Was there a Monster Hunter movie?

Yes: a $60 million Hollywood adaptation that earned $47.9 million, and told on itself in the comparison.

The live-action Monster Hunter was written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson and released in December 2020, reaching Japan in March 2021. Milla Jovovich plays a UN ranger pulled through a portal into the series’ world, where Tony Jaa’s Hunter teaches her the local rules; the film borrows World’s setting and roster, putting a desert Diablos and Rathalos at its centre, with Ron Perlman as the Admiral.

It cost a reported $60 million and grossed $47.9 million worldwide. Its Chinese release, then a crucial market for the franchise, was pulled within days after a joke in the dialogue drew backlash, a wound the film never recovered from. Capcom’s own fans were cooler still. A second attempt followed in animation: Monster Hunter: Legends of the Guild (2021), a short feature built faithfully around the games’ world and the Ace Hunters of the fourth generation.