Tag: Capcom

Posted on in News

‘Street Fighter’: Legendary Secures Rights To Make Live-Action Film & TV Projects

Video game adaptations are having a bit of a moment with HBO‘s series The Last of Us doing extremely well and now heading into a second season. One video game property that is about to launch a brand new installment, Street Fighter, is getting brand new live-action projects. The Hollywood Reporter is revealing that Legendary has secured the rights to Street Fighter from publisher/owner Capcom to make live-action films and a television series with game company co-producing those future projects. Although, no creatives are named in the report or who is expected to direct the new movie.

Street Fighter first released back in 1987, but it wasn’t until it’s sequel, Street Fighter II and subsequent versions/sequels that the fevered fandom was created leading to a multitude of crossovers and merch. A tournament-based fighting game (less violent most competitors) that focuses on a global group of fighters that are sort either cohorts of heroic Japanese protagonist Ryu or the evil minions of M. Bison. The game was so popular it helped developers get backing for other arcade fighting games like Mortal Kombat and Tekken.

In 1994, the first live-action film “loosely” based on the game was released with a cast that consisted of Jean-Claude Van Damme as “American” soldier Guile, the late Raul Julia as the villainous dictator M. Bison, Ming-Na Wen as Chun-Li, Bryon Mann as Ryu, and Aussie pop-star Kylie Minogue as Cammy. While many fans have since embraced the campy nature of the production, it hardly had anything to do with the video game and felt more like it was trying copy the hit Hong Kong film Supercop that starred Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh, but turning it into a kid-friendly version. That same year, Street Fighter II: The Animated Movie was released in Japan but the anime took a darker R-rated tone than it’s live-action counterpart with violence/nudity and is considered the better of the two films. North America eventually got a PG-13 cut of the anime on home video in 1995.

To speak towards the game’s massive popularity in the 1990s, the year before the film’s release the characters showed up in the Jackie Chan film City Hunter with the actor portraying various characters including dressing in drag to play Chun-Li.

The less said of the 20th Century film Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li from 2009 the better.

Legendary was behind the live-action Detective Pikachu movie and certainly did the Nintendo franchise justice as a sequel is in the works. So, after Capcom’s Hollywood experience with the Resident Evil franchise and the recent Monster Hunter film, you can’t really blame them to court a studio like Legendary behind bigger things. Other Legendary IP projects on the horizon include Dune: Part Two, a sequel to Godzilla vs Kong, Detective Pikachu 2, Gundam, Duke Nukem, The Toxic Avenger, HBO Max’s Dune: The Sisterhood, a Sin City series, and the Apple’ series Godzilla & The Titans.

SOURCE: THR

Posted on in Film News

‘Resident Evil’ Reboot Movie Has Officially Wrapped Production

The Canadian shoot of the Resident Evil reboot film has officially completed production according to a tweet from Sony Pictures, which you can see below.

Johannes Roberts will be directing and it’s been confirmed that it will be an origin story taking place at Raccoon City in 1998. The last six Resident Evil films were very loosely based on the video games as it focused on Alice, a character created for the movies. The new film will take cues from the video games released by Capcom.

Previously announced cast members include Kaya Scodelario (Crawl) as Claire Redfield alongside Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man and the Wasp, Ready Player One) as Jill Valentine, Robbie Amell (Upload) as Chris Redfield, Tom Hopper (The Umbrella Academy) as Albert Wesker, Avan Jogia (Zombieland: Double Tap) as Leon S. Kennedy, Neal McDonough (Yellowstone, Band of Brothers, Captain America: The First Avenger) as William Birkin, Donal Logue, Chad Rook and Lily Gao.

Resident Evil may release in September 9, 2021, although Sony has yet to announce a domestic release date.

SOURCE: SONY PICTURES

Posted on in Film News

‘Monster Hunter’: A Scene That References Racist Nursery Rhyme Gets Movie Pulled From Theaters In China

Deadline and other outlets reported that the release of Paul W.S. Anderson’s (Resident Evil, Event Horizon, Soldier, AVP) latest video game adaptation Monster Hunter, met with some angry Chinese audiences as the movie released there and it included a racist 10-second scene referencing the offensive nursery rhyme “Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees”.

Leading Monster Hunter to be pulled from the screens.

