Resident Evil is getting rebooted…again. This comes just four years after the 2021 reboot, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. That film was a modest success at the box office and a critical flop. So why should we care about this seemingly unkillable franchise? Because this time around there is some legit talent attached.
Reboot
Zach Cregger, writer and director of Barbarian, one of the best horror films of 2022 is officially attached to the project as, once again, writer and director. Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapter 4) has signed on as co-writer. Constantin Film, which has owned the movie rights to Resident Evil since the late 1990s, will produce the latest film along with PlayStation Productions serving as co-producer. Word on the street is that a bidding war has erupted as to which studio will distribute the film, with both Netflix and Warner Brothers in the running.
Starting in 2002, six Resident Evil movies (directed by Paul W.S. Anderson) starring Milla Jovovich grossed over a billion dollars globally. While the critic’s reviews got progressively worse, fans of the legendary Capcom video game series ate it up. The series followed ‘Alice’ (not a character in the video games), a former security expert and special operative who battled the evil Umbrella Corporation, whose bioweapons have caused the zombie apocalypse to break out. The first reboot in 2021 was the only film in the series that didn’t perform up to expectations financially.
Will It Work?
While video game franchises have historically done poorly when adapted for the big screen (Far Cry, Max Payne, Tekken, Doom, and on and on), there may be a glimmer of hope here. Cregger has established himself as a solid auteur when it comes to horror films. Indeed, his latest feature, Weapons (starring Josh Brolin and Julia Garner) has been getting high praise in early screenings. Let’s hope Cregger can steer this undead ship back in the right direction and not only turn a profit but earn positive reviews from the critics!
The Resident Evil reboot is reported to be “a revamp that will take the title to its horror roots and be more faithful to the initial games.” Didn’t they say this back in 2021?
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