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Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021)

Jonipoon

Professional Sandwich Consumer
There was no previous thread for this subject. Ever since May last year, it's been known that James Wan will produce a script by Greg Russo that will serve as a complete reboot of the Resident Evil film series.

https://deadline.com/2017/05/reside...mes-wan-produce-greg-russo-script-1202100081/

Thoughts on this? As someone who didn't like the movies at all, even for their "beloved" cheesiness, I see this as a chance to make a proper adaption of the first game. With Chris and Jill serving as protagonists discovering the secrets of the Spencer Mansion...
 

aintnoscrub

PSN: floaty_McTurd
Premium
There was once a rumour of a Netflix series instead of a reboot movie franchise. I feel that if Netflix got their hands on it given the high standard of their own shoes I feel Netflix could do it justice
 
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Jonipoon

Professional Sandwich Consumer
There was once a rumour of a Netflix series instead of a reboot movie franchise. I feel that if Netflix got their hands on it given the high standard of their own shoes I feel Netflix could do it justice
I'd rather not see that. Netflix had a good thing going a few years ago, but nowadays everything they produce by themselves is pure trash. I'm going to end my Netflix subscription once the Disney streaming service launches next year.

Anyhow, I don't think a TV series would be a suitable format when it comes to Resident Evil. Horror in general translates very bad to TV.
Feature film is the way to go, with a proper adaptation of the first game.
 

Ark2000

Well-Known Member
There was no previous thread for this subject. Ever since May last year, it's been known that James Wan will produce a script by Greg Russo that will serve as a complete reboot of the Resident Evil film series.

https://deadline.com/2017/05/reside...mes-wan-produce-greg-russo-script-1202100081/

Thoughts on this? As someone who didn't like the movies at all, even for their "beloved" cheesiness, I see this as a chance to make a proper adaption of the first game. With Chris and Jill serving as protagonists discovering the secrets of the Spencer Mansion...
I'd love to see that, but i wouldn't mind if they skip right to the Raccoon City outbreak either. At one point during development of first movie adaptation that was the plan studio had, before deciding to go back and set the story in similar locations like the ones in the first game.

Interesting news about reboot;

https://discussingfilm.wordpress.co...ent-evil-reboot-exclusive-interview-part-two/

INTERVIEWER: How’s the progress with the ‘Resident Evil’ reboot?

GREG RUSSO: It’s good. I worked on the reboot for about a year and then Producer James Wan came in, my involvement on that project has kind of concluded, so I’m not sure what they’ll really do with it, I submitted my draft to the producers and they were happy with it and ultimately they’ll do what they will with the property but I’m currently not involved with that film.

INTERVIEWER: Was there any specific game that you tried to channel the most into your draft?

GREG RUSSO: Obviously I’m a huge fan of the franchise so to work on that was a lot of fun. And they’ve made six films before so when you come back to that and reboot it, you wanna do something different and not just rehash. For me it was very clear cut that I wanted to go back and make it scary again like a horror film in terms of the classic James Wan style so that was the pitch, going back and looking what made the games scary in the first place so yea Resident Evil 7 was a bit of a touchstone for my draft.

INTERVIEWER: That honestly makes a lot of sense, as with Resident Evil 7, they were going back to a lot of the horror roots where they had their action romps with 5 and 6.

GREG RUSSO: Yea, exactly, and not to shame the original film franchise that was made, I think that did very well, when you create a fresh reboot and look at the over the top action of the Paul Anderson franchise, it was fun and really cool but at the end of the day, for me as a fan of the original game franchise, I always considered the franchise to be horror at the forefront and action as a secondary feature. So it just made sense to go back to the horror roots.

I like Russo's ideas and direction for the story, although i am still doubtful about the reboot, but i hope it will at least be a good movie and more than decent adaptation of games. If we could get Resident Evil movie that's similar to Overlord, which had great mix of action and horror, then i would be happy with it. That's just me though.
 

Turo602

The King of Kings
I wanted to go back and make it scary again like a horror film in terms of the classic James Wan style so that was the pitch, going back and looking what made the games scary in the first place so yea Resident Evil 7 was a bit of a touchstone for my draft.

There goes any hope of a decent Resident Evil film. "Let's use the least Resident Evil thing since the Paul W. S. Anderson films to use as the touchstone for the reboot."
 

Mr.R

Well-Known Member
About the Resident Evil movie reboot...looking on the bright side, it's probably going to be better than Paul Anderson's Alice Evil...it's not that hard. On the down side...trying an "horror" approach is kinda tricky. I don't think zombie (or even monster) movies are "scary" anymore. That's why most of them go to the gore or the action. Zombies aren't scary anymore, because the genre was oversaturated over the years so...I don't know. I don't have that much high hopes.
 

