With the conclusion of the Resident Evil movie franchise, producer Jeremy Bolt and director Paul W.S. Anderson have shifted their focus on a new video game franchise, Monster Hunter. They expect the upcoming Monster Hunter movies to be bigger and better than the Resident Evil movies.
"We treated [Capcom] with tremendous respect and earning their trust is one of the reasons for Monster Hunter, being the movie we'll do next," producer Jeremy Bolt said in a interview with Deadline. He says that Capcom controls the rights for Monster Hunter, and the that series is now bigger for the Capcom than Resident Evil. Capcom gave the rights of the Monster Hunter movie to the team responsible for the Resident Evil movies because of the success the movies.
The Resident Evil movies have had success with each succeeding movie even with a modest budget. The first movie, simply titled "Resident Evil" was made for $33 million and grossed $102 million internationally. The fifth and most recent, Resident Evil: Retribution was made for $65 million and grossed $240 million internationally. The movie franchise will end on January 2017 when the 6th and final entry, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter will be released. And even before its release date, the team has already begun work for the Monster Hunter movie.
According to Paul W.S. Anderson, the first draft for the Monster Hunter movie is already done. A budget of $50 million will be used to produced the film. Anderson praises Monster Hunter's world describing it as "incredibly beautiful and immersive." He also likened the settingto that of the Star Wars universe in terms of world creation. He notes that the game has no central character and might create his characters and story similar to what he did when he made Resident Evil. He believes Monster Hunter is the perfect IP for him to do the same thing again.
The Monster Hunter movie has the potential to be bigger than the Resident Evil movie franchise. The movie is expected to be big in Japan and China where people line up around the block whenever a new game from Monster Hunter is released. It currently has 15 million online paying users. Stay tuned for more updates on Monster Hunter.
