Zach Cregger has talked about what will make his upcoming Resident Evil movie unique, admitting he’s never seen a Resident Evil film.
Cregger, writer and director of 2022’s Barbarian and this year’s hit horror movie Weapons, discussed his fresh take on Resident Evil in an interview with the Double Toasted YouTube channel.
“All I can say is that it is true to the experience of the games,” he said. “It takes place in the world of the games, but most importantly the journey you’ll have as a viewer of watching this movie is going to be similar to the journey you have as a player when you play these games. And what that means is it follows one protagonist from point A to point B as they just descend deeper and deeper and deeper into hell.”
He continued: “And as someone who’s played I don’t know how many thousands and thousands of hours of Resident Evil, I just feel like I know how that pacing can go, and it’s inherently cinematic, and I feel like there’s a great movie that can live inside of this world and inside of that sort of pacing. And I’m just really, really pumped about the story that we get to tell here. So, I feel like I’m chomping at the bit to make this thing.”
Compared to his previous movies Barbarian and Weapons, Resident Evil will be a “bigger scale” production, Cregger confirmed. He considers it an “original” even though it’s a film based on an existing intellectual property, because it has “my sense of tone.”
“I know there’s been a lot of speculation online that I should just be doing an original next and not an IP, but I don’t think that those people will have that complaint when they see this because it is an original,” he insisted.
“It’s very much a movie that feels in-line with my sensibility, has my sense of tone. And it’s just a much bigger scale than Weapons and certainly Barbarian. I think it’s going to be really cool and I’ve never seen a movie like it. So I’m beyond excited making this.”
Cregger then admitted he’s never seen a Resident Evil movie, and made a point of saying his Resident Evil movie might not play well with fans of the existing Resident Evil films.
Paul W. S. Anderson’s series of Resident Evil movies starring Milla Jovovich were never critical darlings, but they enjoyed commercial success at the box office and on home release. The 2021 reboot, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, failed to make an impression.
“I’m a huge fan of the games,” Cregger said. “Now, I’ve never seen a Resident Evil movie. I imagine that if there are people out there that are just rabid fans of the movie franchise, they’re probably not really prepared for what I’m going to be doing. But I think the people that are fans of the games are probably going to be stoked.”
Cregger said his Resi exists “much more in the world of the games” than Weapons and Barbarian, and he likened the movie’s tone to the much-loved Resident Evil 4.
“It probably lives more in the world of 2 and 3, but I’d say it adheres more to the tone of 4,” he said. “But you know, the thing about the games is that the game franchise itself is incredibly malleable. 2 and 3 take place in Raccoon City, and then 4 takes place in Spain, and it feels like it’s in the past even though it’s not. And then 7 is like a Texas Chainsaw kind of a thing. And then 8 is like some ancient European village and definitely in the past.
“So, the games don’t even have some sort of a set lore. It’s not rigid. And so I don’t think I’m taking any more liberties with this than the game franchise does at all. So I’m coloring within the lines.”
Shooting on the new Resident Evil movie is set to begin mid-October in Prague and run until the end of January. Sony Pictures has set a release date of September 18, 2026.
Wesley is Director, News at IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at [email protected] or confidentially at [email protected].