Turo602

The King of Kings
About the Resident Evil movie reboot...looking on the bright side, it's probably going to be better than Paul Anderson's Alice Evil...it's not that hard. On the down side...trying an "horror" approach is kinda tricky. I don't think zombie (or even monster) movies are "scary" anymore. That's why most of them go to the gore or the action. Zombies aren't scary anymore, because the genre was oversaturated over the years so...I don't know. I don't have that much high hopes.

My thoughts exactly. Horror in video games doesn't exactly translate to horror in films. In a video game, the horror doesn't come from the gore, imagery, or jumpscare. Yes, they do help with the immersion and initial shock, but the real horror comes from you, the player. It's all about you being placed in the protagonist's shoes and experiencing the horror firsthand, not watching it. That's why a zombie video game like Resident Evil can be scary, but a zombie movie is just cliche.

A live action Resident Evil movie should be character driven, atmospheric, tense, and teeter the line between horror and action. Something in the vein of Aliens, which actually serves as a great template for a Resident Evil film to be honest. Giant ship? Mansion. Space Marines? STARS. Aliens? Zombies, and so on and so on.

Resident Evil has such great history, lore, and characters to pull from that Paul W. S. Anderson completely ignored in favor of his fan fiction, yet we're gonna pretend action was that franchise's biggest downfall and be excited about horror and James Wan? I'm not gonna buy into it without seeing what ends up happening, because worst case scenario, there are no iconic characters and it's just a rehash of 7 because it's such an easy game to adapt for modern audiences because they wanted to make a horror film and not a Resident Evil film.
 

Jonipoon

Professional Sandwich Consumer
I agree, anything's better than boring Alice. I guess if Paul W. S. Anderson had made Lord of the Rings, he'd probably change the story to revolve around a new character portrayed by Milla Jovovich that interacts with Frodo, Gandalf, Aragon and everyone else.

Anyway... not sure how I feel about Russo being inspired by Resident Evil 7. If it means ditching old characters just for the sake of being a reboot, I'm worried. I mean, seriously, what's the problem? You have lots of popular fan favorites to work with: Jill, Chris, Claire, Leon, Ada, etc.
 

Ark2000

Well-Known Member
We don't know what exactly Russo meant when he said that he was inspired by RE 7. I'd like to believe that maybe it means that we will get original characters but in story and locations from RE 7, or at least similar ones.

Maybe producers or whoever is in charge of the reboot thought that doing a RE movie with mansion and underground labs like in first film wouldn't work or they just didn't want to do the same thing again, even though obviously many fans would still love to see more faithful adaptation of first game and its remake.

But, i do think that there is a chance that the version of the reboot with original characters/team going to the Baker plantation and fighting against molded monsters in all the locations from that game would work. That's just me though.
 

Jonipoon

Professional Sandwich Consumer
We don't know what exactly Russo meant when he said that he was inspired by RE 7. I'd like to believe that maybe it means that we will get original characters but in story and locations from RE 7, or at least similar ones.

Maybe producers or whoever is in charge of the reboot thought that doing a RE movie with mansion and underground labs like in first film wouldn't work or they just didn't want to do the same thing again, even though obviously many fans would still love to see more faithful adaptation of first game and its remake.

But, i do think that there is a chance that the version of the reboot with original characters/team going to the Baker plantation and fighting against molded monsters in all the locations from that game would work. That's just me though.
Well, that's a horrible idea, but I'm worried that this is what they're actually going through with. If so it'll turn into some sort of slasher film.

I like what [U]Turo602[/U] said about the Aliens comparison. Make the film all about Jill and the others being trapped in the Spencer Mansion, and center the story around being chased by the Tyrant - but don't reveal the face or a full body shot of the Tyrant until the finale of the film. The other zombies will work similar to the facehuggers in Alien, attacking members of S.T.A.R.S. and then turning them against each other. It'll make for very character-driven storylines and suspenseful horror, with action scenes only when its serving the story.
 

Ark2000

Well-Known Member
So, it would actually be more like mix of Alien and Aliens? You have one monster (Tyrant) going around and picking off people one by one (like in Alien), and other monsters (and zombies) attacking the team in more of a Aliens way. I like that, if i would have to choose, i'd rather see that than "STARS in Baker plantation" version. And btw, entire "team members turning into monsters" plot idea was something that was a part of earlier unused scripts for first film, one even had Wesker turning into Tyrant, so it would be interesting to see would that work in reboot.
 

Ark2000

Well-Known Member
More news, including possible new script and director for the reboot;

https://variety.com/2018/film/news/resident-evil-reboot-writer-director-johannes-roberts-1203081290/

The “Resident Evil” reboot has found its writer and director.

