Audiences are headed back to Raccoon City, and this time it'll be on the big screen.
The original "Resident Evil" video game has spawned an interactive empire of nearly 30
entries if you add up everything in its main series along with the spinoffs and remakes.
Its original movie adaptation sprouted its own long legacy,
including six total films released between the 2002 original and 2017's "Resident Evil:
The Final Chapter," each starring Milla Jovovich and each trying to one-up its predecessors in
finding crazier ways to kill off characters. Earlier this year, Netflix released an animated
series, "Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness," and the streaming service is also releasing
a live-action "Resident Evil" series starring Lance Reddick, sometime in the near future.
On the big-screen, the franchise is going back to the beginning,
rebooting itself on-screen in the upcoming "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City."
Writer/director Johannes Roberts promised IGN this new entry will take "Resident Evil"
back to its creepy, lo-fi roots, with dark hallways, jump scares,
and maybe even some unstoppable killers bursting through the walls. Here's what we know so far.
The film is currently scheduled to be released on November 24,
2021, a few months later than originally planned thanks to the pandemic. But that also
puts the film well clear of October's traditional influx of horror fare,
leaving that particular lane empty for "Resident Evil," unless "Ghostbusters: Afterlife," which
comes out the week before, has a lot more scares than the mini Marshmallow Men we've already seen.
In keeping with its reboot timeline, "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City" will also see a
host of new faces taking on some of the classic characters from the game and film series.
First and foremost will be actress Kaya Scodelario taking on the role of series
heroine Claire Redfield. Scodelario is best-known for her work on the U.K. television show "Skins,"
as well as the 2011 adaptation of "Wuthering Heights," "The Maze Runner" series,
and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales."
Where Claire goes, her brother Chris cannot be far behind. The older Redfield sibling will be
played by Robbie Amell, who appeared in films "The DUFF" and "The Babysitter,"
as well as TV shows like "The Tomorrow People," "Upload," and "The Flash,"
where he played Firestorm. Hannah John-Kamen, best known as Ghost in "Ant-Man and the Wasp,"
will play Chris' partner Jill Valentine. Tom Hopper of "Black Sails," "Game of
Thrones," and "Umbrella Academy" fame will play series villain Albert Wesker.
Rounding out the cast are Donal Logue, Neal McDonough,
Lily Gao, and Avan Jogia, whose casting as Leon Kennedy proved controversial to some fans.
As fans might guess from the cast of characters, it seems the new film will draw mostly from the
first two games in the franchise, "Resident Evil" and "Resident Evil 2." An IGN report
indicates that its locations will primarily be the Spencer Mansion featured in the first game and the
Raccoon City Police Department from the second. The film is also reportedly set in the year 1998,
the same year "Resident Evil 2" was released for Playstation. This makes sense, since McDonough and
Gao's characters, William Birkin and Ada Wong, were prominently featured in the second game.
The official Sony Pictures Releasing logline focuses mostly on its setting, reading,
"Once the booming home of pharmaceutical giant Umbrella Corporation,
Raccoon City is now a dying Midwestern town. The company's exodus left the
city a wasteland...with great evil brewing below the surface.
The tagline continues on to say:
When that evil is unleashed, the townspeople are forever...changed...and a small group of
survivors must work together to uncover the truth behind Umbrella and make it through the night."
But while we may lack details about the exact plot and how
closely or not it might follow those of the games,
we do know what the film is setting out to do with its tone. As Roberts said in a featurette:
"Welcome to Raccoon City is a very faithful adaptation
of the Resident Evil games. This is where it all started."
Sounds just like 1998. How terrifying.
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