Resident Evil film gossip

By Tom Bramwell Published 9 February, 2006

New director for the third?

Indistinct deathly murmurs abound about some movement on the next Resident Evil film.

Russell Mulcahy of Highlander II infamy is apparently now attached to direct the third film, and it's to be known as Resident Evil: Extinction, not RE: Afterlife, which was supposedly the name of the third script that seemingly outgoing director Paul W.S. Anderson had penned.

Either way, people are still suggesting that events of the third will still dovetail into the already confirmed fourth script, which relocates the action to Japan.

All very exciting, obviously. Milla Jovovich will reprise the role of Alice, according to the same report - which stems, it would appear, from either Variety or Empire - although Movies Online contradicts this with a rumour that Jovovich will be replaced by a Canadian lass called Hailey Birnie because of a scheduling conflict.

Production will apparently begin this year. Capcom had no comment to offer. Gosh, wouldn't it be nice if anybody knew anything about this?

Anyway, whatever they do will of course follow on from the excitement of Resident Evil 1 and 2. Yours truly actually liked the first one, which saw Jovovich wake up in a scary house and then descend into an underground zombie and cliché-infested research base; the second began as things in Raccoon City got worse, but I thought it was so rubbish I turned it off after about half an hour and never went back to it.

Hopefully RE3 will be a return to form, assuming minds are made up about key issues like where it's shot. Apparently it's in either Mexico or Australia. GAH.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (28) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Roamer #1 6 years ago

    The second movie was best! That hardcore police lady was exceptionally beautiful, eclipsing even Jojovich's splendour.

  • Darren #2 6 years ago

    I thought I'd accidentally clicked on the Empire website by mistake... what's with all this movie news?

  • davesy #3 6 years ago

    "Russell Mulcahy of Highlander II infamy" Or Russell Mulcahy of Highlander fame!

    Yep H2 stank, but Highlander was a cracking film.... And he also directed the Duran Duran videos for "Hungry Like The Wolf", "Rio", "Save A Prayer", "The Wild Boys"...

    * Sticks head back into the 80's *

  • Aretak #4 6 years ago

    I really liked the first Resident Evil film, but the second is one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

  • peterfll #5 6 years ago

    I thought both films were silly enjoyable trash. You know, a bit like eating a bumper bag of Maltesers; you start off enjoying them, but by the end of the bag you're feeling a bit sick but you know you'd do it again.
    Edited by 1 at 09/02/06 @ 12:44

  • Kami #6 6 years ago

    Roamer, I couldn't disagree more if I tried... the second RE movie was a total waste. It's not as much fun when the lead is a super-human killing machine... and then there's the ending of Apocalypse, which in my mind is a serious contender for "most stupid movie closing ever". Whoever wrote that crap in needs to be shot. Numerous times.

    But you CAN make RE: Apocalypse look like a masterpiece. Just put it side-by-side with Alone in the Dark...


    I hope the third film will be good... but we have Siren and Silent Hill on the horizon, and Silent Hill on its own is looking to be one of the most polished, tidy and clever game-to-movie translations ever. After that, a new Resident Evil film will need to be an oscar-winning epic (Almost burst out laughing at that!) to avoid being laughed out of existance...

  • kangarootoo #7 6 years ago

    I much preferred the first film, with the exception that the Jill Valentine character was indeed cute as fk. She even made me forget all about Thandi Newton in MI2 for a minute or two, but I soon recovered.

  • PortJourno #8 6 years ago

    There is no way in hell a skinny lass like Jovovich could beat the crap out of Nemesis (one of the best villains ever!) like she did on that movie. RE2 stank to high heavens, I tell you!

  • tengu #9 6 years ago

    First movie was poor, second was garbage of Uwe Boll proportions, so my hopes for this one are low, to say the least.

  • smelly #10 6 years ago

    I prefered the 2nd movie to the 1st too!

  • kangarootoo #11 6 years ago

    @PortJourno

    Errr, she had special powers you know. Isn't that kind of like saying there is no way Superman would be able to run faster than that speeding train, or that Hulk couldn't pick up that really big rock?

