Summary

The Resident Evil reboot may take a unique approach in adapting the source material.
Director Zach Cregger is out to capture the feeling of playing more than a faithful adaptation of the lore.
Until Dawn failed from a similar attempt at adapting how the gameplay feels versus a worthwhile story.

The Resident Evil reboot movie may be making the same mistake that potentially doomed the Until Dawn movie adaptation. The Resident Evil game franchise has been going strong since 1996, with the first film adaptation hitting theaters in 2002. The zombie series has continued to thrive in the video game realm, but has also continued releasing film and TV installments.

Paul W. S. Anderson's series ran for 15 years and six movies, with varying reception among fans and general audiences. A reboot was attempted in 2021 with Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, which captured the aesthetics but missed the mark on thrills. There was even a short-lived 2022 Netflix series, which failed to capture much attention. Now, following his breakout horror success Barbarian, writer and director Zach Cregger has been tapped to bring the zombie-filled game franchise back to theaters.

The New Resident Evil Movie Reboot Is Probably Going To Leave Raccoon City Behind

With Zach Cregger scouting locations in Europe, it’s almost certain that the upcoming reboot will not feature the game’s most iconic location.

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By Stanley Sills

The Resident Evil Reboot Is Taking An Interesting Approach, According To Director Zach Cregger

Much of Cregger's Resident Evil film is still under wraps. The director is currently putting the finishing touches on his next horror film, Weapons, which is set to hit theaters soon, allowing him to put his full effort into the game adaptation, which is currently slated for a 2026 release. The director's film is said to follow a single protagonist and has been likened to movies like The Raid. However, nothing has been confirmed.

While speaking with SFX Magazine (via Bloody Disgusting), Cregger delved into his approach to writing and directing the horror-focused game adaptation. While his work inspires confidence, one thing Cregger said may point to a potential problem for the upcoming franchise reboot. Cregger confirms that he's a "gigantic" fan of the games, particularly loving Resident Evil 4, but he also notes that he is not directly adapting the games. Cregger states:

I'm definitely not trying to be completely obedient to the lore of the games. I'm trying to tell a story that just feels authentic to the experience you get when you play the games.

While Cregger has proven himself with Barbarian, and the hype surrounding Weapons seems positive, Resident Evil is a beloved franchise, and the director may be taking a step in a direction that could hurt its return to theaters.

The Until Dawn Movie Adaptation Failed With A Similar Approach

The five survivors in Until Dawn (Movie)

The Until Dawn movie recently came and went from theaters without much fanfare. While the game has continued to persist with fans, inspiring the film to come to fruition, the story missed the mark. There were still ties to elements of the Until Dawn game, like Peter Stormare's character being the sole character link, and story beats like the Wendigo creatures. However, it failed to impress critics or audiences, missing what made the games unique.

Until Dawn attempted to adapt the way it felt to play the game. The game encourages repeat plays, which can drastically change the story, with any number of characters able to live and die throughout the chilling horror tale. Rather than simply tell the story that plays out in Until Dawn, the filmmakers chose to tell a new story that embraced the feeling of playing the games, allowing the audience to watch the characters suffer several fates rather than making the tough choices the game forced on players. However, this also served as Until Dawn's detriment, removing the tension that ran through the gameplay and replacing it with lackluster horror tropes that fell flat.

Past Resident Evil Films Have Made Changes To Game Lore, With Varying Degrees Of Success

To date, no live-action iteration of the Resident Evil games can tout itself as a truly faithful adaptation. Paul W.S. Anderson's films included many characters fans love, like Jill Valentine, Leon S. Kennedy, and Claire Redfield. However, it also thrived on Milla Jovovich's Alice, who was an original creation for the film series. They also incorporated recognizable villains, like the Nemesis and Wesker, though fans may bicker over whether the interpretations were successful.

Even the 2021 reboot, Welcome to Raccoon City, pushed to be more faithful to the source material. Still, in embracing the look of locations and characters, it also missed the scares and tension players find themselves forced to push through. Even so, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is as close as fans have come, outside the animated films or the Netflix live-action series, which have their own varying degrees of quality. What many tend not to consider is the fact that Resident Evil games also play differently, as the first entry from 1996, RE4, and recent entries like Village all feel like very different games, but attempt to deliver on the same characters, style, and nightmarish gameplay, which is what Cregger is after.

With Cregger's evident love of Resident Evil already shining through, the franchise looks to be in good hands. While the story may lean into adapting the feel of playing more than the most faithful translation, it could also succeed, as that is the one key element missing from Welcome to Raccoon City. While Cregger's vision for Resident Evil is still over a year away, his approach to the feature will continue to have fans excited and worried until they finally get to see the finished product.

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