You Should Be Stoked for the Resident Evil Movie from the Weapons Director

Like comic-book fans, gamers can be sensitive about movie adaptations of their favorite stories. For a long time, the “video game curse” loomed over Hollywood like a bad shadow; movies based on games were often horrible to the point of inducing nausea. Films like the Sonic the Hedgehog trilogy and the indie thriller Werewolves Within have changed people’s tune, along with TV hits like Fallout, Twisted Metal, and The Last of Us. But even so, there’s still overwhelming skepticism toward how filmmakers handle beloved games.

But no one needs to fear what Weapons director Zach Cregger is cooking up for a certain gaming franchise with an already exhaustive history on the big screen: Resident Evil.

Amid the release of Weapons in theaters, writer/director Zach Cregger has talked up his plans for his next project, Resident Evil, set to reboot the zombie video game franchise yet again. In an August 7 appearance on the Ringer podcast The Big Picture, as well as an August 4 chat with Inverse, Cregger explained that his intentions include a tonal shift from his most recent two movies, Barbarian and Weapons. He also confirmed its star in Austin Abrams, who will play a new, original character.

“It’s gonna be not at all like Barbarian and Weapons,” Cregger said. “It’s going to be a rock ’em, sock ’em … it’s for me to play and turn my brain off and just make an Evil Dead 2 [homage]. Get crazy with the camera.” Cregger’s star for the movie, Austin Abrams, had a critical supporting role in Weapons as the homeless drug addict James.

On the movie’s story structure, Cregger noted, “This movie follows a person from point A to point B. It’s like a real-time journey, where you just go deeper and deeper into the depths of hell. And it’s really a love letter to the games. Because I love those games. This is a story that I would’ve wanted to write whether I got the IP or not. I just happen to be able to have these Resident Evil people be down. So I get to play in that sandbox. I’m doing it because I think this movie is going to be fucking awesome. I consider Resident Evil an original thing, and I think you will too when you see it.”

Because Abrams is set to play a new character, Cregger’s movie will not follow an established game protagonist like Leon Kennedy. In his interview with Inverse, Cregger said, “This is not breaking the rules of the games. … I am the biggest worshipper of the games, so I’m telling a story that is a love letter to the games and follows the rules of the games. … I’m not going to tell Leon’s story, because Leon’s story is told in the games. [Fans] already have that.”

Cregger previously talked up the project earlier in March at CinemaCon in Las Vegas. While onstage at CinemaCon, Cregger described his Resident Evil to exhibitors in attendance as “unlike any of the previous films” and “a wild ride.”

“There’s a moment that comes in every moment of every Resident Evil game where you find yourself standing in the mouth of a dark passageway. One shot in the gun is left,” Cregger said. “You know that something horrible is waiting for you in that darkness, that awful moment where you have to will yourself. That’s something that every Resident Evil game has perfected and has kept me and millions of other players returning to the series for decades.”

The Resident Evil series first leapt to the big screen in 2002, in a popcorn action horror directed by Paul W.S. Anderson. The movie, which diverted from the games to follow an original character named Alice (played by Milla Jovovich), spawned multiple sequels until Resident Evil: The Final Chapter in 2016. Fans didn’t really love those movies, but enough people saw them that they made six of those things.

In 2021, the stand-alone reboot Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City more closely followed the games, with Robbie Amell (Upload) and Hannah John-Kamen (Thunderbolts*) as game protagonists Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine. Despite exhibiting more faithfulness to the games than the Jovovich-led series, Welcome to Raccoon City did not thrill critics and grossed a middling $42 million worldwide. In July 2022, a live-action Netflix series took even greater creative liberties, to the dismay of fans; it was canceled after just one season.

With such a spotty history of adaptations, Resident Evil fans shouldn’t be precious about Cregger trying to find a new angle. We’ve already seen the franchise at its worst, and even at its best, it didn’t light the world on fire. At this point, what’s left to lose? If there’s anyone on earth who could direct a great Resident Evil movie, it’s the guy who can clear Dark Souls III without breaking a sweat.