Zach Cregger (Weapons) recently gave a first look at his Resident Evil reboot during Sony’s presentation at CinemaCon. While the footage is exclusive to those attending in Las Vegas, here is what we know.
The entirely new plot centers around medical courier Bryan, who finds himself in a desperate quest for survival as one gruesomely horrific, single night falls apart around him. Instead of rehashing a story from the beloved video games the franchise started from, the film takes a fresh story with fresh characters.
Weapons star Austin Abrams plays Bryan. He is first seen trudging along through a snowy night, up to a dark empty house. Because he got a flat tire on the road and wants to use the phone. He calls his girlfriend and says, “a seriously f*cked-up situation” and that “we might not get to talk to each other again.”
It gets nastier from there. Bryan gets to a city where bodies are falling from the towers in front of him, landing on parked cars. Other bodies and creatures fall bloody to the snow from towering heights.
In Cregger‘s Own Words
Cregger himself will break it all down. He told the assembled crowd that “over the last couple of decades, I have played a shit ton of Resident Evil” and that he is attracted to how the games are “so naturally cinematic.” Adding that his epic will have “no narrative acrobatics, time jumps or disorienting chapter things.” He say the audience will be “locked in with a protagonist on a foot journey through a world hell bent on destroying them.”
90 minutes long, and apparently all day, all night, every night.
The film received a test screening recently, with a wildly positive response. Word of mouth, Cregger hasn’t just made their usual video game movie adaptation. He’s given us something lean, mean and super confident.
Cregger directs from a script he co-wrote with Shay Hatten, who also helmed John Wick: Chapters 3 and 4. The film also stars Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Johnno Wilson.
The film comes just as the franchise has seen a revival in popularity with the release of its latest entry, Resident Evil Requiem. That was released February 2026 and sold five million copies in less than a week. Making it the fastest-selling game in franchise history.
Resident Evil opens September 18, 2026.
