You might know Paul W.S. Anderson as the guy who made the Mortal Kombat movie. Or the guy who makes the Resident Evil movies. Soon you’ll know him as the guy who makes the Monster Hunter movies.
That’s right, Capcom is turning Monster Hunter into a feature film. And Anderson has the movie rights and will be at the helm. He gave Deadline his concept for the movie version.
An ordinary man in a dead end job discovers that he is actually the descendant of an ancient hero. He must travel to a mystical world to train to become a Monster Hunter, before the mythical creatures from that world destroy ours.
The Monster Hunter series, of which there have been numerous games since it debuted ten years ago. It’s largely a plotless game that tasks players with simply hunting down monsters and customizing their own heroes.That in mind, Anderson revealed the logline for the film, which reads
“For every Monster, there is a Hero. An ordinary man in a dead end job discovers that he is actually the descendant of an ancient hero. He must travel to a mystical world to train to become a Monster Hunter, before the mythical creatures from that world destroy ours.”
He further elaborates on how the game’s protagonist free premise is helpful toward what they’re creating.
“There are no real central characters so it’s a bit like when we first approached Resident Evil and imposed our own characters and story on that world,” Anderson said. “I think this is a perfect IP for us to do exactly that same thing again. The Monster Hunter world includes these huge deserts that make the Gobi Desert look like a sandbox, and they have ships that sail through the sand. These full on galleons, but rather than sailing on the ocean waves, they sail through waves of sand. You’re fighting these giant creatures, some as big as a city block. They live underneath the Earth and when they burst out, it’s like the best of Dune. You also have these flying dragons, giant spiders, the most wonderful creatures.”
Anderson further revealed a big change they’ll be making for the film, saying it will take place in both the real world and the “Monster Hunter world.”
“The final act comes back to our world and it’s basically this epic battle in and around LAX. Then at the end we’re suddenly confronted with the fact that the mythological creatures of our world have come back to wreak vengeance. So we definitely have the second film where that would be planned out.”
Anderson has currently written the script for the film, which he also plans to direct. He will also produce the film with his partner Impact Pictures partner Jeremy Bolt. So far, Anderson and his producing partner have two films fleshed out. They plan to shoot in either China or South Africa.
He sees this as a franchise, which starts in the real world and then goes into the Monster Hunter universe, and then comes back to reality for the finale.