Sony Pictures has officially announced the release date for diretor Paul W.S. Anderson’s forthcoming video game adaptation Monster Hunter. Starring Milla Jovovich (Resident Evil franchise, Hellboy) and Tony Jaa, the film is scheduled to hit theaters on September 4, 2020.
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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.
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The movie will also star 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.
