“Resident Evil” Franchise Reloads, Film Reboot in the Works

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, which was just released on Blu-Ray and DVD earlier this month, was apparently only the final chapter for this divisive interpretation of CAPCOM’s popular horror/survival video-game franchise.

Earlier today, Variety reported that Martin Moszkowicz, chairman at Constantin Film, confirmed plans for a reboot of the film franchise.

The Final Chapter hit theaters this past winter and grossed $312 million, over half of which was earned in China ($160 million). This was the sixth film in a franchise that has earned a total of $1.2 billion, making it the most successful film franchise to be based on a video-game series ever.  No film in the franchise has performed well critically, however.

There are very few details about who will helm or star in the series’ reboot, but the previous films were led by Paul W.S. Anderson, who directed four of the films and wrote all of them. It seems unlikely, however, that Anderson will again helm the franchise as he is currently slated to direct Monster Hunter, another film interpretation of a video-game.

Many fans of the vide-game series lament the previous films’ unfaithfulness to the source material. Anderson included many of the popular characters and monsters from the video-games, but the series was led by Alice, a completely original character. The film’s horror roots were also largely discarded in favor of a much more action oriented franchise. Still, the film series has had an undeniably large audience worldwide.

It will be interesting to see which direction the rebooted series will take as more details become available.

–Kevin Bond

Source: Variety

Untitled Resident Evil Reboot – An official synopsis/release date is not yet known