Upcoming ‘Monster Hunter’ Film Re-Creates Fan Favorite Creatures From Original Game

The creatures in the upcoming “Monster Hunter” film from Paul W.S. Anderson will re-create several of the most notable foes in the original Capcom video games the movie is based on, Rathalos and Diablos monsters.

In a recent video for Sony, the game series’ producer Ryozo Tsujimoto said the show is trying to stay true to the original concept of the monsters in the games while giving them high-definition upgrades.

The Rathalos and Diablos, both gargantuan horned dragons, face off against the film’s heroine, Captain Artemis, played by Milla Jovovich. Artemis’ military unit (which includes Cliff ‘T.I’ Harris, Diego Boneta and Tony Jaa) is swept off to an alien world during a sandstorm. Of course, that alien world is chock-full of mythical creatures and flesh-eating dinosaurs that Jovovich’s character must dispose of with gigantic flaming swords.

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Besides some slight coloration changes and straightening out the curved horns on the Diablos monster, both it and the Rathalos look nearly identical to their game counterparts.

Kaname Fujioka, the game’s director, said the animations in the movie look “very, very close to the game.”

In the trailer, a herd of Apceros (the fictionalized, and deadlier version of an Anklyosaurus) fans out across a lake and prepares to charge. Fujioka told Anderson the team wasn’t able to incorporate a huge group of the beasts into the “Monster Hunter” games, but was delighted to see it on film.

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“With the pack of Apceros, you guys were able to do something he wasn’t able to do in the game development, so he was really happy to see that,” Fujioka said, speaking for Tsujimoto as well. “And you incorporated so many things we discussed, so we are really thankful, really impressed.”

The original “Monster Hunter” game was released by Capcom in 2004 for the PS2. The most recent game, “Monster Hunter: World” came out in 2018 and became Capcom’s best-selling game of all time, with over 16 million units sold by this June. Over 70% of those sales came from outside of Japan, Capcom said.

Two new installments in the series — “Monster Hunter Rise” and “Monster Hunter Stories 2: Wings of Ruin” will come out next year for the Nintendo Switch.

This project is Anderson and Jovovich’s latest video game to film adaptation — they also worked together on the live action “Resident Evil” films. “Monster Hunter” will hit theaters Dec. 30.

Check out the full video interview with the original “Monster Hunter” creators below.

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