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‘Resident Evil’ Gets Another Film Reboot From ‘Barbarian’ Director Zach Cregger

Much like the undead hordes roaming the streets of Raccoon City, the Resident Evil film franchise is rising from the dead yet again with another reboot, this time helmed by Zach Cregger, the filmmaker behind 2022’s horror cult hit Barbarian.

A bidding war has also begun for the upcoming pic, with major players such as Warner Bros. and Netflix vying to secure screen rights to the title, according to The Hollywood Reporter’s sources. The film adaptations have raked in the cash over their many iterations, with the Milla Jovovich-led hexalogy grossing over US$270 million worldwide to date. Meanwhile, the 2021 standalone horror flick Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City garnered over US$42 million globally, but the reasons why studios are shelling out the big bucks this time seem to stem from Cregger himself.

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Rising to prominence after being part of the comedy group The Whitest Kids U’ Know alongside Trevor Moore and Sam Brown, Cregger would go on to star in NBC’s 2011 romantic sitcom Friends with Benefits and the 2009 comedy film Miss March, the latter of which he also co-wrote and co-directed for. His biggest break, however, was the 2022 horror thriller Barbarian, his solo screenwriting and directorial debut which not only garnered positive reviews but also grossed US$45.4 million worldwide.

His level of aptitude, coupled with the adaptation of such a well-established video game IP, certainly makes the film a hot property among the various studios. Capcom’s Resident Evil franchise has made its mark on the video game landscape, becoming one of the most iconic series in the survival horror genre, with legendary titles like Resident Evil 4 enjoyed across multiple generations of gamers.

Resident Evil 4

The Resident Evil reboot will be produced by Constantin Film, which has held the screening rights to the title since the late 1990s and has been a part of all its live-action films, alongside PlayStation Productions, with its script co-written by Shay Hatten, who worked on John Wick: Chapter 4 and Zack Snyder’s Army of the Dead.

Cregger’s take on the franchise, described as a “revamp that will take the title to its horror roots and be more faithful to the initial games”, currently doesn’t have a release window. It won’t be the only project on his plate, as he is also working on a follow-up horror project to Barbarian titled Weapons, which will be produced by Warner Bros. Discovery’s New Line Cinema and include an ensemble cast like Josh Brolin (Avengers: Endgame, Deadpool 2) and Julia Garner (Ozark, Wolf Man).