(UDHAYAM, COLOMBO) – Earlier this year it looked as though Resident Evil had finally run its course on the big screen, with director Paul W.S. Anderson delivering fans Resident Evil: The Final Chapter back in January. It turns out that while it’s true that we may never see Milla Jovovich’s Alice again, however, the franchise is far from done, as reboot plans are now in the works.
Variety is reporting news out of the Cannes Film Festival that Constantin Film – the production company that owns the movie rights to the Resident Evil franchise – is currently in the midst of planning a brand new future for the property. As of now there are no other details available about the developing project – including what characters it may follow, who is involved creatively, and how it may relate to the previous movies – but what we do know is that the big screen video game series is far from dead.
The six Resident Evil movies that were released between 2002 and 2017 were never huge domestic hits, but they managed to continue being released thanks to high demand overseas (particularly in China). None of the films managed to make more than $60 million at the United States box office, but they all made over $100 million when worldwide numbers were factored in. It actually makes all of the sense in the world that Constantin Films wants to keep the Resident Evil movies going, as Resident Evil: The Final Chapter made an impressive $312 million globally on a $40 million budget (the movie only made $26 million in America).
What does seem likely is that the husband-wife duo that has been at the heart of the last 15 years of the franchise will not be involved. Paul W.S. Anderson wrote all six Resident Evil movies, and directed four of them, while Milla Jovovich starred in every single installment. In the making of The Final Chapter, both were adamant about it being the end – and that won’t necessarily change just because the production company wants the features to keep coming.
Obviously there isn’t much to know about this new Resident Evil reboot just yet, but given that this announcement is coming just four months after the release of what was the franchise finale, it’s easy to imagine more details rolling in soon.
