When it comes to the currently gestating Resident Evil cinematic reboot, I have three things to request from Sony Pictures: actually make it a horror movie, base it on one of the classic video games, and keep Paul W.S. Anderson the hell away from it. Considering how incoming director Johannes Roberts says the flick will be “super, super scary,” two of those boxes have seemingly been checked off.
In certain respects, one could argue that Resident Evil: Apocalypse was an adaptation of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, but I’d say “bastardization” was a more apt description. Still, it’s the closest thing we’ve gotten to a full-on game-to-screen translation.
If I were to have my way though, one of the first two games would serve as the basis for the upcoming silver screen reboot. Perhaps acclaimed digital artist Boss Logic had the same thing on their mind, too, as one of their latest pieces places Marvel Studios staples Chris Evans and Scarlett Johansson in the roles of Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield, respectively, and can be viewed below.
While I’m uncertain of whether this franchise will be able to attract such high profile actors at this point, landing Evans and Johansson would provide it with a massive boost. Let’s not forget what a gargantuan hit the Resident Evil 2 remake was for Capcom earlier this year, and one would have to imagine a movie based on it would make the fans go nuts.
Really, just picture it now: the Captain America and Black Widow actors finding themselves caught up in the horror that was the Raccoon City incident, with only their wits and bullets there to keep them alive. And if tons of zombies aren’t enough to keep them on their toes, I’m sure Mr. X wouldn’t mind keeping them company.
So, while we continue pondering the possibilities of the next Resident Evil movie, we’ll advise you to keep watching this space as more develops. Hopefully the wait doesn’t prove as agonizingly long as the one for the original movie had been, though. Long story short, that was a four-year journey that saw several scripts thrown out the window before Anderson’s film hit theaters.
