That Monsterpocalypse movie is back in a big way. Hollywood has been trying to adapt the board game of the same name for some time now, with Tim Burton and his Big Fish scribe John August teaming up back in 2010, but that iteration stalled in development when Guillermo del Toro’s Pacific Rim got off the ground. You see, Monsterpocalypse has a very similar premise in that it revolves around humans in robot suits fighting monsters. When Pacific Rim got the jump, Burton's own humans-fighting-kaiju movie fell apart. However, the project is now back with a vengeance, and it has Fede Alvarez—who helmed 2013’s solid Evil Dead remake—set to take the helm.
Per THR, a bidding war is underway between Warner Bros., DreamWorks, and Sony to acquire this Monsterpocalypse package, which has Alvarez set to direct and co-write with his writing partner Rodo Sayagues. Alvarez and Sayagues’ take is apparently decidedly different from the one that Burton was developing, further distancing the project from Pacific Rim. [Update: THR reports that Warner Bros. has won the bidding war with a mid-six figure against seven figure buy-in for just the movies rights and writing; the studio is currently in final negotiations for the total package.]
Speaking of which, while del Toro was set to helm Pacific Rim 2 for a 2017 release, Universal and Legendary subsequently put the sequel on hold to address story issues. Del Toro then stepped back to simply produce the film while he moved on to other projects, and while the blockbuster follow-up has now gained Daredevil showrunner Steven S. DeKnight as its director, it doesn’t yet have a release date.
Which means that it’s possible Monsterpocalypse could be fast-tracked for release before Pacific Rim 2 hits theaters. Alvarez showed remarkable promise as a filmmaker with Evil Dead and his follow-up, the horror-thriller Don’t Breathe, is set for release this year, but the prospect of seeing him tackle such a large-scale monster project is certainly exciting. We should hear more news on the film very soon as a studio will likely close a deal in a matter of days.
