The Pikachu Effect

[Bloomberg] [Fully Charged]( From [Bloomberg](   [FOLLOW US [Facebook Share]]( [Twitter Share]( [SUBSCRIBE [Subscribe]](  Hi folks, it’s Yuji from Tokyo. Over the weekend, nerds around the world piled into movie theaters to watch one of the most anticipated video game adaptations in years: [Detective Pikachu](. Critics bashed it but fans loved it, celebrating a novel depiction of how pocket monsters (known as pokemon) would look and behave in the real world. Despite competing with the still-roaring juggernaut "Avengers: Endgame," it had by Sunday raked in a respectable $170 million globally, recouping its production budget of $150 million, according to Box Office Mojo. Given a few more good weeks, it has a [shot](at becoming the highest-grossing game-based movie ever. That’s a key step in Nintendo’s push to make money beyond video games. As one of the largest shareholders of Pokemon Co., it stands to share in some of the box office proceeds. And the outpouring of love for the film is a positive sign for the upcoming Super Mario movie as well as Nintendo theme parks. Done right, consumers seem ready to drop big bucks on new ways to interact with beloved characters. ``If they had a 10-hour movie with no plot and just pokemon hanging out with humans, I would watch it in a heartbeat,’’ [tweeted]( ProZD, a YouTube celebrity. But to me, what’s really telling is the film’s popularity in China -- the world’s second-biggest movie market -- where it earned $41 million over the weekend. Despite historically having limited access to Nintendo games and consoles, the Pokemon franchise has thrived there thanks to its anime series and promotional tie-ups with McDonald's and KFC, Niko Partners analyst Daniel Ahmad told me. That’s why Pokemon is probably the best bet to sell the Nintendo Switch in China. The country's hordes of gamers still thumb their noses at consoles, which generate less than 1 percent of sales across the world’s biggest game market. What’s more, they didn’t grow up playing Super Mario or Zelda, stripping Nintendo titles of arguably their biggest selling point: nostalgia. The Japanese company knows as much, and has repeatedly played down its efforts with local gaming juggernaut Tencent to bring the Switch to Chinese gamers. But with the Pokemon series formally migrating to the device [late this year](, it could be a perfect [opportunity](to kick off sales. The key will be getting regulatory approval for titles before buzz about the new games wears off. That won’t be easy as Beijing is still working through a giant [backlog](of applications. But if Nintendo can pull it off, it stands to make “meaningful headway” in getting Chinese consumers to buy a Switch, according to technology analyst Pelham Smithers. Tencent, meanwhile, isn’t waiting around for regulators. Cashing in on the popularity of the concept, the company last month released a [clone]( of Pokemon Go, that enduring [phenom](launched in 2016. It now ranks as one of the most profitable games in the country. While that's unlikely to go down well in Kyoto, Nintendo can at least take heart that its ideas are hitting home in the world's biggest market.  And here’s what you need to know in global technology news Tencent's earnings beat thanks to a hefty one-time [gain](, but its revenue growth is worrying.  Google's opening up a ton of new digital real estate for advertisers. The search giant is tacking on new promotional [formats](for everything from search and YouTube to its Discover service.  The rush to IPO continues as cybersecurity software developer Crowdstrike becomes the latest technology company to [file](bbg://news/stories/PRINQP6K50XY) for a U.S. share market float.   Sponsor Content by Darktrace As organizations embrace cloud services, the attack surface is increasing. Meanwhile, cloud-based threats are fast and unpredictable, often outpacing existing defenses. But cyber AI is changing the game. Thousands of companies use AI to detect and respond to advanced attackers in the cloud, before they do damage. [Learn what’s missing in cloud security and how cyber AI can help.](   You received this message because you are subscribed to the Bloomberg Technology newsletter Fully Charged. You can tell your friends to [sign up here](.  [Unsubscribe]( | [Bloomberg.com]( | [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington, New York, NY, 10022