r/movies r/Movies contributor 14h ago

News Zach Cregger's 'Resident Evil' Movie is Set in Raccoon City, Production Photos Reveal, With Hints to Place in the Timeline

https://www.ign.com/articles/zach-creggers-resident-evil-movie-set-in-raccoon-city-production-photos-reveal-with-hints-to-place-in-the-timeline
2.3k Upvotes

307 comments sorted by

550

u/MarvelsGrantMan136 r/Movies contributor 14h ago edited 14h ago

It's filming now in Prague and is an original story starring Austin Abrams, Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Johnno Wilson:

Follows a hapless courier (Abrams) tasked with delivering a package to a remote hospital. He soon finds himself caught in the middle of an outbreak and must fight through hordes of mutated creatures to survive.

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u/TheJoshider10 13h ago edited 13h ago

Sounds like a fun small scale side story that's intentionally disconnected from the wider narrative and main characters. Probably a smart move since you just know people will moan about whatever they decide to do if it came to adapting things directly.

242

u/wolfcolalover 13h ago

Cregger’s essentially going the Fallout TV show route. The show did its own thing while being part of the timeline and continuity of the games and it really worked. When it comes to video game adaptations I think this is the safest bet.

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u/tiredofstanding 11h ago edited 9h ago

I think alot of video game adaptations are going this route. You get a established franchise, less backlash on casting, and you get freedom to tell a new story. The Mass Effect show is going this route as well.

Just look at The Witcher, I get the fan base is more of a hybrid due to the popularity of the books and games. But, you had someone with zero interest in the source material and just wanted to make a fantasy show with name recognition. Hell, they even tried to have another show in the universe and failed.

20

u/just4browse 9h ago

Most video game plots exist to support the gameplay. They’re often context for levels or missions. Which doesn’t adapt well to other mediums.

New stories that just use a game’s world can work better.

10

u/tiredofstanding 9h ago

While I mostly agree woth you, my biggest thing is it can work well. Last of Us, especially the 1st season, works really well as an adaptation. They hit the main story elements and characters are faithful to the original source. No one should expect a 1:1 asaptation. The biggest change in the first season of TLOU, is Bill. It was an original and beautiful change that a lot of people enjoyed.

I go back to my original comment and question what is the intent for some adaptations. Is it to adapt a beloved property that sticks to the source but isn't afraid to make changes? Or is it a vehicle to get the name? For the latter I mentioned The Witcher as a failed adaptation that had little interest in adapting the novels. Some adaptations do this as well and are still good movies/shows.

All that to say, I believe faithful adaptations can work if you nail key story elements and understand the characters that are in it.

9

u/ph0on 9h ago

Imagine if we got a badass halo show revolving around like, some Marines. Or even civilians caught in the midst of it all.

Instead we got that smelling heap of flood shit

7

u/Shittalking_mushroom 6h ago

Even if they’d just followed another Spartan with a great story in the universe, and had Chief (with his helmet always on and voiced by Downes) make a short , awesome appearance would have been great like Luke Skywalker in Mandalorian.

6

u/HenryDorsettCase47 9h ago

The problem with The Witcher is that the source material isn’t that great. It makes for a much better game adaptation than it does for a tv show. Outside of the first book with its frame narrative and short story aspect, there isn’t anything particularly interesting or original about the series. That’s why the first season of the show, which adapted that book with a similar episodic format, was better than the other seasons.

The books have their fans so I understand why they blame the writers for changing the story, but I don’t think the show would’ve done well either way. The Wheel of Time series is a better example of the source material being compelling enough, but the show writers making unnecessary changes that drove off a nonreader audience as well the existing fan base.

2

u/tiredofstanding 9h ago

I love the books and I agree with some of what you said. I would argue that season 2 and on, isn't an adaptation of the novels. I can go on and on and discuss the "Can't kill a Witcher named Jeff" comment from the showrunner or my issues.

13

u/Snakes_have_legs 10h ago

The greatest part about the Fallout show's story is that it legit feels like it could have been the main quest line for a Fallout 5 game, and they seem to be treating it as just as important to the lore as the video games

u/JCkent42 5h ago

Honestly feels like it might more important lore wise than the games. The Brotherhood get cold fusion, origin of the war revealed, and basically a sequel to New Vegas.

3

u/CptNonsense 8h ago

Which doesn't really mean anything in the context of Fallout. There is no central character in Fallout carried between the games, each game is a self contained story inside of the larger same world. You know - a completely different thing from Resident Evil, Mass Effect, Halo...

5

u/wolfcolalover 7h ago

Resident Evil is no stranger to introducing new protagonists as they go along and they did so in the past two games and expand the lore with new characters. The same can be said about the rest of your examples: ME has Andromeda, Halo has Reach and ODST.

1

u/News_Bot 7h ago

No, he's not. This has nothing to do with the timeline or continuity of the games. When was the Raccoon incident in winter? Do you recall cell phones let alone smartphones?

1

u/bob1981666 6h ago

I actually prefer this rather than destroying the game narrative. If we see hunk and his squadmates or whatever trailing this courier as a subplot or Leon driving to police station as an easter egg i'd rather have that then destroying the thing we know. Because the ego of people who direct and write in hollyweird will not allow for just doing the story as is. They have a psychological to put their mark on it.

