We first heard that Capcom would be looking to reboot the Resident Evil film franchise all the way back in 2020, with a less-than-impressive first outing with Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. That was followed by another less-than-impressive TV series, which was canned after one season. Now, there's another new film coming, but with a lot more pedigree behind it, with Weapons and Barbarian director Zach Cregger leading the charge.
Last September, we learned from Cregger that this upcoming film would be an original story, one that wouldn't feature iconic Resident Evil characters like Leon Kennedy (who will feature in the upcoming Requiem game that's out next week).
Now, in a new interview with Deadline (spotted by VGC), we've learned that not only is this an original story, but Cregger was essentially given a blank slate to do whatever he wanted with the IP, having proven himself as one of the industry's best horror film directors currently working. That comes from Constantin Film's chief executive officer, Oliver Berben.
The film is set to arrive in theatres on September 18, 2026, and is currently in edits ahead of that arrival. From what Berben has seen, he says it is "far away from everything that is connected to Resident Evil, only because Zach Cregger has his own style." Berben adds that it was an easy decision to give Cregger "carte blanche to do whatever he wanted to do with that IP."
"With Resident Evil, we have had an incredible journey with one of the most successful international IPs of more than a billion dollars in box office for many years and now we are creating something new, not just a new story idea, but to allow a new generation to take the IP into their own hands and form something different," said Berben.
Hopefully, Cregger's upcoming film will be able to raise the quality bar of what we've seen from the Resident Evil franchise of late on the film side, to match the high quality of horror games that Capcom has been delivering with the last few entries. At least Resident Evil fans will have a new, and hopefully excellent, mainline RE game to play to console them if the film doesn't go over well.
About the author: David has been writing about videogames, technology, and culture since 2020, with a focus on reporting daily news across multiple publications, including GameDaily.Biz, GameSkinny, and PlayStation Universe before joining Wccftech in 2025. David started contributing as Canada/US reporter for Wccftech's gaming section in 2025. Besides being up-to-date on the industry's movements, he loves interviewing developers, reviewing games, and writing intricate essays about the symbolism and layered meanings to be found in rich narratives as he's done for publications like GamesIndustry.Biz, LostInCult, and others. Outside of games he loves movies, music, theatre, his hometown, and his family, though not necessarily in that order.
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