It seems a new Resident Evil movie is getting underway and has managed to do so somewhat quietly up to this point. What’s more, this seems like it could actually be a sequel to 2021’s Resident Evil: Welcome to Racoon City, as it appears to have the same production company behind it. But before we go overboard, let’s dive into exactly what’s going on and then get into what this all might mean.
As reported by the folks at Bloody Disgusting, a recent report from Sudbury.com revealed that the government has secured $11 million worth of funding to help fund twenty projects being produced in this part of Canada. Things get interesting as it’s revealed that one of the projects is titled The Umbrella Chronicles and is receiving $2 million of that money. What’s more, Raccoon HG Film Productions, the company behind Welcome to Racoon City, is backing this movie as well. No word on the cast, who may be in the director’s chair, or any plot details, but with partial funding secured and a filming location on the books, this very much appears to be legit.
Johannes Roberts directed the 2021 reboot of the franchise, which took the action back to the ‘90s. Admittedly, critical response was a little soft, and it didn’t do particularly well at the box office, taking in just $42 million against a reported $25 million budget. However, this was at a time when the industry was still recovering from the pandemic, and it’s entirely possible that Sony did well with the movie on VOD. At the same time, broadly speaking, the Resident Evil films have historically been quite successful, taking in $1.27 billion to date. That indicates there is still money to be made.
Also of note, The Umbrella Chronicles was the name of an action-heavy shooter game within the series that was released in 2007. Could that serve as inspiration for this new movie? Aside from that, it’s worth noting that we’ve had several smaller-budget, animated movies within the franchise before. There’s even a new one coming this summer called Resident Evil: Death Island. Bearing that in mind, is it possible that this movie will be a lower-budget, direct-to-video play? Maybe something geared toward streaming and VOD? Not that anyone asked me, but if I were to guess, that seems like the safest bet. If it were a more significant production or a proper sequel to the 2021 film, the news probably would have gotten out through more traditional channels.
This mystery Resident Evil movie doesn’t currently have a release date, but stay tuned as we’ll bring more concrete details as we get them.
