The live action adaptation of the Monster Hunter series is set to begin production this September and is going to be directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, who was behind the Resident Evil movies. It is reported to have a budget of $60 million and will star Milla Jovovich, although her exact role is still not known.
The live-action adaptation of Monster Hunter has been in the works for a while (check out test footage that was released last year above), and back in 2016 Impact Pictures explained the premise of the story.
“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.”
In the past, Anderson discussed female-led franchises and how he went against the grain with the first Resident Evil.
” … it wasn’t acceptable in Hollywood cinema, in studio films, at the time. Obviously, there are exceptions to the rule, because there was Ellen Ripley in the Alien movies, but when I first came to Hollywood to make Mortal Kombat, back in the day, there was this rule that females in action movies don’t work, and that American studios didn’t want to make one. But the first Resident Evil movie was made outside of America, outside of the studio system, so it was very much an independent movie.
And in Europe, the idea of having a woman at the forefront of this kind of film was a lot more acceptable, so we ran with it. We had no American investment in the first film, so we did what we wanted, and it was a big hit. So at that point, we were lobbed in, in that direction.”
With Jovovich set to star in Monster Hunter, it looks like the risk paid off.