The Pokémon franchise owned and produced by The Pokémon Company.

What better thing to do in a world full of catchable monsters than go on a never-ending quest? The movies and television show of Pokémon revolve around the exploits of Ash Ketchum, a young wannabe Pokémon Master who's eager to tackle new challenges, capture new Pokémon, and defeat the latest round of gym leaders. Join him in a massive slew of movies and television episodes alike as Ash saves the world from the evil forces of Team ________. (The blank depends on where you are in the story.)

Because the movies only somewhat figure into the show, and sometimes contradict what's happening in the anime, these placements are approximations at best. The arcs of the anime have been included for clarification if you're dead-set on watching everything in order. If this is too confusing, it's easiest to just watch the movies that correspond to whichever region Ash is currently visiting in the anime.

Flashbacks that are important to the formation of the world from the movies have been included in this timeline, such as the creation of the universe by Arceus in Arceus and the Jewel of Life. Flashbacks in the television episodes - which tend to only be important to that episode - are not included on this list. (If you want to get that nitty-gritty with your watching, I recommend this massive list of events.)

There are several movies that do not fit into the chronology - I Choose You!, The Power of Us, and Secrets of the Jungle - as these take place in an alternate universe from the anime and the other movies. These films are placed under Release Order only.

The Pokémon animated universe is based upon the game series of the same name. Creating a document that covers both versions of the franchise would be way too large, so they've been separated into two pages.

(This list will likely be revisited and revised. There is, understandably, a lot to sort out. At the moment it doesn't include a bunch of minor specials.)

In-Universe Chronological Order

Release Order (television)
Release Order (films)