In an interview with Slash Film, director Paul W.S. Anderson revealed that his upcoming film adaptation Monster Hunter will feature the creatures from the video games’ earlier and most recent versions. He expressed that he has no intention to create new monsters for the film.
“Listen, I don’t need to create any new monsters. There’s such a vast array of amazing creatures over the years,” Anderson said. “We’re leaning quite heavily on the favorite creatures from Monster Hunter World which is the latest game, but we’re also bringing in what I think are some of the fabulous monsters from some of the earlier games, and some of the imagery from the earlier games.”
He also mentioned that the film will include the character of Palico, who is described as an adorable kitty sidekick. “We wanted Palico,” Anderson added. “It’s very much a movie of the video game, but in Monster Hunter you get to create your own character when you go in there. You don’t get to play Lara Craft or Jill Valentine. You get to play your own creation, and there is definitely an element of that in there. Some of the leading characters will be fresh characters but that’s a reflection of what the video game is. It’s definitely a movie that is firmly and fully entrenched in the world of the video game, as you would expect with me having worked with Capcom for nine years on adapting it and bringing it to the screen.”
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Monster Hunter is produced by Paul W.S. Anderson and Jeremy Bolt from Impact Pictures, and by Robert Kulzer and Martin Moszkowicz from Constantin Film. Dennis Berardi, Head of VFX for the film, also acts as producer. The screenplay to Monster Hunter was written by Paul W.S. Anderson, who also directs the film. Principal Photography will start in October, in South Africa and Namibia. Constantin Film will release the movie in German-Speaking Territories, Tencent Pictures in China and Toho Film in Japan. Sony’s Screen Gems will release the film in the U.S. with the studio’s Sony Pictures Releasing International handling distribution in the rest of the world.
The Monster Hunter series consists of action role-playing games where players and their friends work together to take down larger-than-life beasts in a living, breathing ecosystem. Since the first Monster Hunter title made its debut 14 years ago in 2004, the series has attracted a dedicated fan base, and grown into a global mega-hit with Monster Hunter: World, the latest title in the series, shipping 10 million units worldwide, with cumulative sales of the series exceeding 49 million units as of August 20, 2018.
The movie will also star Tony Jaa (Ong-bak franchise), Ron Perlman (Drive),T.I. Harris (Ant-Man and The Wasp), Diego Boneta (Luis Miguel, Rock of Ages), Meagan Good (Code Black) and Josh Helman (X-Men: Days of Future Past). The plot centers on the leader of a UN military team named Artemis, played by Jovovich, who is transported to another realm populated by monsters. There she meets the Hunter (Jaa), with the two teaming up to close a portal to prevent monsters from attacking earth.
Monster Hunter will shoot in and around Cape Town in South Africa. Special effects for the film will be supplied by Toronto’s Technicolor-owned Mr. X, which worked on the Resident Evil franchise, with CEO Dennis Berardi taking a producer credit on Monster Hunter. The movie will be a highly stylish big screen adaptation of the video game.