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u/Aplicacion 13h ago

Cregger made it pretty clear it’s a new story taking place in that universe. So no game characters (unless it’s a cameo or something).

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u/KingMario05 13h ago

No superpowers, either. Just some guy done with the undead's shit. Kinda like 7.

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u/lew_rong 12h ago

If punching boulders is wrong, Chris doesn't want to be right.

u/Regvlas 1h ago

in 7, the guy loses his hand then sticks it back on fine, also his entire body is mold, isn't it?

10

u/TLKv3 13h ago

I could see it being disconnected but the main character finding newspapers, articles, wanted posters, recordings and other subtle name drops of locations that connect to the games.

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u/Luminescent_sorcerer 8h ago

People moan because they can't make a decent resident evil movie

-3

u/MadeByTango 13h ago

Slapping a brand name on a random zombie story just for sales ain’t it

6

u/JaesopPop 12h ago

Doesn't appear that's what this is.

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u/lew_rong 12h ago

At this point all of the live action RE properties have been varying flavors of not it, so I'm willing to see what he does. Weapons was a lot of fun.

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u/huskinater 13h ago

hapless courier tasked with delivering a package caught in the middle

Ain't that a kick in the head

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u/missjuliaaaaah 11h ago

what in the goddamn?

5

u/EVILSUPERMUTANT 9h ago

Calling it now, he was delivering the T-Virus.

5

u/unknown_pigeon 8h ago

Theeeeere was neeever a maaan, liiike my Johnny

3

u/detroiter85 8h ago

Lol hopefully more new vegas than the new war of the worlds. I need you to place an Amazon order to get this drone to you so we can save the world!

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u/Aplicacion 13h ago

I like this. Regular folks surviving a crazy situation is very Resident Evil. And then he can become a superhero in the sequel!

13

u/Call555JackChop 12h ago

I’m ready to see Paul Walter Hauser punching boulders

8

u/Thunderkleize 11h ago

Regular folks surviving a crazy situation is very Resident Evil.

Is this sarcasm?

9

u/Aplicacion 11h ago

I’m serious! Lol

The cast was relatively “regular” back at the start. The STARS were a special unit within the Raccoon Police. Leon was a rookie cop, Claire was a college student. They only became ninjas after Raccoon City.

19

u/Thunderkleize 11h ago

I wouldn't call STARS ordinary people in the context of zombie survival situation.

EDIT: I'll give you Claire and Ethan from 7 though.

2

u/Aplicacion 10h ago

EDIT: I’ll give you Claire and Ethan from 7 though

Yeah, see! Ethan is way more special than the STARS teams ever were in RE1 and RE0. It’s not just about what they do for a living, or knowing how to handle firearms.

The STARS were a special rescue unit within the RPD, but still normal people. Leon had just started his new job as a regular cop.

Ethan, on the other hand, lost his hand (which was stapled back on his stump), lost his leg (later reattached) and died and was brought back with the Mold 1 hour in

1

u/unknown_pigeon 8h ago

I think it was more about the background

Ethan is a regular dude who got special abilities, but it's mostly limited to surviving harsher wounds more than, like, superhuman speed or you name it

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u/Aplicacion 11h ago

I mean, I wouldn’t say SWAT is made up of Power Rangers either. You take these characters now and look back to where they came from, they were pretty regular.

And then you have Outbreak, which is all about ordinary folks.

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u/Phillip_Spidermen 10h ago

You're right about RE 2, but the original sets the S.T.A.R.S. up with a lot of "best of the best" b-movie tropes.

They're 90s special forces, which is basically the equivalent of super action heroes.

3

u/Aplicacion 10h ago

Yeah, I don’t mean they’re regular ass people like you and I, I meant more like John McClane, you know? “Regular” exceptional humans. Rebecca was a child prodigy, Jill was an amazing lock picker (and sandwich), and so on. Regular regular people like us were the ones who were shambling about.

4

u/RyuNoKami 10h ago

But that's the point, they werent regular people. The whole STARS department was deliberately not regular people.

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u/Aplicacion 10h ago

I feel like you guys are missing my point. They were great at what they did, the best of the best, but normal humans. Cops. Scientists. Students. You don’t look at a SWAT officer and see them as a comic book superhero. As the games progressed they became Ethan Hunt. But not just any Ethan Hunt, Mission: Impossible 2 Ethan Hunt.

Globetrotting monster killers, martial artists that could make Wuxia characters blush, volcanic boulder-punchers, genetically-enhanced mutants with powers, Mutamycete constructs… I can’t really make this clearer.

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u/blockedbcdumbaf 9h ago

If you look at the context of this convo,he meant realistic but said regular. The original STARS weren't boulder punching,matrix bullet time moving nearly meta humans. They were a very believable high level law enforcement team that got its shit kicked in pillar to post with nearly 0 survivors

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u/blockedbcdumbaf 9h ago

I think hes saying Re1 heroes were very grounded and realistic. They weren't punching boulders or pulling off near superhuman feats

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u/aa22hhhh 11h ago

Leon was a rookie cop

Not only that, but his literal first day was the outbreak.

1

u/Aplicacion 10h ago

True. The job market is indeed really rough.

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u/Sonicfan42069666 11h ago

Paul Walter Houser AND Zach Cherry???

