'Monster Hunter' Director Confirms Movie Will Have Characters From Games

The first set images from Paul W.S. Anderson's Monster Hunter film adaptation surfaced yesterday, and...well, it doesn't exactly look like Monster Hunter. In fact, the first shots resemble something more out of a military-based film, with star Milla Jovovich and company looking more like they're ready for general combat than going after monsters.

But Anderson has decided to fan the flames a bit by confirming that the film will be loyal to the Monster Hunter games.

While speaking with Slash Film, Anderson confirmed that the soldiers are from the modern day, but do end up wandering into the Monster Hunter universe, where they'll come across some rather familiar characters from the series. And, yes, that includes your helpful sidekick Palico.

Said Anderson, "No, the movie has a lot of characters from the video game in it. There's The Handler and Admiral, Aiden, Aiden's Handler. We wanted Palico. It's very much a movie of the video game, but in Monster Hunter you get to create your own character when you go in there. You don't get to play Lara Craft or Jill Valentine. You get to play your own creation, and there is definitely an element of that in there. Some of the leading characters will be fresh characters but that's a reflection of what the video game is. It's definitely a movie that is firmly and fully entrenched in the world of the video game, as you would expect with me having worked with Capcom for nine years on adapting it and bringing it to the screen."

What's interesting here is that Anderson noted that the project has been in the works for nine years, since the inception of the Monster Hunter series. So maybe folks are reacting a little harshly with its early production cycle, as the best could be coming soon.

Granted, we know how the Resident Evil films went, but don't forget that Anderson also gave us the first Mortal Kombat movie, which we consider a campy classic. So who knows, we might just get something similar from the Monster Hunter movie once it happens. We'll have to see what happens.

Monster Hunter's film doesn't currently have a release date, but it's expected sometime in late 2019.