  • paulf #12 6 years ago

    Resident Evil : extinction - if only

    (Im talking about the films not the games)

  • alimokrane #13 6 years ago

    I think the first movie was the one closest ot how the games work and I think it was quite good. In the second one however, Milla's character was tranformed into some kind of a bio enhanced creature which totally screwed up the movie. I hope the third one focuses more on Jill valentine's character rather than Alice. IMO, Alice's character was falttend and cliched.

  • Triggerhappytel #14 6 years ago

    They should follow the plot of Resi 4. It's a damn site more entertaining and deep than most crap we get in the cinema these days.

  • reality_cheque #15 6 years ago

    I liked the mental AI. "You're all going to die down here..." was my most used sample of whateverthefuckyearitwas.

    TBH I didn't notice much about the films other than Girl Who's Name I Can't Spell in a red dress, although I have better being miffed for some reason when I came out of the cinema after the second one - that could be because McDonalds had shut and I needed a drink, because I'm really quite fickle sometimes - but I agree with peterfll in that it's just junk food for the media-consuming part of the brain.

    I'll probably go see this at the cinema to make the most of the effects and soundtrack, and never buy it on DVD. Unless they do a box-set, which I'm a right sucker for it seems.

  • Furbs #16 6 years ago

    The second one was good purely for the broken finger scene.

  • Kronos #17 6 years ago

    ..but mostly Sienna Guillory

  • smoison #18 6 years ago

    Man there going to have more RE movies then games soon....

    P.S The 1st was better then the 2nd... There only getting worse.... (IMHO)

  • TheChojin #19 6 years ago

    I must admit I did get quite scared during the RE movies due to the fact the cinema was empty and I dont like the dark.

  • Roamer #20 6 years ago

    The Nemesis reminded me of something from the muppets, only you know with... er... large guns. Quite amusing, frankly. I love these kind of films, like Dawn of the Dead, Land of the Dead, Resi 1 & 2. Horror movies that aren't scary - brilliant :)

  • Lagto_Soa #21 6 years ago

    The first film was one of the loudest I've ever seen, but a good laugh. The second was almost unwatchable. The third... well, part of me wants to think Russell Mulcahy could make a half-decent job of it, but then I see the words "script by Paul Anderson" and it's all over.

  • Vin #22 6 years ago

    "Hopefully RE3 will be a return to form..."

    Eh?

  • Baldanders #23 6 years ago

    The 2nd RE movie was the worst film ive been to the cinema to watch. After i watched it i kinda sneaked out of the cinema as i didnt want anyone knowing i watched such a crap film. I didnt even want the people who were in the same screening knowing i watched it. And that aint no joke i really thought it was that bad.

  • Stormflood_UK #24 6 years ago

    @reality_cheque

    So are you a knob twiddler then? Or did I misinterpret 'sample'?

  • Mr_Brown #25 6 years ago

    I've given up all hope in Resident Evil films now. The first two were complete tripe. With all the characters they could have chosen throughout the games series, they decided it best to make up a generic character with no personality and can magically do matial hearts and use weapons like a pro.

    Personally I would have liked to see them use an existing character as the star. They could have done a spin off with Ada, or used Jill or even that bloke from Code Veronica (one with two guns who helps claire out) Anyone! For RE to be good, it needs new actors, new characters and to completly deny the existence of the first 2 films...not likely though heh...

  • kangarootoo #26 6 years ago

    @Mr_Brown

    They could do martial arts and shoot well in the first film because they were all trained soldiers. And the Jill character is in the 2nd film. Are you sure you didn't nod off durng the trailers and dream your own versions of the films?

  • Mr_Brown #27 6 years ago

    Is possible actually. They were that exciting. I'm aware they were 'trained' but still my point stands, making the lead awesomely good in every area just makes things dull and generic. I admit I haven't seen all of Resident Evil Apocolypse. And I am aware Jill played a part in that film. But from what I saw she was made to look like a complete noob compared to the lead and was hanging on her tail like a civillian rather than a part of STAR's.

    But hey, each to their own heh.

  • reality_cheque #28 6 years ago

    @Stormflood_UK: I was back in the day, until I moved away from people with good music taste I can play to. I need to get back into it, but sadly have no equipment, no venue, no crowd... fingers crossed when I get my arse into London I might be able to pull a few strings and get myself a set somewhere *hopes*

  • Genji #29 6 years ago

    Is there anyone here who ISN'T a knob twiddler? I mean, really.

    (sorry, ladies)