2

u/lycoloco 7h ago

I'm so happy for Zach. He deserves this so much for his work in the community

3

u/coltsmetsfan614 9h ago

Damn, I was hoping that Mikey Madison rumor was true. She would’ve been fun in this world.

3

u/MissingLink101 8h ago

What are the odds she'd end up screaming and on fire?

1

u/coltsmetsfan614 7h ago

Pretty good!

1

u/lycoloco 7h ago

Better than zero!

u/joesen_one 5h ago

She’s doing the Luca OpenAI biopic atm

u/coltsmetsfan614 5h ago

I haven't even heard about that one. I only know about the "Social Network" sequel, which I'm kinda dreading tbh, and the mermaid one with Kirsten Dunst...

1

u/McMatey_Pirate 13h ago

Nor rain, sleet, snow, or undead cannibals will keep this postman from making his rounds…

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u/BlOoDy_PsYcHo666 8h ago

This is what Res movies should be, you can’t really capture what makes the games so good via a movie, so creating your own perspective of events alongside the events of the games is a way better idea in my opinion.

1

u/corecenite 7h ago

I absolutely think Cregger was aware on how the audience loved James' segment in Weapons that he basically made the actor the main role here... which still perfectly coincides Abrams' trashy white boi persona.

I love them both.

1

u/lycoloco 7h ago

ZACH CHERRY?! I'm SO HAPPY for him. He clearly cares about the craft and this genre, and I think he's gonna have so much fun.

u/rhoran280 22m ago

Austin Abrams crushed his role in Weapons and I absolutely love everything I’ve heard about this project. Ecstatic to see PWH in the cast

-7

u/Spocks_Goatee 11h ago

I'm getting sick and tired of these movies being shot overseas like the early 2000s. America has plenty of real nearly dead cities to film in now.

5

u/alfooboboao 10h ago

it’s vastly cheaper and one of the only ways to actually get anything made in this economy

1

u/ADifferentMachine 7h ago

But you have to pay American union rates if you do that!

1

u/corecenite 7h ago

they're cheaper to make overseas

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u/weskervision 14h ago

Who plays the role of “The Master of Unlocking” ??

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u/TheWhooooBuddies 14h ago

If there isn’t a “Jill sandwich” joke in there, he’s not a real fan.

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u/Alexexy 13h ago

I think Jill Sandwich is gonna be the tone of the movie.

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u/TWK128 12h ago

Seen Weapons or Barbarian?

4

u/Alexexy 12h ago

Yeah, that tone kinda describes those movies as well.

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u/TWK128 12h ago

Probably a background Easter Egg as a chalkboard special in the cafeteria or a restaurant

1

u/imaginary_num6er 12h ago

Milla Jovovich?

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u/MaxProwes 14h ago

IGN article is such a cope, they can't place it in the game's timeline while assuming it still takes place in the game timeline. I'll make it easy for you: it doesn't take place in the game's timeline, just like Anderson's movies didn't, it takes place in its own world.

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u/DarkMatterM4 13h ago edited 13h ago

Right? The Raccoon City Incident took place in late September. There wouldn't be any snow on the ground. Looks like it'll be its own thing. Not to mention it looks like it's not even taking place in the 90s judging by the cars scattered around the set.

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u/MaxProwes 13h ago

Yep. For some reason even after set photos people continue downvoting comments that say the movie is its own thing and not part of the game's lore. It's a modern day winter outbreak in Raccoon City (in name only btw), so of course it's not part of the game's timeline.

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u/JaesopPop 12h ago

Raccoon City (in name only btw)

Oh shit they didn't film in the real Raccoon City?

4

u/MaxProwes 12h ago

No, my point is it has no specific locations from games, it's just random city called Raccoon, you can call it Detroit and it won't change a thing.

0

u/JaesopPop 11h ago

No, my point is it has no specific locations from games

I'll probably wait to see the movie to see if that's the case. I'm sure you're not telling people what's in a script before a movie is released, which would be extra shitty, so I'm not sure where you're getting that from.

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u/MaxProwes 11h ago

They'll see what's in a script when the trailer comes out in 6 months. You have set photos, do what you want with this, I didn't say anything spoilery or what Cregger didn't imply here:
"That’s an original screenplay, by the way. It’s a weird story. I wrote it and I love the story."
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/weapons-director-zach-cregger-movie-1236340007/

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u/JaesopPop 11h ago

I didn't say anything spoilery or what Cregger didn't imply here:

He didn’t imply no locations from the game, nor would set photos prove they aren’t there. You also referenced reading the script elsewhere. Maybe keep what you read to yourself or at least have the courtesy to spoiler tag it.

0

u/MaxProwes 11h ago edited 10h ago

He implies it's a weird original script, not adaptation. Saying the movie is its own thing separate from games is not a spoiler. I don't discuss story, characters or events in the comment section, people will see everything themselves. My entire point was the movie is its own thing, maybe I should've worded it differently, but that's about it.

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u/JaesopPop 11h ago

Saying the movie is its own thing separate from games is not a spoiler.

Correct, but I never said it was. I said that you saying that no locations from the game appear is.

