Capcom’s “Resident Evil” franchise continues to have a landmark year. A 30th anniversary in March, the release of “Resident Evil Requiem” in February, and now a teaser for a movie directed by “Barbarian” and “Weapons” director Zach Cregger, released April 30.
The movie, simply titled “Resident Evil,” will follow Bryan (Austin Abrams), a medical courier who “unwillingly finds himself in an action-packed, non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos,” according to the film’s official synopsis.
In an interview with Double Toasted podcast last year, Cregger said that the story will be concurrent with “Resident Evil 2” and “Resident Evil 3,” which take place in the infamous Raccoon City, but “adheres more to the tone of 4.” Notably, the movie will not feature any pre-existing characters from the franchise, a choice that Cregger* has been very adamant on.
“It is obedient to the lore of the games, it’s just a different story,” Cregger said in an interview with Inverse last year. “I’m not going to tell Leon’s story, because Leon’s story is told in the games. (Fans) already have that.” It’s an understandable but bold choice, one that becomes increasingly double-edged when considering Capcom’s past attempts at bringing the franchise to the big screen.
The first “Resident Evil” film franchise ran from 2002 to 2016, spanning six movies created by Paul W.S. Anderson and starring Milla Jovovich as Alice, an original character created for the series. The films did not do well with critics — the highest Rotten Tomatoes score among all six being 38%, held by the series finale “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.”
Similar in success, the 2021 reboot “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City,” directed and written by Johannes Roberts, proved to be another failed attempt. Despite drawing directly from the plots of the original games and featuring beloved characters like Leon Kennedy, Claire and Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine and Albert Wesker, the film earned a 30% on Rotten Tomatoes.
With a history of mixed results for “Resident Evil” film adaptations, Cregger’s film has a lot to prove. The director seems aware of this pressure and aims toward something unique but faithful to long-time and new fans alike.
“Those games pioneered something special,” he said in a Variety interview. “So I want to tell the story in the world of the games that honors the lore of the games, but it’s a new story.”
Cregger specifically aims to honor the movies by including game mechanics and Easter eggs for viewers to appreciate. The classic “Resident Evil” progression system will carry over to the screen: weapons going from a simple pistol to a machine gun, and enemies going from zombies to gigantic mutated creatures affected by the franchise’s T-virus.
The film will also feature the over-the-shoulder view that the games have. In an exclusive trailer breakdown with IGN, Cregger explained, “A lot of the movie is like third person,” and there was an effort to “incorporate just the visual language of the games into the movie.” To achieve this, the crew used a wide-lens Steadicam locked to Abrams, so that when he looks right or left, so does the audience.
Specific Easter eggs are yet to be seen, with only one having been spotted by IGN: a green herb tucked away in the left corner of the teaser around the 0:50 mark, potted in a design Cregger modeled directly after the ones in “Resident Evil 4.”
If this sneak peek of Cregger’s attention to detail is anything to go by, there is a good chance Capcom and Sony’s third film reboot attempt will pay off and “Resident Evil” will fare better than its predecessors when it hits theaters Sept. 18.
