Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil Reboot Is A New “Origin Story” Of The Games, Says Star

Since making his feature-length directorial debut in 2022 with his standout hit, Barbarian, Zach Cregger has been one of the most promising names in horror. Over the summer, his follow-up, Weapons, exceeded box office expectations and pushed Amy Madigan to become a front-runner in the award season chatter. Next, he’ll work alongside Columbia Pictures to bring a new story from the Resident Evil video game series to the big screen. Putting his own twist on the franchise, Cregger will use the universe as a foundation for his project, but will create different characters in an original story that he co-penned alongside Shay Hatten. With a release date slated for September 18 of this year, the next few months will bring plenty of fresh information about what to expect from Cregger’s Resident Evil flick, but thanks to one of the film’s stars, Kali Reis, we have a promising update about how it will all shake out.

via: Screen Rant

Zach Cregger is making his way to Raccoon City for his next feature film, but star Kali Reis cautions not to expect a direct adaptation of its source material.

In the wake of his success with Barbarian, and prior to the viral hit Weapons, Cregger was announced to be the co-writer and director of the next Resident Evil movie reboot, collaborating with John Wick vet Shay Hatten. Reis is part of the star-studded cast he's put together for the new film, which also includes a Weapons reunion with Austin Abrams, as well as Paul Walter Hauser and Zach Cherry.

Now, in an interview with ScreenRant's Ash Crossan for the upcoming sci-fi action movie Mercy, Reis offered some insight into Cregger's approach to his Resident Evil adaptation. Praising the reboot as being a "continuation of great filmmaking" that he's displayed in prior projects, the star went on to tease that the film will be "his version" of the games' origin story rather than a direct translation of Raccoon City's tragedies:

I will say, for the Resident Evil fans, especially people who are gamers, his crack at an origin story — his version of this – is amazing. I think you guys are going to be blown away by his imagination, his ideas, and this kind of comedic kind of journey through this crazy wild time in this Resident Evil story. I think you’re going to be pleasantly surprised.

Reis' latest tease largely lines up with Cregger's previous discussion of how he would be approaching the Resident Evil reboot. Aiming for an original story set in the world of the games rather than any of its well-known characters, having even name-dropped Leon as being one whose story already exists in the various games, the writer/director is instead taking inspiration from the second through fourth installments.

It wouldn't be the first time that a Resident Evil adaptation looked to take a more original story approach rather than going more direct. The Milla Jovovich-led films notably became more and more deviated from the games with each installment, particularly in killing off such characters as Leon and Barry Burton, while the short-lived Netflix series borrowed from the games for its backstory while branching off in a different direction entirely.

The only Resident Evil adaptation to eye for a directly faithful approach was that of 2021's Welcome to Raccoon City, which merged the stories of the first two games into one. However, even while critics and some audiences better appreciated this faithful approach, the reboot still saw mixed reviews and an underwhelming box office performance, leading to its planned sequel being scrapped and the eventual development of Cregger's.

As such, Cregger looking to go in a completely original direction for his Resident Evil reboot could either prove to be the movie's best aspect, or its downfall. Many recent video game adaptations have found better success in being faithful rather than original, as evidenced by HBO's The Last of Us and Ben Schwartz's Sonic the Hedgehog films. However, with the filmmaker on a real hot streak, and the likes of Prime Video's Fallout series also showcasing how original approaches can work, the 2026 film could be the franchise's biggest hit yet.