After two consecutive original horror films made Zach Cregger one of Hollywood’s hottest directors, the filmmaker behind Barbarian and Weapons was handed the keys to one of gaming’s most iconic franchises when Sony Pictures secured distribution rights to a brand-new Resident Evil reboot. Rather than adapting a specific storyline, Cregger co-wrote an entirely original screenplay alongside John Wick scribe Shay Hatten, drawing inspiration directly from the second through fourth video games while charting a completely fresh narrative course. The film centers on Bryan (Austin Abrams), a medical courier who finds himself trapped in a catastrophic night of survival horror, with the supporting cast rounded out by Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Johnno Wilson. The production is one of 2026’s most anticipated releases, and a select audience finally got the first real look at the footage.
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Sony debuted the first official Resident Evil trailer during its CinemaCon presentation on Monday night in Las Vegas, keeping the footage exclusive to the theater owners and industry insiders gathered at the annual convention. The clip is not currently available online and is expected to surface in the coming weeks. According to multiple journalists present in the room, the footage already paints a picture of a creature-filled horror experience with Cregger’s signature atmosphere firmly intact. Before the trailer screened, Cregger personally addressed the crowd, telling them he had “played a sh-tload of Resident Evil” and that he deliberately structured the film without time jumps or shifting perspectives, focusing instead on one protagonist and one nightmarish journey from start to finish.
What People Are Saying About the CinemaCon Resident Evil Trailer?
The early word out of CinemaCon is overwhelmingly positive, though the trailer’s room-only status means reactions are currently limited to attendees who experienced the footage firsthand. The Hollywood Reporter described the opening of the clip in detail, noting that Abrams’ character knocks on a remote cabin door after a roadside emergency, then places a desperate phone call where he shakily confesses he is in a “seriously f-cked up situation” and that “there’s a chance we may not get to talk to each other again.” Deadline confirmed the same unsettling sequence, adding that creatures and blood-soaked bodies dropping from great heights in the snow are among the visual highlights of the clip.
Reactions from individual journalists who attended the screening were equally enthusiastic. Erik Davis described it as a trailer featuring “a man traversing an evolving landscape full of creatures of all kinds of craziness while leaving a message to his girlfriend that he may not be making it back.” Scott Menzel called it “short and sweet” but said it “totally captures what one has come to expect from Zach Cregger,” predicting it will be “a massive hit” with gamers specifically. Cody Jandreau offered perhaps the most detailed analysis of the footage’s relationship to the source material, praising the “astounding sound design” and specifically noting that Cregger incorporates “audio and visual cues from the game while still feeling like its own thing.”
Resident Evil has now been brought to the big screen eight times, and its track record with game fans is remarkably poor. Paul W.S. Anderson’s six-film series starring Milla Jovovich ran from 2002 to 2017 and grossed over $1.2 billion worldwide, but it accomplished that by almost entirely abandoning the games’ tone and lore in favor of a generically stylized action franchise. The 2021 reboot, Welcome to Raccoon City, directed by Johannes Roberts with a far more game-faithful approach, overcorrected in the opposite direction and failed both critically and commercially. Now, Cregger’s original story prioritizes the atmosphere and mechanical dread of the games rather than their specific plots or characters, which gives him genuine creative freedom but also makes franchise devotees cautious. Cregger’s promise that game fans “will feel their influence everywhere” is a meaningful one coming from a filmmaker of his credibility, but enthusiasm can only travel so far before the full trailer arrives and audiences can judge for themselves.
Resident Evil is scheduled to be released in theaters on September 18, 2026.
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