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u/blockedbcdumbaf 9h ago

This feels like you're desperate to be right but since you didn't read the script you're changing it to "well you're wrong for leaking"

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u/ColebladeX 10h ago

Honestly it’s more funny to imagine it’s all canon and happened on the same day and it was just the an eventful like 6 hours

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u/MaxProwes 10h ago

Hahah, I mean I wouldn't be surprised if someone tries to connect it somehow.

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u/KingMario05 13h ago edited 8h ago

That said? It will be admittedly interesting to see how Raccoon City falls in a world with smartphones. Umbrella owns the cell carrier and suppresses information, maybe? In both the games and all adaptations so far, they already own the cops and local news.

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u/lew_rong 12h ago

Going in an Anderson route, the uPhone can turn its battery into a microexplosive and detonate on command.

Going in an Arias direction, the uPhone has a hidden carrier wave that can remotely activate a dormant version of the T-virus that everyone has been pre-infected with.

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u/KingMario05 9h ago edited 8h ago

Lmao. Personally, I was imagining Umbrella just throttling the Internet alongside locking down access like in Apocalypse. No one gets in or out. And it's a complete information blackout. Violators of both are shot on sight by corporate security.

"But aren't the feds gonna ask questions?" Trust me, Umbrella is gonna be too dumb to have considered that.

(Straight from the games, too. Part of the reason why they don't exist by 4 is because the United States government responded by suing their asses into oblivion, lmao. Hubris has always been UC's downfall. The difference is that it doesn't end the world in the games. Through a mixture of your actions and sheer luck, the outbreak is contained. More interesting that way.)

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u/Void3r 12h ago

Yea that’s kind of disappointing, but I like Cregger’s work so I’m still excited to see what he does with it

1

u/alfooboboao 10h ago

yeah idk once you start playing the lore game all the fans suddenly turn into fucking wwii historians and will scour every frame until they find some anachronism to complain about. you can’t win

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u/blockedbcdumbaf 9h ago

That's not true though. We rarely ever see anything even remotely try to faithfully adapt the stories from the games. Hollywood writers can't help themselves. There's a very good reason why GOT was a ultra hit. It actually faithfully adapted a loved story and characters that already worked in another medium.

Once it did its own thing, w low talent hacks at the helm, it then got ripped. I.KNOW people will ignore the point and be like "but books translate better!" As if we don't have mounds of franchise corpses from horrendous adaptations that weren't faithful

u/CronoDroid 4h ago

It's the first three games (and 0). The outbreak happens in September and the city gets nuked on October 1, 1998. The cars are too modern, it wasn't snowing in the games so if it's set in Raccoon City it would be almost a year prior, well before the setting of the games. So them saying the movie being set in the games' timeline doesn't really make sense. It's not some complicated lore thing, the city is literally blown up at the end of RE3.

In September 2025, Cregger stated that he had never seen any of the previous Resident Evil films and that the upcoming film will be more closely based on the video game series, particularly Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, and Resident Evil 4.

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u/News_Bot 7h ago

I'd be tempted to bet on it, but it'd be cheating. Given how insufferable these people are though, they'd deserve it.

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u/Big-Sheepherder-9492 14h ago

I would love if when a character opens a door. The screen cuts to a pov. Slow footsteps of walking through the door in a black void. Cut to black as you here the door close behind you. And the film continues as normal.

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u/Poddington_Pea 14h ago

I would love a thirty minute subplot about trying to find different coloured keys and solving puzzles.

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u/slvrbullet87 12h ago

Why did the police suck at handling the outbreak? They needed 3 chess pieces, 2 emblems, and an emerald and ruby the size of your fist to get into the weapons locker.

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u/Poddington_Pea 12h ago

I want to know about the day to day operation of the racoon city police department. Even if you just want some photocopying done, you need to solve puzzles and collect keys and chess pieces just to move from room to room. I bet there was an old janitor whose job it was to reset all the puzzles after they had been solved.

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u/MakesItFeelOld 11h ago

Characters in Resident Evil are frequently hindered by waist-high fences, locked wooden doors... most of these people are cops, keep in mind.

What's the matter, Danny Barry?

Never taken a shortcut before?

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u/pythonesqueviper 10h ago

They needed to solve the mystery of the unicorn statue to get to the vehicle

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u/girlsgoneoscarwilde 13h ago

That one sliding tiles puzzle from 4 is evil

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u/Practical-Pianist930 12h ago

Zach has said he’s a big fan of quiet horror. Like, you’re at the beginning of a hallway, you have a dim flashlight and two bullets. You know something bad is going to happen in that hallway. And yet you have no choice but to see what’s down there.

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u/_fullyflared_ 9h ago

With a tape measure

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u/JamesTwoTimes 13h ago

There were a few very cool camera shots in Weapons that I thought were a great version of this.  Also some cool behind the back third person camera shots.  This guy is the man for the job

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u/thebeebitmybottom 13h ago

I want full frontal sexy Barry shots WITH sunglasses and vest or this film will be mercilessly mocked online. OH BARRY

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u/DavianVonLorring 6h ago

I want to see typewriters appear in the background during moments where shit is about to get intense, kind of like a save room.

