It was this past May that Capcom in its annual financial report disclosed that the firm’s coming live-action film based on the published series Monster Hunter would be arriving sometime this September. September 4th to be specific, the production was set to release later this year and possibly shake the box office seeing the success of the Monster Hunter IP in recent years.
Elsewhere it was reported that the latest entry for the franchise – Monster Hunter: World – sold about a quarter of the series’ gross sales alone as it makes up 15.5 million of the 53 million units sold for the Monster Hunter lineage. So seeing the recent explosion of popularity that the 2018 title obtained, that would be reflected heavily when the titular film arrive later on.
However, that might not be the case now. According to Deadline, Sony Pictures has decided to push the box office release for Monster Hunter from September to spring later on next year in 2021. As for reasoning why the firm decided to extend the wait for Monster Hunter is left unknown, Deadline suspects the motive for the decision plays in part with the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic still in effect across the globe.
This is a trend that has been playing a larger role for the last few months, so it was nearly inevitable that a big production film like Monster Hunter would face a push at some point. Another major production affected by the precautionary measures established is Netflix’s The Witcher with production for season two being halted in the rise of the novel coronavirus.
Paul W.S. Anderson was reported to be helming the project as the film’s director. Anderson is no stranger to Capcom video game-adapted films as he is responsible for the recent line of Resident Evil films that release previously. He might also be the catalyst for Milla Jovovich’s casting in the project as well with her involvement in Anderson’s previous movies.
Will you wait for the Monster Hunter film to hit theaters later next year?
Monster Hunter will arrive to the box office on April 23, 2021.
Source: Deadline
