Over the course ofPaul W.S. Anderson’sResident Evilmovies–five and counting with the sixth filmResident Evil: The Final Chapterdue out January 27th–the Capcom videogame adaptations have brought inwell over $900 million globally. The franchise is poised to easily cross the billion-dollar-mark early in 2017 when the last installment hits theaters, but Anderson and Capcom are already looking ahead to their next big potential project:Monster Hunter.
AsDeadlinereports, writer/director Anderson and his Impact Pictures producing partnerJeremy Boltare looking to shop theirMonster Hunteridea, something they’ve been mulling over sinceat least 2012. They come with the first film’s script in hand–written by Anderson–as well as still images and VFX renderings of the creatures. Their plan includes a partnership with the co-founder and president of Toronto-based VFX house Mr. X,Dennis Berardi; his VFX work helped to keep the final 3DResident Evilmovie budgets in the $50+ million range, and they aim to do the same forMonster Hunter.
Here’s a look at the potential movie’s logline, as well as an early VFX rendering from Impact Pictures:
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.
Capcom’s fantasy-themed action RPG franchiseMonster Hunterstarted way back on the PlayStation 2 and featured a playable character who was tasked with capturing and killing a variety of monsters. Successfully completing those quests grant the character resources that can be used to upgrade weapons and armor, adding a resource management/RPG aspect to the otherwise action-oriented game. Hugely popular in Japan and enjoying a cult following in the West, theMonster Hunterfranchise has spawned numerous sequel games across a number of platforms with around 40 million units sold, plus an anime and book spin-off. This bestseller for Capcom should grab the attention of studios, especially considering the game’s popularity overseas (ie China).
Here’s a snippet of what Anderson and Bolt had to say about their hopes and plans forMonster Hunter, including the American lead:
On earning Capcom’s trust:
ANDERSON: We were very respectful, down to me getting on a plane to Japan. But contractually, we could have just done whatever we wanted.
BOLT: Well, they had consultation, but Paul’s right. We treated them with tremendous respect and earning their trust is one of the reasons forMonster Hunter, being the movie we’ll do next. They control the rights, and the game is now bigger for them thanResident Evil.
ANDERSON: It’s very much their crown jewel.
BOLT: They’ve said what they love about Paul is he understood the spirit of the game and expanded and made more of it. Commercially and creatively, they really respect that. They are trusting us again, onMonster Hunter.
On developing bothResident EvilandMonster Hunterwith an eye towards China’s box office:
ANDERSON: The fourth one was the first to get released in China.
BOLT: There are high hopes for this one. Capcom’s games are very closely connected to China, so we are quite hopeful.Monster Hunter, by the way, is huge in China.
On takingMonster Hunter’s existing mythology and turning that into a feature-length narrative:
ANDERSON: What I love aboutMonster Hunteris the incredibly beautiful, immersive world they’ve created. It’s on the level of like aStar Warsmovie, in terms of world creation. There are no real central characters so it’s a bit like when we first approachedResident Eviland imposed our own characters and story on that world. I think this is a perfect IP for us to do exactly that same thing again. TheMonster Hunterworld 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.
BOLT: It’s a different…whereResident Evilis sci-fi/horror/action, this is a PG-13 action / adventure. We’re excited about going to a slightly different genre. As Paul said the game is a bit ofStar Wars, a bit ofLord of the Rings, it’s a little more fantasy. We’ve found a way of connecting the Dune-like sand covered world ofMonster Hunterwith our world. So we’re bringing this massive Japanese game into the world of America.
ANDERSON: The central characters are very relatable American characters. You take a person from the ordinary world who thinks they’re in a dead end job, they have no future, they feel like their life’s a failure, it’s going nowhere, like Keanu Reeves inThe Matrix. It’s about a normal American who gets dragged into this parallel world, thisMonster Hunterworld. Then eventually the parallel world ends up coming to our world. So you have the creatures from theMonster Hunterworld invading our world.
On their plans for theMonster Hunterfranchise:
BOLT: We’ve got about two movies. We will likely shoot in China or South Africa for a budget comparable to the finalResident Evil, about $50 million net.
ANDERSON: It’s definitely intended to be a franchise because the movie starts in our world and then it goes to theMonster Hunterworld and then 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.
