Well, that didn’t take too long now, did it?
After bringing us what was supposed to be the last instalment in the franchise earlier this year with Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, we’re now hearing that Constantin Film is planning to reboot the series, with a new entry currently in development. There’s no word yet on who may helm or star in the movie, or which direction it’ll take in terms of narrative, but it sounds like there’s still life left in the franchise – not that anyone really thought otherwise, right?
The last Resident Evil, while panned by critics, pulled in an impressive $312 million worldwide off a budget of just $40 million. With that in mind, it’d be foolish to think that the producers would just let the property sit on the shelf. As is usually the case in Hollywood, if there’s still money to be made, then we’ll keep getting more films – whether we want them or not. Though in this case, it seems that people are definitely still hungry for more Resident Evil.
Based on Capcom’s wildly popular video game series, the first adaptation came in 2002 under the direction of Paul W.S. Anderson. Since then, we’ve seen five sequels that have gone on to take the franchise to a $1.2 billion worldwide gross. None of the entries have been particularly well reviewed, but they’ve amassed a pretty big fanbase and as long as you go into the Resident Evil movies with the right expectations, they can definitely provide some mindless fun for a few hours. Not to mention that watching Milla Jovovich kick ass is always a good time.
Unfortunately, there’s not much else to go on right now in terms of the reboot, but we imagine that they’ll start with a fresh slate, meaning we shouldn’t expect to see any of the original cast members back. In fact, we don’t even know if Alice will still be the main character, or if she’ll be involved at all.
At the moment, all we can tell you is that Resident Evil is far from dead and within the next two to three years, we imagine a new entry will be making its way into theatres. As always, watch this space for more.