Resident Evil: Afterlife Pushed Back To 2011

Those of you who are looking forward to the fourth installment in the Resident Evil franchise, entitled Resident Evil: Afterlife, will have to wait a while longer before you get to see it. Shock Till You Drop has learned that studio Screen Gems has pushed back the fourth Resident Evil from its originally planned release date of August 27th, 2010, until January 14th, 2011. That’s almost five more months without a new Resident Evil movie in all our lives…

…However will we survive?!

So why has the studio delayed the fim? Well, if you’ve been following the news about it, you’ll know Resident Evil 4 is being done in 3D (it was only a matter of time…) by none other than the team that worked on James Cameron’s Avatar. If nothing else it should make the movie worth watching just to see if it even comes close to matching how the technology was employed in Cameron’s hyped-up sci-fi blockbuster.

Those involved with Afterlife have realized the film – currently shooting – will need a lot more post-production work for the 3D aspect, so they’ve given director Paul W.S. Anderson (not to be confused with There Will Be Blood maestro, Paul T. Anderson) a few more months to finish the movie (like all directors, I bet he’ll be glad to have that extension). The studio has moved up the release of the Paul Bettany comic book action-horror, Priest, to fill that late summer slot once occupied by Resident Evil 4.

An interesting thing that Shock Till You Drop points out about this news, is that Afterlife will now be competing with the Joss Whedon-produced horror film, The Cabin in the Woods, which was also delayed (for almost a year)  because it’s being done in 3D. They’re both set to be released on the same day and appeal to a lot of the same audiences: I’m going to guess that if either of them is going to be moved from that January 14th date, it’ll be Whedon’s flick. The Resident Evil franchise is just much more bankable than a film like The Cabin in the Woods, which general audiences have never heard of.

I’m not a huge fan of the Resident Evil series: I enjoyed the first one, and will still watch it from time to time when I want to switch my brain off and just enjoy a brainless (ha, get it? ) action-horror film. However, the second was… lacking, to put it mildly, in a lot of areas, and I never did catch the third (although I’ve heard I’m not missing much). I’m not too thrilled about the fourth film being in 3D, as it doesn’t seem like a franchise that will employ the technology the right way, but will fall back on the gimmicky “things coming out of the screen at you for no reason” trend that I can’t stand.

Just as a reminder, the film following Afterlife is tentatively called Resident Evil Begins, and is supposedly some sort of “quasi-reboot” of the franchise. I’m intrigued to see what THAT turns out like.

Resident Evil: Afterlife will see the return of franchise lead Milla Jovovich, as well as Ali Larter, Spencer Locke, Wentworth Miller, Shawn Roberts, Boris Kodjoe, Kim Coates, Norman Yeung and Kasey Barnfield. It’s directed by Paul W.S. Anderson (Event Horizon, AVP).

What do you make of Resident Evil 4 being delayed almost five months? Are you a fan of the series so far? Do you like that the next installment will be in 3D?

As stated, Resident Evil: Afterlife is now set to hit theaters on January 14th, 2011.

Source: ShockTillYouDrop