Update: Not long after Paul W.S. Anderson made some very bold claims about his upcoming fantasy action feature MONSTER HUNTER, Screen Gems has pushed the film from its Labor Day weekend release of September 4, 2020, to April 23, 2021.
Reports indicate that the movie is being pushed on account of L.A. mayor Eric Garcetti warning citizens he's about to lock down the city again, due to a recent rise in cases related to COVID-19. With L.A. closing up shop yet again, it could be that we see the entire August release schedule shift into the fall.
Oh coronavirus, you really do ruin everything, don't you?
Original Article:
Brace yourselves for some backlash, my friends, because Paul W.S. Anderson has been talking some trash about the beloved dinosaurs featured in JURASSIC WORLD.
Here's the deal. Anderson has recently completed work on filming MONSTER HUNTER, an upcoming fantasy action feature based on the mega-popular video game franchise of the same name. The film stars Milla Jovovich as Lt. Artemis, Tony Jaa as The Hunter, as well as a host of kaiju-sized creatures with razor-sharp teeth. I've no doubt that fans of the series are expecting to see some massive monstrosities when the film stomps into theaters, but Anderson recently told Empire Magazine (via SYFY Wire)that his beasts offer "more detail than the dinosaurs of Jurassic World," That, my friends, is a very bold claim, so let's read the full quote and see if Anderson was perhaps just kidding around, shall we?
"All our monsters are 50-60 feet tall. They're really amazing. We're building them in even more detail than the dinosaurs of Jurassic World," Anderson said. "And they look even better because we shot on real locations in South Africa and Namibia, which gives the animators something to really match into real wind, real dust, real sun-flare. The monsters are the only CG thing in there."
Nope. He's serious. And hey, I've yet to lay eyes on any manner of completed footage for MONSTER HUNTER, so perhaps Anderson knows something that I don't.
As the interview continued, Anderson later joked that the realism seen in MONSTER HUNTER is akin to "Lawrence of Arabia … but with monsters!" I honestly don't know what to make of that. Is it possible that Anderson is pulling our leg for the entirety of the interview? Could MONSTER HUNTER arrive as the CITIZEN KANE of movies that features beasts the size of buildings? We'll have to wait until the movie comes out to know for sure. However, I do know one thing for certain. I'm onto you, Paul W.S. Anderson. I see what you're doing, and I think it's hilarious. For your sake I hope that this movie is a real banger, otherwise, you could have some very angry monster hunters on your hands.
Here's the official synopsis for MONSTER HUNTER:
Behind our world, there is another: a world of dangerous and powerful monsters that rule their domain with deadly ferocity. When Lt. Artemis (Milla Jovovich) and her elite unit are transported through a portal from our world to a new world, they are in for the shock of their lives. In her desperate attempt to get home, the brave lieutenant encounters a mysterious hunter (Tony Jaa), whose unique skills have allowed him to survive in this hostile land. Faced with relentless and terrifying attacks from the monsters, the warriors team up to fight back and find a way home.
Starring alongside Jovovich and Jaa for the upcoming besting of behemoths are Meagan Good (BRICK), Tip 'T.I.' Harris (ANT-MAN AND THE WASP, AMERICAN GANGSTER), Diego Boneta (TERMINATOR: DARK FATE, ROCK OF AGES), Josh Helman (MAD MAX: FURY ROAD, X-MEN: APOCALYPSE), Jin Au-Yeung (2 FST 2 FURIOUS, THE MAN WITH THE IRON FISTS), and Ron Perlman (HELLBOY, SONS OF ANARCHY).
MONSTER HUNTER is now scheduled to stomp into theaters on April 23, 2021.