Resident Evil (film series)

The Resident Evil film series is a biopunk action horror franchise from Sony Pictures, based on Capcom’s video game series. Constantin Film, a German studio, bought the live-action rights in January 1997. Paul W. S. Anderson was announced as writer and director for the first film in 2000, which was released in 2002. He stayed on as writer and producer for the next two installments, *Apocalypse* (2004) and *Extinction* (2007), and returned as director for *Afterlife* (2010), *Retribution* (2012), and *The Final Chapter* (2016). These six movies follow Alice, a character created for the films, played by Milla Jovovich. She is a former security specialist and covert operative fighting the Umbrella Corporation, whose bioweapons cause a zombie apocalypse. Game characters like Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, Ada Wong, Carlos Oliveira, Chris Redfield, Leon S. Kennedy, Barry Burton, and antagonists Albert Wesker and James Marcus also appear. The series was rebooted once with *Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City* (2021), directed by Johannes Roberts. Although critics generally gave the films negative reviews, the series has grossed over $1.2 billion. It was once the highest-grossing video game film series and the highest-grossing horror film series, and it still holds the record as the highest-grossing zombie film series and for the most live-action film adaptations of a video game.

**Original series**

**Resident Evil (2002)** In January 1997, Constantin Film secured the live-action rights, with Alan B. McElroy possibly writing the script. George A. Romero was hired by Constantin Film to direct and write, but his script was rejected by Constantin producer Bernd Eichinger and Capcom producer Yoshiki Okamoto, despite support from others at both companies. A documentary about this adaptation was released digitally on January 7, 2025. In late 2000, Paul W. S. Anderson was announced as director and writer. He said the film would avoid ties to the games because "under-performing movie tie-ins are too common and Resident Evil, of all games, deserved a good celluloid representation." Milla Jovovich was cast as Alice in 2001. By May 2001, Columbia TriStar was in final talks for North American distribution, with a $40 million budget.