Milla Jovovich Has "flirtatious Relationship" With Meowscular Chef In Monster Hunter Movie

Paul W.S. Anderson’s Milla-Jovovich-starring Monster Hunter movie will, after a bit of release date tinkering, be heading to cinemas this December – and, in news that might temporarily placate fans worried the adaptation’s armed US soldiers and portal-hopping shenanigans were getting a bit off-brand, it’s now been confirmed that Palicoes are in.

As reported by IGN, Anderson popped up in an online New York Comic-Con panel this weekend to confirm that Palicoes – Monster Hunter World’s cat-like fighting companions – have made the cut, telling fans, “Well, you couldn’t make a Monster Hunter movie without having a Palico in it. So definitely we lean into the Palico”.

Additionally, Meowscular Chef – Monster Hunter World’s brawny Felyne canteen overseer, and, in the movie, sidekick to Ron Perlman’s Admiral – will be getting the big-screen treatment. Anderson describes the Chef as a “fantastic character” who has a “rather flirtatious relationship” with Milla Jovovich’s Captain Artemis.

Monster Hunter World’s Meowscular Chef, in case you need help visualising.

It’s a plot point Anderson calls “really interesting”, but hopefully that’s ‘really interesting’ in an entirely different ‘really interesting’ way to, say, that bit in Howard the Duck. Nightmarish possibilities aside, it’s gratifying to learn that Anderson’s take on Monster Hunter might actually deliver more than the mirthless beige grit-fest earlier trailers painted it to be. And if it leans far enough into the series’ sillier side that we get a get a SO TASTY! out of it, then who am I to complain?

To accompany his Comic-Con chat, Anderson released an extended version of the movie’s Rathalos & Diablos trailer, in which he presents footage of the creature to Ryozo Tsujimoto and Kaname Fujioka, Monster Hunter game producer and director respectively. “If we can deliver for you,” Anderson tells them, “we can deliver for the fans”. We’ll see what, exactly, hits the fans, when the Monster Hunter movie arrives in cinemas on 30th December.