Bidding War In Hollywood Arises Over 'Monsterpocalypse' Movie Rights
A new giant monster movie might be on the way and it comes from a pretty unlikely source. Monsterpocalypse is a board game by Privateer Press, and right now a handful of studios that include Warner Brothers, Dreamworks, and Sony are in a tense bidding war to acquire the rights to make a feature film/potential franchise. The deal comes packaged with director Fede Alvarez, who is known for helming the 2013 remake 'Evil Dead.' He and his writing partner Rodo Sayagues will pen the screenplay.
If you feel like this story sounds familiar, it's because a similar situation happened in 2010 when director Tim Burton and screenwriter John August tried to get an adaptation off the ground. It lost its footing in 2013 when Guillermo Del Toro released his giant monsters versus robots project 'Pacific Rim.' The studio thought they were too similar and the filmmakers went their separate ways.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, a deal could come as early as the end of this week. They go on to say that the pitch for this adaptation is very different than the approach Burton was going to take, and even though it retains the "humans versus monsters" narrative, it would stand apart from Del Toro's 'Pacific Rim' as well.
I'm not sure how many people are aware of this board game, but I played it in college with co-host of the podcast and contributor to this blog: Kyle Minnick. It was a really interesting and fun game, but it definitely stands apart for trying to create a fleshed out universe and story to play in. It took place on an alternate Earth that is constantly under attack by alien and cross dimensional beings who used giant monsters to do their bidding. Of course, humans created G.U.A.R.D. (Globally United Advanced Research and Defense) which used giant robots piloted by humans to fight back. Sounds a lot like 'Pacific Rim' doesn't it? The major difference between the two properties, besides one being a board game, is where they were influenced. 'Pacific Rim' is an obvious homage to classic kaiju films and 'Evangelion,' where Monsterpocalypse draws from all over the genre while mixing in some elements of H.P. Lovecraft's books, 'King Kong,' and 'The War of the Worlds.'
I'm going to go one step further in getting you excited for this possible adaptation and embed director Fede Alvarez's breakthrough short film 'Panic Attack.' Watch it below and let us know if you think the filmmaker can hold his own in the genre.