Gareth Edwards found lightning in a bottle with his 2010 small budget sci-fi hit, Monsters. Put together on a tiny $500,0000 budget, yet packing incredible special effects and an intriguing premise, the film would go on to make about $4M worldwide, with Edwards and star Scoot McNairy become sought after talent ever since. Edwards has been tapped to helm a Godzilla reboot, while McNairy starred opposite Brad Pitt in Killing Them Softly, and is a part of Ben Affleck's Argo. Not too shabby.
A sequel to Monsters has been in the planning stages since last year, at one time having Jesse Atlas and Brent Bonacarso in line to direct. Not much was heard about it since, but now it appears the film is definitely on the way, and albeit with a different director taking over. Screen Daily(via ThePlaylist) mentioned in a recent story that Tom Green will direct Monsters: The Dark Continent, with Jay Basu(Fast Girls) providing the script. Before you freak out, it's not the Tom Green you're thinking of. It's not the Freddy Got Fingered, ex Mr. Drew Barrymore Tom Green. This, far more talented Green is a director of the Brit superhero TV series, Misfits, and is widely regarded as a future star.
The original Monsters had a photojournalist and a rich man's daughter making their way across a quarantined Mexico, ravaged by monster attacks ever since a NASA probe crash landed on the US/Mexico border. The creature design was impressive, and so was the world Edwards created. I took issue with the script, however, and the pace slow to the point of being dull. Although Edwards has moved on to greener pastures, he's still on board in a producing capacity. I'm interested in seeing where this goes, because Vertigo Films seems to have a lot of confidence in making this a long-lived, respected series of monster flicks.
