Writer-director Fede Alvarez really turned heads in 2013 with his remake of Sam Raimi's cult classic horror movie, "Evil Dead". It wasn't supposed to work, but it did. He brought a whole new vision to the franchise and definitely set himself up as a director to watch in the near future. The 38-year-old Uruguayan filmmaker actually first became known for a short film he posted on YouTube entitled "Ataque de Pánico!", which featured giant robots attacking the South American city of Montevideo. The film got more than 7 million views and had a strong following. Sam Raimi was a fan, so much so that he actually produced Alvarez's remake of his own "Evil Dead". Raimi is also producing his follow-up, a horror film entitled "Breath In", which ScreenGems has set for release this August.
In case Alvarez didn't have enough on his plate these days, according to the Hollywood Reporter he is set to co-write, with writing partner Rodo Sayagues, and direct an adaptation of the popular board game "Monsterpocalypse". Warner Bros. won a heated bidding war for the rights to the movie, beating out high interest from DreamWorks and Sony as well.
"Monsterpocalypse" is a Kaiju-themed board game that is not unlike Guillermo Del Toro's recently successful and visionary "Pacific Rim". The game pits humans in robot suits against monsters. There was a previously stalled attempt at bringing the board game to the big screen back in 2010. At the time, director Tim Burton and screenwriter John August were attached to the project. It stalled because of Del Toro's "Pacific Rim" and the all too familiar resemblances to that film's visual and narrative palette.
As Del Toro's film have proven, there is very much an audience for Kaiju films, and Hollywood is listening to the demand. In the next 3 years we will be getting "Godzilla 2", "Pacific Rim 2", "Kong: Skull Island", and very likely Alvarez's "Monsterpocalypse".