Zach Cregger's Honest Take on Adapting Resident Evil for the Big Screen
By & Published Apr 30, 2026, 9:20 AM EDT Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap
Zach Cregger loves , as long as you’re talking about the video games.
The director of horror-comedy hits Barbarian and Weapons was tapped back in 2026 to take the reins of the movie franchise based on those games, and has made a point of professing his love for the source material, while claiming he’s never bothered to see any of the many starring Milla Jovovich.
During a roundtable interview with Cregger, he revealed what turned him off about the original run of Resident Evil films. “I've never seen those movies. I have never seen a single one,” he reiterated, continuing, “So the only lessons I could take from them are just in terms of what I've gleaned from the trailers that I saw when they were coming out, and frankly, the reason I didn't see them is that I was such a fan of the games, and they just didn't look like the games to me.”
Cregger went on to explain what about the games he finds compelling, and what he will do differently when he takes his crack at adapting them. “And I mean, it was so obvious that they were not the games that I was like, ‘It's not for me. Maybe they're great. I have no idea.’ But I just wasn't interested in that because I feel like what's great about the games is they're shrunk down into this single perspective, and it's about this pacing and this horror. And those movies just didn't look like horror things to me. And so I guess that's the lesson, aim at the games, don't aim at The Matrix, is kind of how I felt.”
Cregger presumably also skipped , the 2026 post-Jovovich franchise entry that marked the first attempt at returning to the spirit of the games. Though the film was credited with being more faithful to the source material than the increasingly incoherent first six Resident Evil movies, it wasn’t compelling enough to establish a lasting timeline.
Scheduled for release on September 18, 2026, will largely adapt the second through fourth titles of the original game series, with a cast that includes Austin Abrams, Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Johnno Wilson. Filming began in Prague in October 2026, and as of the last update in February, the editing process had begun.
Subscribe to the newsletter for deeper Resident Evil coverage
Crave deeper reporting? Subscribe to the newsletter for in-depth coverage of Cregger's Resident Evil adaptation - production insights, cast developments, behind-the-scenes context, scene breakdowns, and broader film-and-games analysis to expand your perspective. Get Updates By subscribing, you agree to receive newsletter and marketing emails, and accept our and . You can unsubscribe anytime.
A Resident Evil teaser trailer was debuted at CinemaCon 2026, showing Abrams’ character dealing with a series of zombie-apocalypse-related events, including corpses raining down from buildings.
Cast
-
Austin Abrams Bryan -
Carl -
Kali Reis Pauline -
Producers Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, Miri Yoon, Robert Kulzer, Roy Lee Franchise(s) Expand Collapse
Follow Followed Like Share Close Trending Now