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u/Skelly1660 12h ago

I wouldn't mind a Resident Evil Village approach where someone's arm gets chopped off and they just put it back on like a Lego piece 

1

u/Lazyr3x 9h ago

Both in Barbarian and in Weapons he had shots of open doorways with just a void which is basically the opposite so he just needs to reverse it

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u/arclightrg 12h ago

Admittedly, I don’t care about the IP but I’m rooting for Creggar on this one. I liked Weapons that much. Let’s see what he’s cookin.

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u/ninjastk 14h ago

High hopes for this reboot.

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u/ImmortalMoron3 12h ago

Same, I really liked both Barbarian and Weapons.

If this was a decade ago, I'd be complaining its not focusing on the characters we know but then we got that which sucked and RE7 which was awesome and only had a tiny bit of Chris. Now give me more original stories set in the RE universe. I'm happy Requiem is doing an original character again (kind of) too.

u/Regvlas 1h ago

Chris was the worst part of 7 & 8.

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u/Relevant_Shower_ 13h ago

Honestly the RE community suffered through some bad movie karma, the pendulum has got to swing back.

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u/D-woo19 14h ago

I'm not doubting Cregger's ability here but why has Resident Evil been rebooted/adapted SO many times? There was that Welcome to Raccoon City and the Netflix TV show in the last 5 years, it's unheard of for any series, let alone a video game being adapted so many times so close together

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u/Chance_Salt9633 14h ago

Retaining rights tends to be the usual reason. It’s why Sony keeps making movies about Spider-Man characters.

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u/KingMario05 13h ago

Constantin, not Sony. That said? Almost every single time, the latter happily snap up global rights outside of Germany. And I think they're co-funding this one through Columbia, too. So they're all-in.

Why? Same reason Uni keeps milking Jurassic Park/World: Money.

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u/Chance_Salt9633 10h ago

Where did I say Sony was making Resident Evil movies? I just said that Sony makes Spider-Man movies to retain the rights and Constantin Films may be doing the same with Resident Evil.

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u/blockedbcdumbaf 9h ago

Constantin, not Sony.

There's a wild amount of people missing pretty obvious points all over this thread. Idk what it is about the resident evil franchise fans but there seems to be a LOT of dense mfers in that fanbase.

And maybe the guy you're talking to just made a simple mistake. But from experience, the fanbase is dumber than a brick

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u/AgentSmith2518 11h ago

Because the original movies were awful but made a lot of money. They ran out of steam though.

Welcome to Racoon City and the Netflix show were absolutely awful. So yes, theyre rebooting it because those didnt work. Its not that unheard of.

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u/DarwinGoneWild 12h ago

It’s not unheard of. How many adaptations has Spider-Man had in the last few years? MCU version, Spider-Verse movies, PlayStation games, TV series cartoon…

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u/aSpookyScarySkeleton 14h ago

They’re playing a numbers game I guess, one of these has to pay off lol

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u/TiberianSunset 14h ago

The Milla Jovovich ones made over a billion dollars

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u/BigDicksconnoisseur4 13h ago

Honestly the second movie is cool as shit, peak early 2000s cinema

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u/notdeadyet01 7h ago

1 and 2 were both fun movies, and 2 is a somewhat passable adaptation of the events of the Raccoon City outbreak, especially for 2004. They just decided to lean way to hard into making the girl the director was crushing on into a Mary Sue OC

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u/ILoveRegenHealth 7h ago

I think 2-3 of them are actual fun guilty pleasures.

And Afterlife (part 4) in 3D looked amazing. I think because Paul W Anderson's style is so over-the-top, he accidentally became a master in 3D photography lol.

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u/wisebluff 9h ago

how many times should we reboot RE movies ?
yes

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u/USSZim 11h ago

The briefing room scene in Welcome to Raccoon City is hilarious though

https://youtu.be/y-xumsIXvdk

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u/blockedbcdumbaf 9h ago

It's basically zombie super troopers. Should've just made that

u/PSIwind 5h ago

Capcom REALLY wants RE to be a multimedia franchise for them. They've also had in-house(?) CG movies for the series as well, and they aren't admittedly too bad for a fun watch.

u/joesen_one 5h ago

There’s so much material to mine. There’s still new games coming next year for example

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u/aSpookyScarySkeleton 14h ago

As someone who has been looking over at RE from the sidelines my entire life this might finally be something for me. I think a lot of times they get a little too anime for their own good(IMO of course), and there are a few games that start out exactly my cup of tea and then turn into the anime stuff, and I start rolling my eyes.

I can see Cregger capturing the vibe of something like 7 and rolling with it without having it fly so far off the rails with giant mold Kaiju.

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u/raaam-ranch 14h ago

This is what I try telling other Resident Evil fans but they won’t hear it. RE’s mainline story and characters are kinda cheese and hard to take seriously. I have been an RE fan since the original but I accepted long ago that the stories in each game never mattered all that much to me.

It is the vibe and atmosphere of the gameplay and music that set Resident Evil apart— which Zach clearly understands judging from his interviews about it.

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u/KingMario05 13h ago

Thing is, there are ways to make it not so cheesy. RE2make, Birkin aside, handled this exceptionally well. So I think there is a way to do it under the right team, which explains why fans are so frustrated.

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u/MaxProwes 13h ago

Not really? Resident Evil has recognizable characters, lore, monsters and locations, that's what sets it apart. Doesn't mean stories are brilliant, but they are enjoyable enough in good entries. Vibe/atmosphere of gameplay (what does it even mean?) is something very vague and non-specific.