The 10-second scene that has generated an outcry features Asian-American rapper/actor Jin Au-Yeung (aka MC Jin), who at one point riffs to his scene partner, “Look at my knees. What kind of knees are these? Chinese.” This is being linked to a racist playground rhyme used to mock children of Asian origin. Upset, we understand, has further been sown by the scene’s local subtitles.

There are expectations the scene will be removed but it’s unknown if the government will allow Monster Hunter to return to local screens. It’s also possible the backlash will have done enough damage there that big dollars expected from China while most theaters around the world are closed aren’t likely going to be as massive as the studio first imagined.

It’s a little disheartening because the film is an adaption of Japanese-based Capcom’s video game franchise with Chinese-based distribution company Tencent working on the film as well. Monster Hunter also had a very impressive international trailer marketed towards the Chinese audience that was miles better than the domestic cut trailer.

However, this does seem to highlight that extra care needed to make sure that you’re not offending entire countries or a race of people with outdated humor or references.

I think it’s worth pointing out this even isn’t the only 2020 film from a British director to reference the rhyme. Guy Ritchie’s most recent film The Gentlemen has Hugh Grant’s character Fletcher also play with the racist rhyme when Fletcher is referencing Henry Golding’s character Dry Eye and his Asian heritage.

FLETCHER: “I talk Raymondo of Dry Eye. Oh Dry Eye, what is he? Chinese, Japanese, Pekingese, get on your fucking knees. Dirty dragon filth. Yellow is the colour, gambling is the game.”

It seems like Hollywood still needs to do better when attempting humor and making sure they’re not returning to racist tropes we thought that were over decades ago.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

‘Resident Evil’: Reboot Horror Film Adds ‘Shazam!’ and ‘Crawl’ Cinematographer Maxime Alexandre

The Ronin has been able to confirm that cinematographer Maxime Alexandre to the production team of the Resident Evil feature film reboot, as filming has been taking place in the Toronto area with the Canadian leg of the shoot expected to finish this month.

Maxime’s credits include The Nun, Shazam!, Crawl, The Hills Have Eyes, High Tension, Silent Hill: Revelations, and the Netflix series The Haunting of Bly Manor.

Johannes Roberts will be directing and it’s been confirmed that it will be an origin story taking place at Raccoon City in 1998.

Previously announced cast members include Kaya Scodelario (Crawl) as Claire Redfield alongside Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man and the Wasp, Ready Player One) as Jill Valentine, Robbie Amell (Upload) as Chris Redfield, Tom Hopper (The Umbrella Academy) as Albert Wesker, Avan Jogia (Zombieland: Double Tap) as Leon S. Kennedy, Neal McDonough (Yellowstone, Band of Brothers, Captain America: The First Avenger) as William Birkin, Donal Logue, Chad Rook and Lily Gao.

A release date for Resident Evil has yet to be announced.

Posted on in Film News

New ‘Resident Evil’ Movie Adds ‘Blade’ Actor Donal Logue

Deadline reports that Blade and Gotham actor Donal Logue has joined the cast of the Resident Evil reboot currently filming in the Toronto area.

Chad Rook and Lily Gao also are also new additions.

Previously announced cast members include Kaya Scodelario (Crawl) as Claire Redfield alongside Hannah John-Kamen (Ant-Man and the Wasp, Ready Player One) as Jill Valentine, Robbie Amell (Upload) as Chris Redfield, Tom Hopper (The Umbrella Academy) as Albert Wesker, Avan Jogia (Zombieland: Double Tap) as Leon S. Kennedy, and Neal McDonough (Yellowstone, Band of Brothers, Captain America: The First Avenger) as William Birkin.

Johannes Roberts will be directing and it’s been confirmed that it will be an origin story taking place at Raccoon City in 1998.

The film is a hard-reboot of the Resident Evil film franchise that originally focused on the original character Alice, created by director Paul W.S. Anderson for his string of feature films that barely resembled the Capcom video games.

There is a live-action Netflix series in the works as well.

SOURCE: DEADLINE

Posted on in Film News

Watch The First Trailer For ‘Monster Hunter’ Trailer – Milla Jovovich Returns To Secure Her Crown As The Queen of Video Game Adaptations

MONSTER HUNTER – Behind our world, there is another: a world of dangerous and powerful monsters that rule their domain with deadly ferocity. When an unexpected sandstorm transports Captain Artemis (Milla Jovovich) and her unit (TI Harris, Meagan Good, Diego Boneta) to a new world, the soldiers are shocked to discover that this hostile and unknown environment is home to enormous and terrifying monsters immune to their firepower. In their desperate battle for survival, the unit encounters the mysterious Hunter (Tony Jaa), whose unique skills allow him to stay one step ahead of the powerful creatures. As Artemis and Hunter slowly build trust, she discovers that he is part of a team led by the Admiral (Ron Perlman). Facing a danger so great it could threaten to destroy their world, the brave warriors combine their unique abilities to band together for the ultimate showdown.

