Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City Director Explains Why It's a Reboot

The upcoming Resident Evil reboot movie, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, is set to release later this year on November 24th, and ahead of that, first-look photos for the movie were released showing many iconic characters like Jill Valentine, Claire Redfield, and Leon Kennedy. Additionally, there is a new interview with director Johannes Roberts answering all sorts of questions, including but not limited to why the new movie is a reboot at all rather than continuing the successful Resident Evil movie franchise starring Milla Jovovich.

"I actually love the first movie so much," Roberts told IGN via email. "I think it's great. And Milla just created such an iconic character. But it was its own thing. It wasn't really Resident Evil as I knew it - the previous movies never captured the game and the feelings I got when playing the game (that's not a criticism I think it just went in a different direction). I wanted to go back to the horror of it all. I wanted scares and atmosphere rather than full-on action. I think fans of the game felt the same - they wanted to see the iconic characters and locations and feel that the movie was more in line with the Resident Evil game world so that's really why we chose to go in that direction."

Here's the synopsis for Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, in case you missed it:

"Once the booming home of pharmaceutical giant Umbrella Corporation, Raccoon City is now a dying Midwestern town. The company's exodus left the city a wasteland…with great evil brewing below the surface. When that evil is unleashed, the townspeople are forever…changed…and a small group of survivors must work together to uncover the truth behind Umbrella and make it through the night."

As noted above, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is scheduled to release on November 24th. The movie was written and directed by Johannes Roberts and stars Kaya Scodelario as Claire Redfield, Hannah John-Kamen as Jill Valentine, Robbie Amell as Chris Redfield, Tom Hopper as Albert Wesker, Avan Jogia as Leon S. Kennedy, Nathan Dales as Brad Vickers, Marina Mazepa as Lisa Trevor, and Neal McDonough as Dr. William Birkin. You can check out all of our previous coverage of the upcoming Resident Evil movie reboot right here.

What do you think about what we have seen of the upcoming Resident Evil movie so far? Do the new first-look images make you excited to check it out when it releases later this year? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk about all things gaming!