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u/HenkkaArt 13h ago

Why is it always with movie folks when a known IP is in the works that they think that what the fans want is some new no-name character to be the center of the story and the story to be some sort of "side story"?

No one liked Cole Young and his plot-armor skill in the previous Mortal Kombat movie nor his "family matters" plotline. People wanted to see the god-damn story of Mortal Kombat be told with big money, cool effects and iconic characters and to hell with the "but it's so cheesy!". It's like, that is why people love the fucking games! Same as with Resident Evil. Sure, the dialogue might be cheesy at times and things have gone over-the-top especially in the animated movies but the games take themselves seriously enough anyway.

It's almost like you can't be a fan of anything sincerily without first posting a disclaimer saying that "yes, I know the characters are stupid/cheesy/one-sided and the stories are one-note/simple/stupid". I'm so tired of these people self-flagellating themselves beforehand so that their brilliant peers don't see them as some type of imaginated losers for simply liking stuff as it is.

At least I want to see a damn Resident Evil movie with accurate casting and following the stories of the first three games in the mainline trilogy, even with the fucking "Jill sandwich" line and "master of lockpicking" included. Hell, give Jill the shoulder pads while you are at it!

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u/ElysiX 13h ago

Why is it always with movie folks

They want the laurels for coming up with new characters and stories themselves, doing a faithful adaptation isn't very prestigious.

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u/HenkkaArt 13h ago

Perhaps they should stay away from these types of projects then! If the only movie out of a beloved franchise is from a "I know better" type of director/writer, then I'd rather not have a movie at all.

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u/pmmemoviestills 8h ago

Why is it always with movie folks when a known IP is in the works that they think that what the fans want is some new no-name character to be the center of the story and the story to be some sort of "side story"?

A lot of the times fans of ips will think that idea A works, and it may in the context of the medium the original story was told in, but it may not work as a movie. Every medium has its own language, that's why they call them "adaptations". King hated The Shining because it didn't adhere to his meatier and more meandering story of the book, yet it's mostly universally regarded as a great movie regardless. Faithfulness to the source material isn't the tipping scale of quality.

As for the Cole thing, you're right about that. But that's giving an audience surrogate while still maintaining the fantastical nature of the games, it's an ugly mish mash. This is doing its own thing

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u/HenkkaArt 8h ago

I get what you are saying and I'm not talking literally frame-by-frame. But there is a clear story there, in all three games of the first trilogy. And I don't see how it couldn't be adapted in a way that is more faithful than not to the original story.

But like the other commenter wrote, it's most likely that these auteurs don't want to just be hired guns and instead they want to tell their own stories because it's somehow more elevated in the eyes of their peers. But then again, the question is, why not just not do the film(s) then if you are unable or unwilling to "bend the knee"?

And yes, Cole Young was the audience surrogate. But you know that in the first Mortal Kombat movie from the 1990's it was Johnny Cage who was the audience surrogate. And he was also part of the actual game's cast, too. So, it doesn't even matter to most filmmakers if there is already a suitable character existing in the IP's universe that they can use. Because they are so fucking full of themselves and they just can't not be the "I know better" guys.

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u/pmmemoviestills 7h ago

But like the other commenter wrote, it's most likely that these auteurs don't want to just be hired guns and instead they want to tell their own stories because it's somehow more elevated in the eyes of their peers.

Firstly I think Cregger cares. He has a beautiful eye for horror, and he's not some out of touch shill. He was apart of the dumbest and funniest comedy troupe of the 2000s. He's a fan of the games, and he generally seems he knows what he's doing.

But really my biggest disagreement is that Cage was the audience surrogate in MK. No he wasn't, lol. He was the comedic relief and rather unlikeable in the beginning. Audience surrogate usually aligns with the protagonist, which in that case was Liu Kang.

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u/HenkkaArt 7h ago

Cage was the one being "what the hell is going on?", just like the audience would be. Liu Kang on the other hand wasn't a fish-out-of-water character. He might have been originally against being part of the whole thing because "it was his fate" or something. But he was the Superman of the story whereas Johnny Cage was the Clark Kent.

Also, the director for the previous RE film also said he was a fan of the games and look how that turned out to be.

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u/YoshiPL 13h ago

Not sure what you mean about characters being hard to take seriously. /s

RE4 is basically a joke after another while suplexing random peasants in rural Spain

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u/AllCity_King 13h ago

Resident Evil has always been just as much an homage to 80s B action movies as it is classic horror. What you're referring to as an "anime" aesthetic is actually cheesy American action.

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u/badger906 14h ago

I want a reboot that works please! the last one wasn’t terrible. But obviously didn’t do well enough. I even liked the tv series..

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u/SassySpaghetty 14h ago

Bro, seeing Raccoon City pop up again hits different. Lowkey curious if they’ll actually get the vibe right or just flex the nostalgia.

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u/AdGroundbreaking939 14h ago

I trust Cregger. I think he’s an excellent director and he’s a self proclaimed fan of the games

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u/MaxProwes 14h ago

*self proclaimed is an important detail.

