Something to look forward to: Resident Evil, a gaming franchise that has been adapted for film (and a very bad TV show) multiple times, is coming back to theaters this September. The trailer for the latest incarnation looks very different from what we've seen before; it's much darker and grittier than the previous movies. That's probably because it comes from Zach Cregger, the director of Weapons and Barbarian.
Resident Evil promises an all-new story that follows a medical courier called Bryan, who isn't having a good night.
As you can tell from the trailer, this isn't a direct adaptation of the game. Cregger – a massive fan of the Resi titels who also co-wrote the film – called it a "reinvention" with new characters, so don't expect to see Leon or Claire making an appearance.
The movie begins in a Resident Evil 4/Resi 7-like rural area before moving to the chaotic streets of Raccoon City. Cregger said that his version "kind of" takes place in the world of Resident Evil 2, though he notes he made "a couple of little shifts for dramatic license."
Early reactions to the movie have described it as a horror version of Mad Max: Fury Road, which should please those hoping to see some of the more action-packed sections of the games brought to the big screen – perhaps the influence of co-writer Shay Hatten, who penned John Wick 3, 4, and Ballerina. The horror elements (in the trailer) remind this writer of the modern Evil Dead movies.
"What's important to me, that I'm honoring from the games, is the narrative structure and following one character from point A to point B, and the concern with resource management, ammunition conservation," Cregger said. "We start with a pistol, we graduate to a shotgun, we graduate to an MP5, and things are just getting progressively more intense, and we're encountering weirder and weirder monsters."
There have been 12 Resident Evil movies, including animated ones, and a TV show. The rebooted Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City was the last live-action entry. It wasn't well reviewed, but it was Citizen Kane compared to the Netflix TV show that was canceled after one very unpopular season.
Since the first Resident Evil was released in 2002, the movies have made about $1.271 billion at the box office, while the original six Milla Jovovich-led films made about $1.229 billion worldwide.
Given the success of the excellent Barbarian and Weapons, Cregger could find that his take on Resident Evil becomes the best-reviewed in the franchise – not that it's a very high bar.
Resident Evil is set for release on September 18, 2026. It was filmed for IMAX, too.
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