The video game adaptation genre is one Milla Jovovich is plenty familiar with, and one of her movies is now climbing the streaming charts. After some smaller roles in the late ’80s, Jovovich first rose to stardom with her turn as Leeloo in Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element. The years since have seen her star in everything from Spike Lee’s He Got Game to Ben Stiller’s Zoolander and its sequel, as well as David Harbour’s Hellboy reboot.
Her most notable project to date, however, remains that of the Resident Evil movie franchise, an adaptation of Capcom’s survival horror video game series of the same name. Partnered with her husband, writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson, Jovovich carried the role of heroine Alice through six movies, while also having starred in Anderson’s adaptations of The Three Musketeers and George R.R. Martin’s In the Lost Lands. Among their collaborations is a video game adaptation that, despite being overlooked at the time, is now seeing some success.
Jovovich’s Monster Hunter Movie Is Climbing Hulu’s Charts
The Adaptation Remains One Of Anderson’s Better-Received Movies
Monster Hunter had spent the better part of a decade in development with Anderson working to acquire the rights from Capcom, with the movie eventually hitting theaters in late 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Jovovich led the cast as Natalie Artemis, a US Army Ranger who finds herself and her team pulled into an alternate realm populated with large creatures. Also starring Tony Jaa and Ron Perlman, Monster Hunter saw mixed reviews from critics and was a box office disappointment, grossing just shy of $48 million against its $60 million production budget.
Now, just over four years after the movie hit theaters, Monster Hunter is climbing up Hulu’s charts. Anderson and Jovovich’s video game adaptation currently sits at the No. 3 spot on the platform’s Top 15 Movies Today chart, sitting behind Bill Burr: Drop ᴅᴇᴀᴅ Years at the No. 1 spot and the newly premiered Kelly Marie Tran Hulu Original, Control Freak.
The rest of the chart is a wide range of genres, including the documentary, Last Take: Rust and the Story of Halyna at No. 4, the Hellboy reboot, The Crooked Man, at No. 5, the comedies Confessions of a Shopaholic at No. 6, The Ugly Truth at No. 7, The Truman Show at No. 8 and Anger Management at No. 9.
The final five spots on the chart include the Matt Damon and Robin Williams dramedy Good Will Hunting at No. 10, the historical dramedy The Help at No. 11, horror-thriller Longlegs at No. 12, Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction at No. 13, action-comedy The Other Guys at No. 14 and Eric Bana’s Force of Nature: The Dry 2 at No. 15.
Our Take On Monster Hunter’s Newfound Streaming Success
Jovovich’s Acting Return & The Video Game Adaptation Resurgence Are Big Helps
While it still failed to break Anderson’s negative streak on Rotten Tomatoes, Anderson’s Monster Hunter adaptation does still stand out as one of the better of his video game movies. Currently holding a 44% approval rating from critics on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie marks his second-highest-reviewed directorial project and his second-highest-reviewed video game adaptation, situated just behind his Mortal Kombat movie. Check out how Monster Hunter compares to Anderson’s other movies on Rotten Tomatoes below:
|
тιтle |
Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score |
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score |
|---|---|---|
|
Mortal Kombat (1995) |
47% |
58% |
|
Event Horizon |
35% |
62% |
|
Soldier |
17% |
44% |
|
Resident Evil |
36% |
67% |
|
Resident Evil: Apocalypse |
18% |
60% |
|
Alien vs. Predator |
21% |
39% |
|
Death Race (2008) |
41% |
60% |
|
Resident Evil: Afterlife |
21% |
48% |
|
The Three Musketeers |
26% |
69% |
|
Resident Evil: Retribution |
28% |
51% |
|
Pompeii |
27% |
34% |
|
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter |
38% |
47% |
|
Monster Hunter |
44% |
70% |
|
In the Lost Lands |
23% |
45% |
Regardless of how the movie performed at the time, there are a few likely reasons why Monster Hunter is enjoying a resurgence on the streaming charts. The first, and most likely, is that Anderson and Jovovich’s names are back in the mainline conversation thanks to the release of their adaptation of George R.R. Martin’s In the Lost Lands. Though similarly panned by critics, as is much of Anderson’s filmography, some might feel nostalgic about visiting the duo’s past projects together.
The other likely reason why Monster Hunter is climbing streaming charts all these years later is that the video game adaptation genre is arguably more popular now than ever. With everything from the Sonic the Hedgehog movies to Mortal Kombat, HBO’s The Last of Us and Prime Video’s Fallout offering faithful translations of their source materials for the screen, even the sometimes overlooked properties, like Anderson’s or Josh Ruben’s acclaimed Werewolves Within, are now getting some extra love.
Source: Hulu