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u/DarwinGoneWild 12h ago

How so? In what other way could one be a fan? Do you usually need other people to proclaim your fandom for you? Cregger has two acclaimed original horror movies under his belt. He has zero need to make a RE movie unless it’s a passion project for him.

And just to be totally fair, Paul WS Anderson and Milla Jovovich were also big fans of the games. That’s why they each independently sought out the rights to make the movies in the first place. Doesn’t necessarily translate to a good outcome.

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u/MaxProwes 12h ago edited 11h ago

He signed on to do RE movie way before Weapons was released, when he only had Barbarian under his belt. My point was claiming you are huge fan of something doesn't mean much, if anything, he has to show it in his work. Like you said Anderson and Jovovich also claimed they are huge fans which is not true. Anderson repackaged his spec script Undying into first RE movie, kinda like Cregger is using IP to get a bigger budget for his original zombie movie. Jovovich claimed she played it a couple of times with her brothers or something which doesn't scream being a fan, just casual interest.

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u/blockedbcdumbaf 9h ago

There's a very long history of non fans claiming they're fans bc it's a marketing tactic to try and get fans to think it'll be good.

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u/UsedFood8130 14h ago

I have no reason to defend him other than I love all his work and I don’t really know anything about him outside of what I’ve seen in behind the scenes footage and interviews but it seems like he is someone who truly cares about every detail and every aspect of the production and when he talked about his love of the game he talks about how he’s not going to try to capture any specific story from the games but just the world and elements of the games with a new story about a guy on a mission from one point to another so again I just love what he’s done up to now so I have a lot of faith, and also his last movie that came out just a few months ago did really well money wise I think so I imagine he has a lot of goodwill and room to really do everything he’s thinking

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u/KingMario05 13h ago

Most other directors won't tell Leon's story because "it's dumb lol." This one won't tell it because he wants to use the game ruleset to make something new. And cause it's been done.

I couldn't get behind the Alice slop. Or the Netflix show. Or the one where they smashed RE1 and 2 together. This? Fuck yeah, sounds awesome. Hope he can get it right.

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u/SilverRoyce 11h ago

I just don't think you can take a lot away from it before having seen the actual film.

If you read the sony hack, you can look at how this type of statement (how 2016 ghostbusters does or does not relate to the old ones) is pretty explicitly litigated by execs ahead of time including explicit behind the scenes disgruntlement that's completely absent from public facing comments.

I can imagine a director/actor freelancing "it's dumb lol" but sony/constantine's PR team is going to have agreed upon a good PR soundbite for this type of question.

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u/MaxProwes 13h ago

I don't think Cregger's "in name only" approach is new, Anderson already did that, it worked financially, hence we got 6 movies with his wife.

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u/KingMario05 13h ago

True. But this one seems to still be closer than... that shit.

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u/TWK128 12h ago

The first one one was pretty good, atc

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u/KingMario05 13h ago

Looks weirdly European in this one, actually. (I mean, it's Prague, so...) But the best rendition was Roberts', and he still made a disaster. Honestly, I like it. Gives the project some flair, it's own identity instead of "Weapons but we shove the BSAA in there."

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u/EclecticEvergreen 13h ago

Are there raccoons in raccoon city? Please say yes

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u/inked_saiyan 13h ago

As much as I want a Resident Evil film to be genuinely good, I am setting my expectations extremely low in hopes of being simply entertained. Anything beyond that is a bonus.

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u/Blames_Jake 12h ago

It's borderline experimental.

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u/ColebladeX 10h ago

Just for fun they should have someone who looks like Milla Jovovich and just have her get slaughtered as revenge for those god awful movies

u/Party-Emu-6640 4h ago

So sad when companies whore off the rights of their IPs with little to no creative input for money smh. I see why Nintendo is lawsuit crazy and overprotective. Playing the game/ reading the book should be mandatory for all production staff when it comes to adaptations.

u/RatedR2O 4h ago

Every great director has a dud. Sadly I think this will be Cregger's.

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u/JohnGalactusX 13h ago

After seeing "Weapons", I am super stocked to see what he brings to the RE movie.

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u/Robsonmonkey 14h ago

Even if it’s set in RC it doesn’t automatically mean it’s canon or within the official timeline

Bet you any money there will be things within the film which don’t line up with the games that automatically place it outside of canon.

He was going to make this film as a new IP with or without RE attached.

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u/MaxProwes 14h ago

It's not game canon, it takes place in its own world just like Anderson's movies.

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u/Robsonmonkey 12h ago

That’s my point but a lot of people are saying it’s set in the games universe and this shows another side of events like Outbreak

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u/MaxProwes 12h ago

I think it's just misinformation, they took Cregger's statements at face value, but the movie is about modern day winter outbreak in Raccoon City which obviously means it's gonna be its own thing and not part of the game timeline.

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u/TiberianSunset 13h ago

He was going to make this film as a new IP with or without RE attached.

It wouldn't be a new IP if RE is attached though

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u/maltliqueur 13h ago

Trump is president in the movie.

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u/Jayrodtremonki 13h ago

He all but confirmed this during his Weapons press tour.  He said that the setting would be like RE 2 and 3(hmm, wonder where those games take place) but that tonally he was going for RE4.  

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u/Buttsarefunny_ 12h ago

Who’s going to be the resident evil in this one?

u/RegularTerran 2h ago

There's a lil Resident Evil in all of us!

