By: Maddy Choi

Media Productions

On Sept. 18, Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil (RE) reboot officially premiered in IMAX theaters worldwide. Cregger’s film adaptation of the popular franchise has gained traction since its global release, grossing approximately 245 million dollars in box office revenue by Oct. 5. During production, Cregger and his diligent team worked with a 75 million dollar budget to produce this cinematic and thrilling experience.

The RE reboot stars protagonist Bryan Hodukavich, portrayed by actor Austin Abrams. Bryan works as a medical courier for Lightfoot Medical Transport in Raccoon City, a fictional town in midwest America, transferring medical equipment and organs between a network of hospitals. After inadvertently hitting an unnamed woman with his car while transporting a vital antidote, Bryan is thrown into a horrifying world contaminated by an infectious zombie outbreak. Throughout this action-packed movie, Bryan is forced to survive in a borderline apocalyptic civilization, carrying the last component of an antidote that could prevent the catastrophic spread of the disease.

Shinji Mikama and Tokuro Fujiwara originally developed Resident Evil in 1996 as a Japanese survival horror video game. Shinji and Fujiwara’s Resident Evil features Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine as playable characters highly specialized in combat. The popularization of Resident Evil has sparked numerous remakes and adaptations, such as the creation of a variety of interconnected storylines, diverging plots, along with the introduction of more than 200 characters, including Leon S. Kennedy, Albert Wesker, and Ada Wong. Since its initial release three decades ago, more than a dozen online, film, and live-action versions have been produced, including Resident Evil 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, Degeneration (2008), Vendetta (2017), and Death Island (2023). 

Fans of the RE reboot commend Cregger’s originality, citing his unconventional depiction of an initially unexceptional, inexperienced protagonist rather than one trained in combat and warfare. Viewers quote Bryan’s ordinary life as a blue-collar worker, mentioning how it contributes to his organic character development and relatability throughout the film. Furthermore, many laud Cregger’s ability to seamlessly emulate the video game through the incorporation of numerous elements from Mikama and Fujiwara’s RE. The Resident Evil remake includes continuous perspective switches between first and third person, the intentional placement of specific rations and equipment from the original RE, and Bryan’s natural, video-game-like progression throughout the movie. For fans of the original game, this latest adaptation can offer a fresh perspective on a mainstream classic.

[source: IMDb, Sony Pictures]