Paul W.S. Anderson's 'Monster Hunter' Video Game Movie Pushed To Spring 2021
While most movies originally slated for theatrical release over the next couple months have already shifted their release dates, the adaptation of the best-selling Capcom video game Monster Hunter starring Milla Jovovich was still set for release in September. But Sony Pictures and Screen Gems finally realized that probably wasn't going to happen, and they've now shifted the movie from director Paul W.S. Anderson back into the spring of 2021.
The Wrap has word that the Monster Hunter movie release date has been pushed back seven months to April 23, 2021. That puts it up against Edgar Wright's psychological thriller Last Night in Soho, which was also slated for release in September, but got pushed back like many other movies due to the coronavirus pandemic keeping movie theaters closed down.
The shift was expected not just due to the uncertainty of when movie theaters will open, but also because there hasn't been a marketing push for the movie since a first look image was released last fall. There was rumblings of a trailer arriving towards the end of March, but it likely got delayed once all the coronavirus pandemic panic started.
In Monster Hunter, Milla Jovovich stars as Artemis, a lieutenant who, along with her loyal soldiers, is forced to fight for survival when they are dropped onto a dangerous new world crawling with massive monsters with incredible powers. The video game franchise that inspires the movie started all the way back in 2004 on PlayStation 2, and there have been several sequels since then, including the most recent Monster Hunter: World for PlayStation 4 and Xbox On in 2018.
With such an expansive game franchise, there's a big wide world for the film to play in, and if all goes well when it's released, we could be looking at yet another video game franchise directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and starring Milla Jovovich, for better or worse. Funnily enough, this is the first movie that Anderson has directed since wrapping up the Resident Evil franchise with The Final Chapter back in 2016. Aside from his contributions to that franchise, he also gave us the abysmal Mortal Kombat movie in 1995. That doesn't inspire much faith in Monster Hunter, but Anderson previously described the film as "Lawrence of Arabia but with monsters." Whatever you say, Mr. Anderson.