Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is currently working on producing CGI for the film's monsters. Based on Capcom's grippingly intense video games, Johannes Roberts' Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City presents a new take on the franchise after Paul W. S. Anderson's film series. Anderson's films spanned six installments, all led by Milla Jovovich, and they went on to gross $1 billion at the box office collectively. Yet, despite their commercial success, the movies were condemned by fans for radically diverging from the source material, with the later films having almost nothing to do with the iconic games. But in his forthcoming film, Roberts now seeks to return to the franchise's survival horror roots, thereby satisfying disgruntled fans who longed for an origin story set in 1998 Raccoon City.
The reboot film has been in development since 2017. At one point, The Conjuring's James Wan was even attached to the movie as an executive producer. But he left the film in favor of Warner Bros. Mortal Kombat live-action movie. Subsequently, Roberts stepped in to write and direct the film, who confirmed that the movie would steer closer to the genuine horror aspects of the long-running game series. Roberts also added that his movie would navigate the secrets of Spencer Mansion while also dwelling into the mystery behind the outbreak in Raccoon City. Until recently, there wasn't much known about the progress of Roberts' film. But last month, the movie got its official Thanksgiving weekend release date after being delayed from the September spot. And now, there has been another update concerning the production status of the reboot.
During the 2nd Resident Evil showcase, Movie and Anime Producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi offered some details regarding the next media installments in the franchise. Although Kobayashi primarily talked about the upcoming Netflix anime series RESIDENT EVIL: Infinite Darkness, which dropped its trailer yesterday, he teased the progress of Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City as well. Kobayashi said that the reboot has wrapped up filming in Toronto, and now the creative team has moved on to producing the CGI for the monsters.
"I have one more announcement for you, related to the live-action reboot of Resident Evil. Filming in Toronto has wrapped up and we are in the middle of creating the creatures in CGI."
The first two Resident Evil games, which the forthcoming reboot is seeking to adapt, featured a ton of imposing creatures including Zombies, Hunters, Chimeras, Crimson Heads, Plant 42, Neptune, Sliding Worms, G-Larvae, and Moths. Although it isn't entirely clear which of these brutes would appear in the movie, it has already been confirmed that the reboot would include a bunch of original game characters, such as Chris Redfield (Robbie Amell), Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen), Albert Wesker (Tom Hopper), Leon S. Kennedy (Avan Jogia), Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario), and Ada Wong (Lily Gao). Besides that, the threatening atmosphere of the original games will also be kept intact, and RE1's "around-the-corner style of storytelling" will be used as a cinematographic device.
It's a no-brainer that the success of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City depends on its realistic and abundant depiction of game creatures. A failure to emulate the games' formidable mutated critters with the finest attention to detail would likely do a disservice to fans who have been eagerly looking forward to the movie exploring the unique universe created in the games. Recently, the live-action Monster Hunter film was lambasted by critics for its derivative monster design, and for featuring only a fraction of the source material's expansive roster of creatures. So hopefully, the Resident Evil reboot will learn from this example and strive to faithfully bring the Resident Evil beasts to life, instead of coasting along with familiar kaiju designs and an unambitious visual style.
Source: Resident Evil