Resident Evil Reboot Details Reveal What Fans Can Expect from 2026’s Horror

February 20, 2026, 3:10pm

After helming last year’s critically acclaimed box office hit Weapons, director Zach Cregger is looking to take his career to the next level by spearheading a reboot of the Resident Evil film series. There have been plenty of Resident Evil movie adaptations released over the years (six installments in the Milla Jovovich series, plus a 2021 reboot), but none of those were critical darlings. The hope is that Cregger — who has now cemented himself as one of his era’s premier horror voices — will be able to inject some fresh energy into Resident Evil and rejuvenate it as a big-screen property. Based on what we know about Cregger’s approach for the film, it has the potential to be something special.

Videos by ComicBook.com

In an interview with ComicBook while promoting the new film Psycho Killer (out in theaters today), producer Roy Lee, who is working with Cregger on Resident Evil, shed light on what fans can expect from the new movie. “What Zach wants to do is just have the audience get the experience of what he felt playing the games, because he loves the games, and he says there’s a specific feeling you get when you’re about to enter a certain area, and you have limited resources and you don’t want to enter, but you know you have to,” he said. “He’s like that feeling is what he wants people to have when they see the movie.”

Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil Could Be One of the Best Video Game Movies

It’s been known for a while that Cregger’s Resident Evil movie is telling its own original story as opposed to adapting one of the games. His goal is to find a way to capture the spirit of the games while taking fans on a new ride, which is likely for the best. Video game adaptations can run into trouble when they try to translate a game’s exact story to a different medium. The narrative can come across as truncated due to run time constraints, and there’s a chance it won’t be nearly as effective because the interactive component has been cut out. One of the reasons why certain video game titles resonate strongly with players is the fact that they feel as if they’re right in the middle of the story, which is something borderline impossible to convey in a movie or show.

The best way to combat that is to get ahead of it by telling a whole new story designed specifically for film. While the Resident Evil franchise features several iconic characters like Leon Kennedy and Jill Valentine, the IP is much larger than any one figure. The games have been presented from different perspectives before (Ethan Winters is the playable protagonist of Resident Evil: Biohazard and Resident Evil Village), so it’s not as if the movie is breaking tradition by going away from the familiar faces. There’s an opportunity here to expand the franchise lore and show how the Raccoon City outbreak impacted other people.

Cregger seems to have a very focused plan in place for Resident Evil, meaning this could possibly be one of the best video game movies of all time. Through his previous works Barbarian and Weapons, Cregger has excelled at crafting a very specific type of mood and atmosphere that blends entertainment and horror, which is the perfect combination for Resident Evil. Just like the games, Cregger’s movie can have terrifying sequences and set pieces that put the audience on edge that are balanced out by fun character interactions. Early in his career, he’s already a master at injecting darkly comedic moments into uncomfortable situations, so his Resident Evil should be a treat for fans and newcomers alike.

An official plot synopsis for Cregger’s Resident Evil hasn’t been revealed yet, but the director has shed some light on what he has in mind. He’s confirmed that the plot follows a character from “point A to point B.” Rumors have suggested the story is about a courier tasked with delivering a package to an abandoned hospital, which feels like a scenario that would be right at home in the world of Resident Evil. Assuming this is true, there would be plenty of ways to tap into the spirit of the survival horror nature of the games (the courier protagonist having limited resources as he makes his way through an unforgiving environment) while still delivering plenty of surprises since everyone watching is unfamiliar with the narrative. Hopefully, Cregger’s film delivers on its promise and starts a new era for Resident Evil on screen.

What do you think? Leave a comment below and join the conversation now in the ComicBook Forum!