rampage and Alicia Vikander’s Tomb Raider, according to Rotten Tomatoes’ aggregated review score ranking.

The live-action and CGI movie starred Justice Smith as a former Pokemon trainer and Ryan Reynolds as the gruff, smart-talking but otherwise cuddly-looking, mystery-solving rodent.

Rob Letterman of Shark Tale, Monsters vs Aliens and Goosebumps directed from a script whose contributors had worked on Guardians of the Galaxy, TV’s One Day at a Time reboot, Jurassic World and Kong: Skull Island.

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Visual effects group Motion Picture Company was previously Oscar-nominated for its work on ten other movies, winning twice for The Life of Pi and The Jungle Book.

Warcraft, a June 2016 CGI spectacular from Bafta Award-winning director Duncan Jones (Moon, Source Code), hauled in nearly half of its own record revenue from China, whose theatrical showings generated US$213.5 million. — AFP-Relaxnews