Resident Evil is a huge success at the box office, recently surpassing $400 million globally. It’s also received fantastic review scores. But hardcore fans of the game series took issue with the film and its direction because it did not contain any storylines or characters from the source material. Director Zach Cregger never intended to, instead opting for his own original story that is set in the world of Resident Evil. Now, Cregger has spoken more about the fallout, saying he became “frustrated at the conversation” around his movie and specifically how it “didn’t have anything to do with the movie.”
He said on The Town that the conversation from the hardcore Resident Evil fanbase was that the movie didn’t live up to their standards, even though Cregger never said he was trying to make a movie that did that.
He said he really loves and is proud of the movie he made. At the same time, Cregger admitted, “I should have known better” about how fans of the game series might react. Anyone who has been on the internet and engaged with anything related to gaming knows how intense hardcore gaming fans can be about even the seemingly smallest of issues, but Cregger said he overlooked this for reasons he doesn’t fully understand.
“I should have understood that that was going to be the case,” Cregger said about the blowback. Cregger previously said he was naive to think gamers would embrace him and his idea for the Resident Evil movie.
Cregger previously said he would never make another franchise movie after Resident Evil, but he’s softened somewhat, saying on the podcast that he has a “never say never” attitude about it. Asked if Cregger’s anti-franchise stance might limit his job opportunities in the future, Cregger said that after Barbarian and Weapons, he feels like he is “playing with house money.”
Cregger said he’s basically already won in life and the rest of his career is gravy. He said he goes into his projects now thinking it could be the last film he ever makes, and he’s OK with that. “I’m going to swing for the f**king fences,” he said. “I’m going to pour it all out to make this as good as I am capable of making it. And whatever happens, whether it makes a lot of money or no money, I just have to make sure I left it all on the court. And if that’s the end, then I’ve had an amazing run.”
Cregger is, of course, not finished making movies. His next film is the deep space sci-fi movie The Flood, starring Jennifer Lawrence. He said in the interview that it’s his biggest-budget movie ever; previously, that record belonged to Resident Evil (a reported $75 million before marketing costs). Cregger said he shouldn’t admit this publicly, but he believes there are real benefits to making movies on lower budgets, in part so a filmmaker like himself has to get creative as he works against constraints.
The Resident Evil movies are produced by Constantin Films, which bought the rights back in the ’90s and has retained them ever since. After Welcome to Raccoon City flopped, Constantin planned to put the film franchise on ice … until Cregger showed up with a pitch.
In addition to The Flood, Cregger is producing the next Weapons movie, which is the spin-off, Aunt Gladys.
