Strong ‘Monster Hunter,’ ‘Resident Evil’ Video Game Sales Bode Well for Film Adaptations
The “Monster Hunter” and “Resident Evil” franchises continue to dominate Capcom’s sales rankings, boding well for upcoming feature film adaptations of the popular video games. “Monster Hunter: World” is Capcom’s top seller to date, with over 16.4 million copies sold. “Resident Evil 7 Biohazard” is the next-closest contender, with 8.3 million copies shipped.
“Monster Hunter: World” came out in August 2018. Its expansion pack — not a full game, just added downloadable content and missions — sold 6.6 million units so far, putting it ahead of some of Capcom’s complete game releases.
“Resident Evil 7 Biohazard” was released in May 2018 and is the ninth installment in Capcom’s long-running survival horror “Resident Evil” series” (note: in Japan, the game is called Biohazard, hence the new title in the latest global release).
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Capcom is steadily re-releasing “Resident Evil” games to keep pace with fan demand for the shooter zombie series and remaster older titles for newer consoles. Earlier installments in the “Resident Evil” series continue to do well; Capcom said “Resident Evil 2,” which was remade in January of this year, sold 7.5 million copies. The remastered “Resident Evil 2” outsold the original copy of the game, which only shipped about 4.9 million copies worldwide, Capcom said.
A reboot of the first “Resident Evil” origin story starring Kaya Scodelario, Hannah John-Kamen and Robbie Amell — and directed by Johannes Roberts — entered preproduction last month.
The “Resident Evil” film franchise — starring Milla Jovovich — spawned six movies and grossed over $1.2 billion at the box office. Jovovich is starring in the film adaptation of “Monster Hunter” due out this December. You can check out a preview for that video game adaptation here.
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Other Capcom franchises that continue to sell are “Street Fighter II,” which has sold 6.3 million units since its 1992 release, and the February 2016 release of “Street Fighter V,” which has sold an even 5 million copies. The fighting game was adapted into a feature film in 1994. It was panned critically but made three times its production cost.
Check out the full list of top Capcom sellers and see where your favorite game ranks on the list here.
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