TheMonster Huntermovie isn’t exactly off to a fantastic start, and instead, it’s turning out to be a bit of a headache for Capcom.Monster Hunterpremiered this past weekend in Europe and China, with Sony Pictures expecting the latter to deliver solid performance at the box office, considering how other Paul W.S. Anderson films have fared in the country before.
However, those hopes are now looking more compromised than ever, and not due to any COVID-related mishaps, but rather due to an oversight inMonster Huntercausing outrage among the Chinese. The scandal unfolded over a joke taken straight from the movie’s English dialogue,which slipped by the studio’s localization teamand Chinese censors, that when translated to Mandarin Chinese turns out to be quite offensive.
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After those complications, the last thing Sony will want to deal with is an underwhelming release over in the United States, especially considering early comments and reviews around the film. Thus, Sony decided to moveMonster Hunter’sNorth American release one week earlier, to December 18.
Funnily enough, unlike most movies planned for 2020 and 2021,Monster Hunterhas been moved up in the release calendar not delayed. Originally scheduled for 2021, it then got shifted for December 30, before settling on the now-discarded Christmas day debut.
Though there were no specific details given as to why this decision was made, it’s unlikely to be directly tied toMonster Hunter’scontroversies in China, where public condemnation for the film has even causedMonster Hunter Worldto get review bombed by Chinese users,despite the controversial scene’s removal. Come December 18, both the studio and audiences will start to get a better clue on how these events end up affecting the movie’s popularity in China and the rest of the overseas markets.
A more likely scenario here is that studio executives wanted to avoid any sort ofdirect competition withWonder Woman 1984, one of 2020’s most anticipated movies. Considering how starved cinemas are for big-budget movies, it’s a bit puzzling how this decision was not made earlier.
