“There was a test screening for Resident Evil. I hear it’s great,” he wrote on social media platform X. While this may come as welcome news for some, others have taken to social media to discuss how this could also potentially mean that, while it’s a good movie on its own, it might not be a faithful adaptation. However, just about everyone involved with the project has been tight-lipped about it, so no real details about its characters or plot have been revealed, at least for now.

Cregger had spoken in the past about how his Resident Evil movie would remain faithful to the core tenets of the franchise while still telling an original story. He also wants to make sure that the movie ends up being a love letter to the storied gaming franchise.

“Let me say this: this is not breaking the rules of the games,” Cregger said. “I am the biggest worshiper of the games, so I’m telling a story that is a love letter to the games and follows the rules of the games. It is obedient to the lore of the games, it’s just a different story. I’m not going to tell Leon’s story, because Leon’s story is told in the games. [Fans] already have that.”

He acknowledged that there might be some Resident Evil fans who want to see a faithful adaptation of one of the games’ stories. To them, however, he said, “They can play the game.” This might indicate that we might not get to see iconic characters like Leon S. Kennedy or Jill Valentine grace the big screen in the film, unfortunately.

As for the freedom Cregger has with the movie’s plot, the CEO of Resident Evil film rights holder Constantin Film, Oliver Berben, had spoken about it back in February.

“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. To achieve this, Cregger has been given “the carte blanche to do whatever he wanted to do with that IP,” he explained.

The Resident Evil movie is being produced by PlayStation Productions alongside Constantin Film. The story is being co-written by Shay Hatten of John Wick: Chapter 4 and Army of the Dead fame, along with Zach Cregger, known for Barbarian, who is also the film’s director. Rather than being a new entry in the long-running Resident Evil movie franchise, however, Cregger’s film will be a reboot.

While he didn’t go into too many details, Berben noted that the previous success of the Resident Evil franchise has opened up the doors to allow a new generation to bring their own voice to the IP, even beyond it simply being a brand new story.

“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. He went on to note that, to achieve this, Cregger has been given “the carte blanche to do whatever he wanted to do with that IP.”

How far this carte blanche will affect the story of the movie is currently unknown. However, back in August 2025, Cregger had said that the new story being told will remain faithful to the rules of the Resident Evil universe. Being a self-professed fan of the games, he went on to refer to the story as a “love letter to the games” that “follows the rules of the games.”

“Let me say this: this is not breaking the rules of the games,” Cregger said. “I am the biggest worshiper of the games, so I’m telling a story that is a love letter to the games and follows the rules of the games. It is obedient to the lore of the games, it’s just a different story. I’m not going to tell Leon’s story, because Leon’s story is told in the games. [Fans] already have that.”

He also acknowledged Resident Evil fans that may have wanted a story closer to what we see in the games by noting that, “They can play the game.”

It is worth noting that Cregger has quite a bit of experience with the horror genre, having previously worked on Barbarian and Weapons as director and writer. Both films take place in urban settings, and focus on ever-increasing tension that gets released gradually over the course of the story.

Cregger had previously also spoken about the Resident Evil games, and how the movie will draw on them for inspiration. He brings up high-tension moments like being low and health while walking down a dark hallway, being afraid of something around the corner that might kill you.

“There’s a moment that comes in almost every Resident Evil game where you find yourself in a dark passageway, your health is almost zero and there’s no way around,” he said. “You have to go through but you know there’s something awful for you in the darkness.”

“That is a thrill that the Resident Evil games have perfected. My movie will be built in the spirit of those games and follows one central protagonist from point A to point B, as they descend deeper into hell.”

The Resident Evil movie is slated to hit theatres on September 18th. Fans of the franchise have plenty to look forward to before that, however, since February 27th will see the release of Resident Evil Requiem on PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

Rather, Cregger is more interested in telling a fresh story within the world of Resident Evil. He said that the movie will act as a love letter to the game franchise, and will follow the same rules for its fiction as the games do.

“Let me say this: this is not breaking the rules of the games,” Cregger said. “I am the biggest worshiper of the games, so I’m telling a story that is a love letter to the games and follows the rules of the games. It is obedient to the lore of the games, it’s just a different story. I’m not going to tell Leon’s story, because Leon’s story is told in the games. [Fans] already have that.” Following up on fans that might want to see a more faithful adaptation of Resident Evil games, Cregger said that “They can play the game.”

Rumours surrounding the movie have indicated that its story will revolve around a courier and their attempt at delivering a package to a remote hospital. However, with the outbreak of the zombie virus, they invariably will end up in a battle for survival against “hordes of mutated creatures”.

Back in April, Cregger had also spoken about the Resident Evil games, and how he is taking inspiration from them to execute the vision for his movie. “There’s a moment that comes in almost every Resident Evil game where you find yourself in a dark passageway, your health is almost zero and there’s no way around,” he said. “You have to go through but you know there’s something awful for you in the darkness.”

“That is a thrill that the Resident Evil games have perfected. My movie will be built in the spirit of those games and follows one central protagonist from point A to point B, as they descend deeper into hell.”

The Resident Evil movie series getting rebooted was announced all the way back in January. The production on the film will be handled by Resident Evil screen rights owner Constantin Film along with PlayStation Production. The movie will be co-written by Cregger along with Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapter 4, Army of the Dead).

When it comes to movies, Resident Evil’s live action outings have always been an entirely separate franchise from the games, with their continuities being highly divergent despite the movies borrowing elements from the games like the existence of the Umbrella Corporation. The first of these movies, staring Mila Jovovich, came out all the way back in 2002. Despite the fact that the movies are barely connected to the game franchise, the movies have made $1.2 billion worldwide.

The Cregger-directed Resident Evil movie is slated to hit theatres on September 18, 2026. Rumours have indicated that it will feature Austin Abrams in one of its leading roles.

PlayStation Productions will work with Resident Evil screen rights-owner Constantin Film to work on a new movie, which will be co-written by Shay Hatten (John Wick: Chapter 4, Army of the Dead). Joining Hatten will be Zach Cregger (Barbarian) as a co-writer and director on the project. As for the studio handling production of the movie, quite a few names have entered a bidding war, including Warner Bros. and Netflix.

So far, the live action Resident Evil movies have had their own continuity, telling stories entirely divorced from the games from which they take their name. These movies have starred Milla Jovovich, and the first movie came out all the way back in 2002. Despite not really being related to the games aside from featuring zombies and the Umbrella Corporation, the Jovovich Resident Evil movies have been quite successful, making $1.2 billion worldwide.

In the mean time, PlayStation Productions’ upcoming movie Until Dawn recently got a trailer that gave us the low-down on what we can expect from the horror flick. While the movie will feature classic horror tropes like teenagers hanging out at a creepy cabin in the woods, things quickly start getting weird once, after all of the teenagers are killed, time rewinds and the protagonists all wake up while still retaining the memories of their horrific deaths.

Interestingly, the Until Dawn movie will not be an adaptation of the game. Instead, the game wants to tell its own story featuring a group of teenagers as its protagonist. However, there does seem to be some sort of meta-narrative at play considering the concept of time reversing while the characters all remember what happened mimics the idea of save files in any video game.

Until Dawn is directed by David F. Sandberg and written by Blaur Butler and Gary Dauberman. The movie stars Ella Rubin, Michael Cimino, Odessa A’zion, Ji-young Yoo, Belmont Cameli, Maima Mitchell, and Peter Stormare. The movie will be hitting theatres on April 25.

With the movie on its way, there are also rumours that a sequel to Until Dawn is in the works at Horizon Call of the Mountain developer Firesprite.