“47 Meters Down” director Johannes Roberts has been hired by Constantin Film to take the reins on the horror reboot, sources tell Variety.

The revival of the franchise has been a high priority for Constantin ever since May 2017, when the reboot was announced. The franchise has cumulatively earned $1.2 billion worldwide to date and is notable for being the highest-grossing film series based on a video game.

Based on the classic video game, the franchise followed Alice, played by Milla Jovovich, as she fights not only the zombies terrorizing Raccoon City after an experiment gone wrong, but the evil Umbrella Corp., which is the cause of the disastrous state. The most recent “Resident Evil” film bowed in 2016 and grossed $312 million, including $160 million in China alone.

The reboot is expected to start production in 2019 with a new cast.

Roberts has quickly seen his star rise after directing “47 Meters Down” to a domestic box office gross of $44 million on a $5 million budget. He is currently in production on the sequel, “47 Meters Down: The Next Chapter.” Other credits include “Strangers: Prey at Night” and “The Other Side of the Door.” He is repped by CAA, Gotham Group, and Lichter Grossman Nichols Adler & Feldman.
 

Jonipoon

Professional Sandwich Consumer

Ark2000

Well-Known Member
James Wan is no longer involved in reboot, Russo's script maybe won't be used

https://movieweb.com/resident-evil-remake-producer-james-wan-exits/

James Wan is no longer producing the Resident Evil Reboot. The upcoming reboot of the big screen version of the popular zombie video game franchise entered development very shortly after the most recent movie, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, hit theaters last year. Not long after, it was revealed that Wan, the man behind The Conjuring franchise, had boarded as a producer. Unfortunately, that didn't last.

The prolific filmmaker has been making the rounds promoting his latest movie Aquaman. Aside from his work directing, James Wan produces, or at least flirts with producing, many other high-profile projects. During a recent interview, Wan was asked about the Resident Evil reboot and firmly confirmed that he's not involved anymore, while also explaining some of his larger frustrations with the fact that projects he's working on, or in some cases not working on, get announced before they're real. Here's what Wan had to say about it.

"I'm not doing that anymore. That has been dropped... They announce that I'm attached to a lot of stuff and a lot of them are not necessarily real. It's kind of annoying when things come and go, or things never came in the first place. I hate it when my projects get announced. It makes it seem like I'm attached to a lot of things when in fact I'm not necessarily doing so many things. A lot of my stuff just get announced and I don't want them to be announced but people love to announce them."

Despite James Wan's wishes, many projects he becomes attached to, or perhaps may just be flirting with behind the scenes, manage to make themselves known to the world. But in Hollywood, many movies are developed for long periods of time and go through several creative hands before actually getting made. It's understandable that Wan wouldn't want people thinking he's working on something that doesn't ultimately come to pass. Such is the case with Resident Evil.

While it may be a shame that one of best guys working in horror today won't be tackling the reboot, it's still happening. We recently learned that 47 Meters Down director Johannes Roberts has been tapped by Constantine Films to helm the new take on the franchise. Roberts will get to work on that once he wraps up the sequel, 47 Meters Down: Uncaged.

The previous draft of the reboot, which was penned by Greg Russo, will likely be thrown out in favor of whatever Johannes Roberts decides to do with it. While it may be a bummer that, for whatever reason, James Wan and the studio parted ways, it may work out in some respects. At the very least, it will give moviegoers a little more distance between the last movie in the Milla Jovovich led version of Resident Evil and the reboot, in whatever form it winds up taking. We'll be sure to keep you posted as any further details on the project are made available. This news was first reported by Bloody Disgusting.
 

KManX89

Rocket Trash Panda
We don't know what exactly Russo meant when he said that he was inspired by RE 7. I'd like to believe that maybe it means that we will get original characters but in story and locations from RE 7, or at least similar ones.

Maybe producers or whoever is in charge of the reboot thought that doing a RE movie with mansion and underground labs like in first film wouldn't work or they just didn't want to do the same thing again, even though obviously many fans would still love to see more faithful adaptation of first game and its remake.

But, i do think that there is a chance that the version of the reboot with original characters/team going to the Baker plantation and fighting against molded monsters in all the locations from that game would work. That's just me though.

I agree, his "inspired by RE7" comments were unclear, but I doubt he meant it'd be based on RE7. That seems like an odd starting point for a reboot seeing how we're starting a whole new saga of films with 6 other games preceding it, including the pivotal Spencer Mansion and Raccoon City outbreak events. Maybe he meant it'd try to replicate it in terms of horror elements, who knows?

