Tag: Monster Hunter

Posted on in Film News, News

EXCLUSIVE: Amblin’s Dracula Movie ‘Last Voyage Of The Demeter’ Enlists ‘Monster Hunter’ & ‘Resident Evil: The Final Chapter’ Production Designer

Production is underway on Amblin’s vampire movie The Last Voyage of The Demeter. The story is taken directly from Bram Stoker’s Dracula novel about the Count’s trip from Carpathia to London, where he essentially fed on the ship’s crew at night.

The script is based on a single chapter, “The Captain’s Log,” from Bram Stoker’s classic 1897 novel Dracula, which tells the story of the Russian schooner, Demeter, which was charted to carry private cargo (twenty four unmarked wooden creates) from Carpathia to London. The film will detail the strange events that befell the doomed crew as they attempt to survive the ocean voyage, stalked each night by a terrifying presence onboard the ship. When it finally arrived near Whitby Harbour, it was a derelict. There was no trace of the crew.

We first revealed that director Andre Ovredal would be reuniting with cinematographer Roman Osin (Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark).

The Ronin can confirm that Demeter has production designer Edward Thomas working on the film’s design/sets, who has been behind genre films such as Monster Hunter, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, Escape Room, and the recent sequel Escape Room: Tournament of Champions.

The horror pic’s casts consists of Corey Hawkins (Straight Outta Compton, Kong: Skull Island, The Walking Dead), Liam Cunningham (Game of Thrones, Clash of The Titans, The Guard) as the Demeter’s captain, Aisling Franciosi (Game of Thrones, The Nightingale, Black Narcissus), David Dastmalchian (Ant-Man, The Suicide Squad, Blade Runner 2049), longtime creature actor Javier Botet (It, Game of Thrones, Slender Man, Alien: Covenant, Crimson Peak, The Conjuring 2) is set to play Dracula, Jon Jon Briones (Ratched), Stefan Kapicic (Deadpool, Deadpool 2), Nikolai Nikolaeff, Woody Norman, Martin Furulund and Chris Walley.

The Last Voyage of The Demeter has been a project kicking around Hollywood for ages with previous directors such as David Slade (Hard Candy, 30 Days of Night, Hannibal, American Gods, Black Mirror) and Neil Marshall (Game of Thrones, Westworld, Hellboy, Lost In Space) attaching themselves to only exit. Viggo Mortensen, Noomi Rapace, Jude Law, and Ben Kingsley were reportedly once involved at various stages.

It’s unknown when the film will debut as Amblin recently made a deal with Netflix to fund and distribute original films. There is a good shot that Demeter ends up landing at Netflix.

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

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