‘Weapons’ Director Zach Cregger Says His ‘Resident Evil’ Film Is “Coloring Within The Lines” Of Capcom’s Original Games
In providing an update on his highly-anticipated video game adaptation, Weapons director Zach Cregger has moved to assure fans that his upcoming Resident Evil movie will not play fast and loose with the fan-favorite Capcom IP, but instead try its hand at “coloring within the lines”.
The Whitest Kids U Know founding member provided this update on his next project during a recent interview given to movie-centric news and review outlet Double Toasted.
Asked by host and site founder Korey Coleman if he could speak on his take on the T-virus would be “different from the other adaptations that we’ve seen,” such as the Paul W.S. Anderson-directed, Milla Jovovich-led film series or Netflix’s Lance Reddick-starring series, Cregger affirmed that his film’s defining factor would be its fidelity to the original games:
“All I can say is that it it is true to the experience of the games. It takes place in the world of the games, but most importantly the journey you’ll have as a viewer, of watching this movie is going to be similar to the journey you have as a player when you play these games.
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“What that means is it follows one protagonist from Point A to Point B as they just descend deeper, and deeper, and
deeper into hell. And and as someone who’s played, I don’t know, how many thousands of hours of Resident Evil? I just just feel like I know how that pacing can go, and it’s inherently cinematic, and I feel like there’s a great movie that can live inside of this world and and inside of that sort of pacing.
“I’m just really really pumped about the story that we get to tell here. So, I feel like I’m chomping at the bit to
make this thing. I know there’s been a lot of speculation online that I should just be doing an original next and not
an IP, but I don’t think that those people will have that complaint when they see this because it is an original. It’s very much a movie that feels in line with my sensibility, has my kind of sense of tone, and it’s just a much bigger scale than Weapons and certainly Barbarian. And I just think it’s going to be really cool and I’ve never seen a movie like it. So I’m beyond excited start making this.”
In addition to this focus on respecting its source material, Cregger revealed that the film’s other differentiating factor would be the fact that he had personally never seen any of the other live-action Resident Evil films – which he noted would probably be cause for disappointment among movie-specific fans and excitement among game fans:
“I’m a huge fan of the games. Now, I’ve never seen a Resident Evil movie, and I imagine that if there are people out there that are just rabid fans of the of the movie franchise, they’re probably, you know, not really prepared for what I’m going to be doing. But I think the people that are fans of the of the games are probably going to be stoked.”
From there pressed by Coleman as to “how much of this is very faithful to the games and how much
of this is your influence in there”, Cregger once again assured fans of his intent to respect the games before turning to give a vague overview of the Resident Evil movie tone:
“It’s much more in the world of the games than Weapons and Barbarian. It probably lives more in the world of [Resident Evil] 2 and 3, but I’d say it adheres more to the tone of 4.
“The game franchise itself is incredibly malleable. 2 and 3 take place in Raccoon City, and then 4 takes place in like Spain, and it feels like it’s in the past even though it’s not. And then 7 is like a Texas Chainsaw [Massacre] kind of a thing, and then 8 is like some ancient European village and definitely [comes from] the past.
“The games don’t even have some sort of a set lore that every it’s not rigid, so I don’t think I’m taking any more liberties with this than than the game franchise does at all. I think I’m coloring within the lines.”
At present, Creggers’ Resident Evil movie is set to begin filming in Prague this October ahead of its tentative September 18th, 2026 release date.