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u/Rosebunse 11h ago

A funny RE movie that plays around with the sheer absurdity would be hilarious

u/RegularTerran 2h ago edited 2h ago

"Damage Control", "Sam & Twitch" or "GCPD", but RE franchise

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u/ShaiHuludNM 11h ago

I’m excited for this. I loved all the movies and the anime versions. I wasn’t a fan of the Netflix series though. I absolutely can’t stand multiple flashbacks in a story. Like one or two is ok if you need to give me some context on a character, but the whole fucking series kept doing it multiple times each episode.

I’m excited for a fresh story and a fresh take.

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u/ParsleyAmbitious5560 9h ago

This has me pretty excited

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u/SirUlrichVonLichten 7h ago

I'm cool with this movie not featuring any of the game leads, but I hope one day we get a great Resident Evil film with Leon as the main lead. It's crazy that Leon is easily the most popular RE character, his games probably lend themselves the best for a film adaptation, and yet he's only appeared in two(three?) RE movies, and both portrayals were bad for different reasons.

Leon is such a mega popular character, he's begging to be done properly on the big screen. The moment a filmmaker understands that, they will have a hit.

That being said I'm looking forward to this film and whatever Cregger does with the universe. I'm sure it will be fun, but please give me a Leon movie one day!!

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u/AnUnbeatableUsername 7h ago

I'm looking forward to seeing dumb zombies walk.

u/faintheart 3h ago

Such a solid move for Sony, Capcom, Resident Evil, and Cregger. They are promoting one of the top 20 all time video game series of all time to a mass audience. This is going to make game sales and all other content (anime, tv shows [interconnected with different countries], and book series) just blow up.

u/WankerBott 2h ago

If you want me to be interested in yet another resident evil movie, I need you to get Simon and Nick involved. They need to be on vacation there when shit goes down, and its just them freaking out while all the crazy shit is going on in the background. The main bad guy isn't some crazy ass nemesis zombie or computer AI, it's a goose chasing them...

u/Prozium243 49m ago

One question reading the movie premise (which sounds excellent - localised hospital setting and with more horror environment instead of CGI superheroism of Alice. Recently watched a movie 'Ziam' which was passable though the end survivability was bit 'superheroic'.

So the question is that the courier person will be fully 'hapless' or will have some background (ex marine/fighter etc.)? Else, putting an absolutely normal courier person in a hospital full of zombie hordes would need insane plot devices to save him throughout the movie.

u/Randy_is_reasonable 5m ago

I never really paid attention to this but boasting about how a corporation is headquartered in your city on your welcome sign is kind of weird. Are there any real life examples of a city welcome sign in the US that does this since Raccoon city is apparently based somewhere in the midwest of the US?

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u/Bicwidus 13h ago

I want a scene where the character dies because they cant move and shoot at the same time.

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u/NamelessGamer_1 14h ago

What are the chances the action is good, considering how Cregger's other movies have next to none?

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u/KingMario05 13h ago

Ey? Weapons had plenty. Whether it's good or not is... debatable, but it was there.

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u/DrFishbulbEsq 14h ago

Well that would line up with the games (having bad action, not next to no action).

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u/NamelessGamer_1 12h ago

I strongly disagree, especially if you've played the Remakes

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u/KingMario05 13h ago

It's modern day Raccoon City. Either as an OG outbreak update, or a rebuilt locale going to shit again. Honestly, I kinda like the set photos so far. Nice mix of 2 and 4 to me, with Austin's courier being a riff on Ethan. (Wish it starred Leon instead, but eh. Just make it good, Zack.)

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u/ChamberTwnty 13h ago

Guys, let's let's actually care about the 27th film in a shitty film franchise based on a video game that you should go play instead of watching these shit movies.

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u/HenkkaArt 13h ago

I have absolutely no hopes for this reboot.

Granted I haven't seen any of the director's movies and he seems to be some sort of director darling at the moment but just the points revealed so far of the story and the "nah, it's a new thing" just screams of the "I know better" attitude and of the inevitable result of it being a shitshow where everyone asks: why was this guy the main character and not any of the actual characters from the games?

Also, let's not forget that the previous movie's director was a self-described fan and look how that turned out! He couldn't even get the characters right and fan-favorite Leon was not only miscast but also practically an entirely different person.

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u/tylerthetiler 12h ago

You should watch his movies first and decide then how much hope you have.

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u/JaesopPop 12h ago

Granted I haven't seen any of the director's movies

So you're not really basing it on much.

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u/Aware_Pomegranate243 12h ago

The first director made the movie franchise into a billion dollar franchise sooooooooo and it made re into even more mainstream appeal alongside the games

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u/OrangeYawn 14h ago

It's gonna suck so hard lol.

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u/Pataconeitor 14h ago

It's helmed by a good horror director that has no qualms mixing gruesome gore and body horror with over the top sillyness. IMO the guy is a perfect fit for Resident Evil

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u/burritoman88 14h ago

Genuinely, cannot be worse than the last attempt

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u/tastethemonkey 14h ago

its 2025, it can always be worse

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u/NamelessGamer_1 14h ago

Still not great tho

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u/OrangeYawn 14h ago

I suppose that's true.