As a new audience discovers the first Monster Hunter film on streaming, release demand for a Monster Hunter 2 sequel movie has begun to surge.
In 2020, Capcom's beloved series of Monster Hunter games made its way to the big screen for the first time, thanks to director Paul W.S. Anderson's cinematic adaptation.
Five years later, a sequel has not seen the light of day. This has come despite the Monster Hunter franchise being more popular than ever, thanks to record-breaking releases like the newly debuted Monster Hunter Wilds.
What Do We Know About the Monster Hunter 2 Movie?
Fans are clamoring for a Monster Hunter 2 sequel movie following the first film's new streaming release in the U.S.
Coinciding with the release of the critically acclaimed Monster Hunter Wilds video game, 2020's original Monster Hunter film has started to climb the streaming charts on Hulu, holding a spot on the U.S. Top 15 Movies & TV list for the platform (as of March 15, 2025).
However, despite this demand, word surrounding a Monster Hunter 2 movie has remained quite quiet.
A sequel to Paul W.S. Anderson's 2020 film has not been officially announced, but that has not stopped various people involved from talking about a potential big-screen follow-up over the years.
These teases date as far back as 2020, even before Monster Hunter was released. In November 2020 (one month before the first movie came to theaters in the U.S.), star of the film and wife of director Paul W.S. Anderson, Milla Jovovich, teased that Anderson was "already writing" a sequel (via GamesRadar+):
"Definitely, we would love to make another one. Hopefully people are going to love it because I know Paul would love to make a sequel. I mean, he’s already writing something..."
Anderson insinuated as such in the same interview, dmitting that he thought they had "just started to scratch the surface of [the franchise]" and was looking forward to diving back in at some point in the future:
“There’s hundreds of monsters [in the game]. I can only use five or six of them in the movie. So it’s a big, fun world that I think we’ve only just started to scratch the surface of."
This was the last update fans got on the project, as a sequel remains off the Sony Pictures slate nearly five years after these quotes first saw the light of day.
Despite this, there are still some hanging threads from the first movie that seemingly were meant to set up a Monster Hunter 2.
The first Monster Hunter movie focused on an Earth-based conflict where a portal between the real world and the games' fantastical New World had opened up. By the end of the film, that portal was expressly stated as being still left open, with its mid-credits scene teasing a shadowy figure with a plan to keep it that way.
Of course, these sorts of teases have gone unanswered in movies before, but (at least at the time of Monster Hunter's release), it seemed like there were plans for a big-screen follow-up.
Anderson has only released one movie since Monster Hunter in 2020 and seems not to be actively developing a second film in the franchise. His latest project, In the Lost Lands, will be based on a short story by Game of Thrones author George R.R. Martin and recently came to theaters on Friday, March 7.
How Likely Is a Monster Hunter 2 Movie?
With no official word of whether a Monster Hunter 2 movie will happen or not, fans have been left to speculate about the potential sequel.
One of the primary reasons that a plan for a follow-up may have faded into the background in the years since Monster Hunter's release may have something to do with the response to that first movie.
2020's Monster Hunter fared dismally from both a critical and financial standpoint. The movie debuted to a sobering 44% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes and only managed to make $47.9 million at the worldwide box office (per The Numbers)
Of course, that critical mark is nowhere near the lowest in Anderson's filmography, and its paulty box office return likely had to do with the movie being released into theaters during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic; however, the combination and extent of both factors could have played into the studio backing off of a sequel.
It seemed as though there were significant expectations for the first Monster Hunter movie. The film got tie-in DLC with the (at the time current) Monster Wunter World and received a hefty marketing campaign around the globe.
But, at least from the outside, the first movie failed to follow through on those lofty goals, putting whatever plans for a sequel the studio may have had onto the back burner.
That is not to say Monster Hunter 2 will never happen, though. Since the movie's initial run in theaters, it has found new life on streaming. It is currently enjoying success as a part of the Hulu library and very much did the same in 2023 when it debuted on Netflix as well.
Also, since 2020, the Monster Hunter brand has only grown with each new game's release. This culminated with the March 2025 release of Monster Hunter Wilds, which broke records for having the best launch in franchise history.
It looks like Wilds is not going to slow down anytime soon (read more about Monster Hunter Wilds' exciting future plans here), and Monster Hunter has truly broken through to the mainstream.
So, it would not be all that surprising if, in the future, the idea of a Monster Hunter 2 movie was revisited by the powers that be. It is just a matter of whether director Paul W.S. Anderson and his creative team from the first movie are involved or not.
Monster Hunter is now streaming on Hulu in the U.S.