Sony Screen Gems has released the first Monster Hunter trailer which stars Milla Jovovich and martial arts star Tony Jaa from Resident Evil franchise director Paul W.S. Anderson (Soldier, Event Horizon, Alien vs. Predator).

The film looks to be a hybrid homage of Transformers meets Reign of Fire meets Jurassic Park that certainly has it having a lot more scale than the Resident Evil films alongside what looks like could be quality VFX (at least in this trailer). Hopefully, it’s a little more accessible and coherent than the previous Resident Evil films given that it’s an entirely new video game franchise it could allow for something a little more interesting.

Also from Capcom, the Monster Hunter video games skew more into the realm of fantasy adventure.

In an unnamed high fantasy setting, humans and other sentient races have set their eyes on the New World, a separate continent from the populated Old World. The New World is an untamed wilderness where many powerful monsters roam, and where researchers have been drawn to uncover new mysteries. Players take the role of a Hunter that serves to help protect a village or help research the large monsters that roam the various areas near the village.

Milla Jovovich has established herself as one of the few actresses that consistently does genre action gaining an international following from playing both Leeloo from The Fifth Element and Alice in the Resident Evil films.

Earlier this month it was revealed that Monster Hunter’s theatrical release date got bumped-up from April 23rd, 2021 to December 30th. I guess we’ll have to wait and see if that date sticks.

Sony Screen Gems also released a new domestic poster.

SOURCE: SONY

Posted on in Film News

‘Resident Evil’ Reboot Film Adds ‘Shazam!’ Production Designer Jennifer Spence

The Ronin has been able to confirm that production designer Jennifer Spence has been hired for the Resident Evil reboot film, which is based on the classic Capcom zombie horror video games.

Jennifer’s extensive horror credits include Lights Out, Insidious: Chapter 2, Insidious: Chapter 3, Paranormal Activity 2, The Lords of Salem, Paranormal Activity 3, Paranormal Activity 4, Rob Zombie’s Lords of Salem, Annabelle: Creation, The Nun, and most recently The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It.

She also worked on DC Comics film Shazam! as well.

They’ve also added art director Tony Ianni, who does extensive work on the sci-fi series The Expanse as art director and now as the show’s production designer.

Some character tidbits that leaked suggested that the new film will focus mostly on iconic characters from the video game franchise rather than continuing the Alice story from the Paul W.S. Anderson films that starred Milla Jovovich.

There is a live-action Netflix series in development as well.

Filming is expected to begin in/around the Toronto area on October 13th and complete by December 19th.

Posted on in Television News

Netflix Announces 8-Episode ‘Resident Evil’ Series Will Focus On Jade Wesker – ‘The Walking Dead’s Bronwen Hughes To Direct First Two Episodes

Today, it was officially confirmed that Netflix will indeed be making a live-action series based on the Capcom horror video game franchise. They’ve hired Andrew Dabb (Supernatural) to showrun, executive produce, and write the series with executive producer Bronwen Hughes (The Walking Dead) set to direct the first two episodes.

The series will also get eight hourlong episodes. 

Here is the official press release from Netflix that includes a synopsis for the new show that will focus on Jade Wesker, one of the daughters of franchise antagonist Albert Wesker. 

Building on one of the most popular, best-selling survival horror video games of all time, Resident Evil will tell a brand new story across two timelines:

In the first timeline, fourteen-year-old sisters Jade and Billie Wesker are moved to New Raccoon City. A manufactured, corporate town, forced on them right as adolescence is in full swing. But the more time they spend there, the more they come to realize that the town is more than it seems and their father may be concealing dark secrets. Secrets that could destroy the world. 

Cut to the second timeline, well over a decade into the future: there are less than fifteen million people left on Earth. And more than six billion monsters — people and animals infected with the T-virus. Jade, now thirty, struggles to survive in this New World, while the secrets from her past – about her sister, her father and herself – continue to haunt her.

A feature film is also in the works that will reboot the Mila Jovocih movies with traditional characters stepping up. 

SOURCE: NETFLIX