But if it means all original characters, I'm out. Talk about learning nothing from the Paul W.S. Anderson films. By far the biggest complaint with the original saga was putting beloved characters on the backburner for a Mary Sue simply because she's played by the director's wife and they pull this sh!t with the reboot, seriously? It's like when the 98 Godzilla film* was titled Godzilla despite the damn thing looking and acting nothing like him. If it uses none of the characters or lore from the games, then it shouldn't bear the name Resident Evil to begin with and act as its own original horror flick (which it essentially is in this case while parroting the name Resident Evil for a few extra dollars). FFS, even the Paul W.S. Anderson films at least featured some of the characters from the games despite them being almost nothing like their game counterparts.

*I also thought it was a bad movie with or without the Godzilla name, but that's a discussion for another day (or rather, thread).
 
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Jonipoon

Professional Sandwich Consumer
Unfortunately, I think it's very likely that we'll get a reboot with completely original characters. In the studio's view, they've already made 6 movies about the characters from the games. While we know that's not the case, studios always see things differently. In their mind it's probably like "Time to reboot this franchise, but this time we're gonna make it more gritty and not cheesy, so we're not gonna use any of those cheesy game characters".

Expect the worst. That's my call.
 

KManX89

Rocket Trash Panda
Unfortunately, I think it's very likely that we'll get a reboot with completely original characters. In the studio's view, they've already made 6 movies about the characters from the games. While we know that's not the case, studios always see things differently. In their mind it's probably like "Time to reboot this franchise, but this time we're gonna make it more gritty and not cheesy, so we're not gonna use any of those cheesy game characters".

Expect the worst. That's my call.

That's like making a Spider-Man reboot with all original villains, though. When adapting a comic book (or hell, any kind of property), you don't replace them with original villains because "grounded, gritty!", you use the characters people know and love from said series. It's like when some people said "I don't want the Legendary Godzilla series to use Toho monsters, just use original kaiju!", by that logic, they shouldn't have used Godzilla to begin with and simply made their own original monster flick. Same concept with Resident Evil. If it's not gonna use any of the lore from the games, then it shouldn't even be called Resident Evil.

I also fail to see how this fixes anything seeing how they were, at best an afterthought in the original saga and practically nothing like their game counterparts.
 
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Turo602

The King of Kings
Hollywood is a sick industry. Just look at what they're doing to Sonic. Pretty soon, the poor guy is gonna be tweeting #metoo. Whatever stupid decision they make with this new Resident Evil movie doesn't have to make sense, it's just par for the course.

Even if they do use the characters from the series, it's still nothing to be excited about. I doubt whoever is working on this movie is gonna care enough about the characters to cast them right and make them act like themselves.
 

Jonipoon

Professional Sandwich Consumer
Thing is that, there's never been a good video game movie. They've all been hit and miss or mediocre at best, and studios are well aware of this. The problem that arises from this is of course that studios don't understand HOW to make a good video game movie, so they keep hiring new inexperienced talent all the time.

There are few people in the industry who actually wants to make movies based on video games, and even if they are passionate about their projects (such as Duncan Jones with Warcraft) even they usually fails to understand the difference between storytelling in video game and movies.
With the exception of very cinematic games like The Last of Us, you can't adapt the story from most games directly into the film medium. The reason is because in games, the story is told through your experience with the character interacting with objects as you are controlling them. Whether its shooting enemies, solving puzzles or exploring areas, your character is, for the most part, alone. Even so, I'm not even sure you could adapt The Last of Us into a film. The story was designed to be told as a video game, and many of the most vital interactions between Joel and Ellie happens as you play the game and not through cutscenes.

So, if you as a filmmaker wants to adapt the story of a video game, the most important thing is that you have to be fully aware of the differences between the film medium and game medium. Studios and filmmakers think that all they have to do is to take the story from the video game, fill in the gaps with cliché Hollywood storytelling, then re-create certain iconic cutscenes or gameplay moments - and voila, finished. But that's not the way to do it. The only way to do it properly is to do a re-imagining.

I actually think that Warcraft was a pretty solid re-imagining of the story presented in the first Warcraft game. I think what ultimately made the movie fail was the fact that it looked like a video game because of all the CGI. It was also quite non-sensical because it didn't have a clear protagonist. Also, Duncan deliberately wanted the armor, swords and architecture to look exactly like they do in the video game.... and that's not always a good thing.
 

KManX89

Rocket Trash Panda
Well, Romero's Resident Evil draft looked like it was gonna do the series justice. It even featured Jill, Chris and the Spencer Mansion incident, but then they scrapped it for that hack, Paul Anderson's script and we got six abominations out of it. The first film was, I guess okay for what it was, but the rest suck, all of them, especially The Final Chapter, good God, was that terrible. :lol:
 
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