'Monster Hunter' Film Adds Ron Perlman, T.I. Harris

It appears that the film adaptation of Capcom's Monster Hunter series is starting to pick up speed, as two more stars have joined the forthcoming Paul W.S. Anderson production.

This story from Hollywood Reporter confirms that T.I. Harris and Ron Perlman will be joining the forthcoming production, teaming up with Milla Jovovich for Screen Gems' take on the best-selling game series. Fans are quite familiar with Anderson's work on video game franchises. He directed the 1995 adaptation of Mortal Kombat before taking on the Resident Evil franchise with Jovovich, who's also his wife.

According to the article, Harris will portray the role of Link, a sniper that takes out his prey from afar. Meanwhile, Perlman is set to portray Admiral, who will serve as the leader for the Hunter's Crew. Jovovich is already confirmed to play a character named Artemis, though her character details haven't been provided just yet.

The film is set to begin production next month in South Africa, under a $60 million budget. The premise hasn't been discussed yet, but it's likely to be the same as the game, whereas heroes choose powerful armor and weapons, then set out to hunt down dangerous creatures, taking them on as a "battle crew."

Anderson, who's directing the film and also wrote the screenplay, will serve as producer alongside his partners Jeremy Bolt and Robert Kulzer. Screen Gems will handle U.S. distribution of the film when it releases, while Sony Pictures Releasing International will handle other territories.

T.I. previously appeared in the Ant-Man films, while Perlman can be seen in the Amazon series Hand of God as well as the classic Hellboy movies.

It's unknown just when the Monster Hunter movie will release, but it'll likely be around sometime in 2019. The series should still have some good traction at that point, as Monster Hunter World continues to thrive on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC. In addition, Monster Hunter Generations Ultimate is doing reasonably well on the Switch; and a new mobile game, Monster Hunter: Stories, just came out today.

We'll bring you more information on the film as soon as it's available!

(Hat tip to Hollywood Reporter for the scoop!)