How hard can it be to make a decent adaptation of “Resident Evil?” The preeminent survival horror video game franchise has seen its share of ups and downs in terms of game quality, and the same can be said for its journeys into the lands of book, film, and television. Most recently we had 2023’s, CGI film, “Resident Evil: Death Island,” the 2022 live action Netflix series that was cancelled after one season, and the two releases in 2021 of the “Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness” series, and live-action “Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City” theatrical picture.
None of these projects really scored the kind of commercial or critical success that you’d see from “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” or “Fallout.” Rumor has it though that series creator Capcom and distributor Sony want to take another crack at things with “Barbarian“ director, Zach Cregger at the healm.
Cregger’s “Barbarian” hit the heights that Capcom could only hope to get with “Resident Evil” lately. The horror film which Cregger wrote as well as directed was a smash with critics and made back 10 times the amount of its $4 million budget. Granted, $40 million isn’t a massive box office success in terms of overall numbers, but it represents a huge amount of profit. Compare this to the aforementioned “Welcome to Raccoon City” which only made $42 million on a budget of $25 million.
Director Paul W. S. Anderson had his string of live-action “Resident Evil” films that ran from 2002 to 2017 but they were routinely demolished by critics and took a number of liberties with the story and characters in the games that it’s almost unfair to call them an adaptation. To be more accurate, you could call them an interpretation; one that Capcom has since closed the book on in favor of trying to hew a little closer to the core characters from the gaming franchise.
How exactly does Cregger fit into this? Well, as of right now it’s just because he hit it out of the park with “Barbarians.” Sometimes all it takes is one big success to get people knocking at your door. Some reports indicate Sony wants Cregger to make a new film for the franchise, though nothing is being said as to where, or if this film would fit into preexisting lore. The main “Resident Evil” storyline has so far been kept to the games and CGI films, with all the other live actions projects taking place in their own continuities. Considering how poorly both the “Welcome to Raccoon City” performed and how quickly the live-action Netflix series came and went, it’s unlikely this project would continue where either of those left off.
If that’s the case, where does Cregger go from here? Are we going to get yet another, truer take on the events of the Spencer Mansion with Jill, Chris, Barry, and Wesker? Are we going to get another loose interpretation like with Milla Jovovich‘s Alice taking on the Red Queen in the Hive? If the rumors are true, then it’s so early on that it’s anyone’s guess. What we do know, is that the last two mainline games in the series, “Biohazard” and “Village” were rousing successes, and there’s plenty that could be done with those games and its protagonist, Ethan Winters.
If we hear anymore, we’ll continue to report on it, especially with spooky season being right around the corner.
