In recent weeks, Barbarian and Weapons director Zach Cregger has been dropping hints about his next movie, a new take on Capcom’s Resident Evil, explaining how his spin on the survival horror franchise will differ from the seven previous live-action films. But Cregger may not actually know just how different they’ll be; he says he’s never seen the other Resident Evil movies.
Cregger’s Resident Evil, which begins filming next month in Prague, will be an original take. It’s not directly based on any of the games’ stories, but the film will follow the structure of the Resident Evil games, he says.
“It takes place in the world of the games,” Cregger said in an interview on the Double Toasted podcast. “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.
“As someone who’s played I don’t know how many thousands and thousands of hours of Resident Evil, I feel like I know how that pacing can go and it’s inherently cinematic. I feel like there’s a great movie that can live inside of this world and inside of that sort of pacing.”
Cregger says that his Resident Evil movie “feels inline with my sensibility, has my sense of tone, and it’s just a much bigger scale than Weapons and certainly Barbarian.” Despite mixed results for Resident Evil’s film franchise adaptations, Cregger thinks that “fans of the games are probably going to be stoked” for his adaptation.
Story-wise, we’re still in the dark about Cregger’s interpretation of the franchise. But he did offer some interesting color during the interview, saying that the movie “probably lives more in the world of [Resident Evil] 2 and 3, but I’d say it adheres more to the tone of 4.” He points out that the game franchise is “incredibly malleable,” bouncing between locations, tone, and even horror subgenres.
“I don’t think I’m taking any more liberties with this [movie] than the game franchise does at all,” he said. “I’m coloring within the lines.”
The next Resident Evil game, Resident Evil Requiem, is due out early next year. Cregger’s Resident Evil movie is slated to arrive in theaters on Sept. 18, 2026.
