The Monster Galaxy movie: Where it's at and what's next [Interview]

Even with half a million players on Facebook, it's surprising that Monster Galaxy will soon receive its own feature film. To get the skinny on where this movie based on Gaia Interactive's Facebook and mobile game is, we caught up with Radar Pictures head of production Mike Webber. Some of the details might surprise you.

Can you fill us in on where exactly the Monster Galaxy film is in terms of development, script or production?

We are currently in development on the script.

What can you say about the background of the Monster Galaxy film scriptwriter?

[Reinhard Denke] was a fan of [Monster Galaxy], and serendipitously was available at the time when this came together. He had a really good take on creating a world--and not just a world, but a central movie storyline of the Monster Galaxy universe that [Gaia Interactive] has obviously done such a great job of creating. So, it was a good take and we're just in the typical place with an adaptation of something on the ground, and getting the script as good as it can be before going out and putting the rest of the pieces together like director, cast, et cetera.

Where does this storyline exactly fit in with the Monster Galaxy games?

I think it takes what is in the games and just extrapolates, adds more character detail and developments based on top of what was already there.

OK, so this is like a telling of the same story, but in a more cinematic way?

Correct. It's in a structure of obviously you need a central protagonist, which we have and a very clear quest that is on and, yes, but I think the fans of the game should be happy.

I imagine the movie would be animated. So what type of art style are you guys coming from? Like a type of 3D animation or hand drawn art?

Actually, it's going to be a live action-CGI. It's not going to be 100 percent animated. It's very human centric with computer-generated monsters, for lack of a better way to put it.

Aside from the fans of the games, is there a specific target audience you guys are aiming at with the movie aside from maybe just fans of the games?

I think [of the] four quadrant audience, the same audience that turns out for movies like Lord of the Rings. It'll appeal to the 'Comic-Con demographic,' as we refer to it in Hollywood.

Does Radar or Gaia have any transmedia plans for when the film releases, like, say, buy a ticket and receive a pet in the game?

I think that's a great idea. I've seen that done successfully with other games. I mean, wasn't it Zynga that did that with Public Enemies? I think that makes sense, but that would be a conversation much later in the day. But I think that certainly sounds like a good way to involve the fans and reward them for being fans of both the movie and the game.

Are you still a fan of Monster Galaxy? Are you psyched to see a movie based on the games? Sound off in the comments. Add Comment.