Constantin Film has announced that the Resident Evil motion picture franchise will be rebooted, reports Variety.
The German production company’s Chairman, Martin Moszkowicz, confirmed the news during the recent Cannes Film Festival, although didn’t provide any further details on the planned reboot other than it’s being planned. The company has produced all six previous instalments in the action-horror franchise, which wrapped with January’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.
Resident Evil hit cinemas back in 2002 under the direction of Paul W.S. Anderson (of Mortal Kombat and Event Horizon fame), and introduced a series of new characters for the series’ big-screen adaptation, including Milla Jovovich’s zombie arse-kicking heroine, Alice. The film was followed in 2004 by Resident Evil Apocalypse and Resident Evil Extinction in 2007, completing the first trilogy.
While initially it was believed this would end the series, after a three-year break Anderson returned with 2010’s Resident Evil Afterlife which kick-started the final trilogy, comprised of Resident Evil: Retribution in 2012 and this year’s aforementioned The Final Chapter. Despite a critical roasting, the Resident Evil movies were a box office success, pulling in over one billion dollars and cementing Resident Evil as the most successful cinematic franchise based on a game to date.
Outside of Anderson’s live-action films, Capcom has released a number of CG movies that are directly linked to the series’ increasingly convoluted narrative, including Resident Evil Degeneration, Resident Evil Damnation, and this year’s upcoming entry, Resident Evil Vendetta.