Source: Screen Gems / Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City
Resident Evil is slated to return to the big screen his year, barring any delays due to the pandemic, and now we get our first glimpse of the movie’s stars as the video game’s iconic characters.
Monday (Aug.30) Screen Gems has unleashed first look photos from its upcoming film Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City. IGN had the pleasure sharing the photos first from the film that the studio explains is not a reboot or a remake of their Resident Evil film franchise that was loosely based on the popular zombie apocalypse video game franchise that seen a plethora of games hit consoles since it was first introduced in 1996.
In the first look photos, we see the new big-screen versions of Claire and Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Leon S. Kennedy, Albert Wesker, Richard Aiken, plus a peek at one of the film’s main monsters.
As per IGN, Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City is written and directed by Johannes Roberts (47 Meters Down, The Strangers: Prey at Night) and will be based on the first two games in the franchise. It will chronicle how the once vibrant town of Raccoon City becomes ground zero of the zombie nightmare that would later engulf the world thanks to the shady pharmaceutical company, Umbrella. That can be clearly be seen based on the photos that were released.
In one of the three images pictured above, we see Leon S. Kennedy (Avan Jogia) and Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario) looking ready to put hot lead in either a zombie or some other product of Dr. William Birkin’s ( Neal McDonough) G-Virus lurking the halls. Leon can be seen rocking his RPD uniform, signifying we will be relieving honestly what is one of the worst first days on the jobs ever. In the popular sequel released in 1998, players helped navigate both Leon and Claire through the zombie ravaged Raccoon City experiencing their adventure through the revolutionary at the time zapping system.
Resident Evil 2 would eventually get a fantastic and even more terrifying remake on PS4 and Xbox One that totally reimagined the game.
In the second pic, we see characters from the original Resident Evil game Albert Wesker (Tom Hopper), Richard Aiken (Chad Rook), Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen), and Chris Redfield (Robbie Amell). Noticeably absent is Barry Burton. We would like to know where the hell he is at?
Source: Screen Gems / Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City
Finally, fans of the remake of the first game that first launched on the Nintendo Gamecube will be happy to hear that movie will feature Lisa Trevor, played in the film by Marina Mazepa. In the game, Lisa is the daughter of the architect of the Spencer Mansion, the iconic location where the first game takes place and can be seen in the picture above. In the game, Lisa went missing while walking the Raccoon Forest. It turns out she became a guinea pig for Umbrella scientists working out of the Arklay Laboratory and was experimented on for years and was exposed to many variations of the virus.
In the game, Lisa is the mother of the Nemesis Tyrant and G-Virus and is indestructible and haunts either Jill or Chris throughout certain portions of the survival horror game.
Source: Screen Gems / Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City
The photos still leave much up to interpretation, but it’s good to see the movies stick close to the source material. Speaking exclusively with IGN, the film’s director revealed that Capcom has been working very closely with him on the film, and “Every character and creature is from the game and as such, I wanted to be as faithful as possible. I wanted to create a truly immersive feeling for the fans,” Roberts explained.
Sounds good.
Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City hits theaters on November 24, 2021.
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Photos: Screen Gems / Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City
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