When Milla Jovovich first took on the role of Alice in the very first Resident Evil movie back in 2002, few would have predicted that, 22 years later, there would be discussions ongoing about a potential eight film outing centered on the sinister exploits of the Umbrella Corporation.
Back then video game movie adaptations drew a decidedly mixed response from audiences. While the likes of Super Mario Bros. and Street Fighter cleaned up at the box office, they drew rank reviews from fans and critics alike, while the less said about film adaptations of arcade favorites like Double Dragon and House of the Dead the better.
Resident Evil bucked the trend though. Much of that was down to the presence of Jovovich and director Paul W. S. Anderson as the driving force of the franchise. Anderson and Jovovich developed a special bond working on the first Resident Evil. So special they actually began dating soon after filming wrapped and later married.
Anderson directed the first movie before later returning to helm the fourth, fifth, and sixth films in the franchise, which delved ever deeper into the Resident Evil lore.
Resident Evil : The Final Chapter was billed as the final installment in the Jovovich incarnation of the franchise, bringing the increasingly convoluted storyline established over the course of the previous five films to a conclusion. Released in late December 2016, like almost all of the sequels The Final Chapter earned rank reviews but cleaned up at the box office, earning over $312 million off the back of a $40 million budget.
Despite this success, it was evident that those behind the scenes were keen to take the Resident Evil movies in a very different direction.
READ NEXT: John Wick 5: Co-Creator Offers Cryptic Update On Future Sequel Plans
At one point James Wan, best known for his work on the Saw films and The Conjuring trilogy, was attached to produce the Resident Evil reboot, with screenwriter Greg Russo taking inspiration from the Resident Evil 7, the first ever first-person survival horror entry in the franchise. In a tweet discussing his work on the project, Russo explained how that game set the tone for his script, writing “SCARY. ISOLATED. ALONE.”
Constantin Film, the studio behind all of the Resident Evil films to date, was unimpressed with this particular angle, citing the fact that Resident Evil 7 was a recent gaming release and would be unlikely to entice fans to the cinema. By 2018, amid a failure to agree on what to do next, Wan and Russo departed the project.
Later that year, it was announced, via Variety, that Johannes Roberts the writer and director of the shark diving thriller 47 Meters Down, had been hired to write and direct the next installment in the Resident Evil franchise. By 2020, Deadline was reporting that Kaya Scodelario had been cast as Claire Redfield alongside Robbie Amell as Chris Redfield, Hannah John-Kamen as Jill Valentine, Tom Hopper as Albert Wesker, Neal McDonough as William Birkin and Avan Jogia as Leon S. Kennedy.
The film was pitched as an origin story, depicting the events of the very first outbreak on a dark and stormy night in Raccoon City. After a delay caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, that version of the story would eventually be released under the title Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City.
READ NEXT: Andrew Garfield’s New Spider-Man Movie: Everything We Know
It was hoped that this latest entry would help establish the franchise’s new direction: a more stripped back approach that favored scares over the complex world-building that began to bog down the original Resident Evil movies.
But despite largely delivering on that promise, the pandemic and some mixed reviews put paid to the idea of Welcome to Raccoon City cleaning up at the box office in the way previous entries did. The film still turned a profit, earning $42 million off the back of a $25 million budget which, while considerably lower than Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, represented steady going given that the film was released at a time when, post-pandemic, audiences were uneasy about returning to cinema venues. Welcome to Raccoon City also garnered some impressive video-on-demand viewing figures.
Some would have nevertheless been left fearing for the franchise’s future after Netflix canceled the short-lived Resident Evil TV series just six weeks after it debuted on the platform. Despite that setback, in an interview with Constantin heads Martin Moskowicz and Oliver Berben in The Hollywood Reporter in 2022, Moskowicz dismissed the notion that this would be the last fans would be seeing of Resident Evil on the big or small screen in the immediate future.
“We still have big plans for Resident Evil, with this universe of characters,” he said. “We’re working on various projects at full steam. Resident Evil is by far the most successful franchise that Constantin Film has ever had. So just because one series didn’t get renewed, doesn’t mean we’ll throw in the towel.”
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City certainly left things on a cliffhanger with a mid-credits scene introducing viewers to Ada Wong, one of the most iconic antagonists from the original game series.
When Tom Hopper, who played fellow villain Albert Wesker in the film, caught up with ScreenRant in June 2022, the Umbrella Academy star appeared hopeful about his prospects of returning to the role.
READ NEXT: I Am Legend 2: Everything We Know So Far
“What I know is it was very successful in terms of on-demand, a lot of people sat at home and watched it, so I think they’re very happy over Constantin and Sony, all the guys who run that show,” he said. “I certainly hope to go back and play Albert Wesker again, it ended in a way that I was like, ‘Oh, I can get used to this guy.’ Also, too, where he’s going, I think he can be very interesting, so I certainly hope so.”
By 2023, however, there was another twist in the tale, as rumors surfaced over plans for a new mysterious new movie, which was shooting under the working title “Umbrella Chronicles”, in the same location as Welcome to Raccoon City, Greater Sudbury in Ontario Canada. According to a report from Sudbury.com, the project had received funding in the region of $2 million from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation to film in the area.
The rumor mill has gathered pace since then. By June 2023, JoBlo.com published a rumored synopsis for the film, tentatively titled Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, which suggests it will offer up an entirely separate story to the previous entry. SPOILER ALERT It reads:
“STARS operative Rebecca Chambers and former Marine Billy Coen venture through a train that eventually takes them into a derelict training facility. Once within the facility, they discover they are being stalked by James Marcus, a co-founder of the Umbrella Corporation and creator of the T-Virus, who has managed to resurrect himself with the aid of leech test subjects. After a confrontation, Marcus mutates into a monstrosity, but is subdued by the duo. Chambers and Coen escape as the facility self-destructs.”
Once again, however, there was radio silence though as plans for the film appeared to drift. There has been one recent update, however, from September 2024 and a report from The InSneider, which suggested Zach Cregger, the writer and director of the critically lauded horror movie Barbarian, was in discussions about taking the reins of the next Resident Evil movie. It would represent a major coup for the franchise but Cregger’s involvement would likely spell the end of any hopes for a Welcome to Raccoon City sequel, with Cregger only likely to sign on in the event he is given greater creative control. With much still left to be discussed, it’s clear that the Resident Evil franchise, while alive and well, is still in a state of flux.
