For better or worse, January is poised to be a defining month for two of Screen Gems’ lavish franchises. On one hand, Kate Beckinsale and director Anna Foerster are pumping fresh blood into the Underworld series while Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, the sixth and final entry into the studio’s undead juggernaut, will close the book on Alice’s journey on January 27. One door closes and another opens, or something to that effect.
Completing that home run is Paul WS Anderson, the filmmaker that has orchestrated apocalyptic chaos for Screen Gems ever since the first Resident Evil clawed its way into theaters back in 2002, directing, writing and producing all six installments. He’s one half of the franchise’s creative driving force, with lead star and real-life partner Milla Jovovich being the second.
When The Final Chapter touches down, the actress and all-round franchise stalwart will once again take up arms as Alice, who is forced to circle back to Raccoon City – very much ground zero in the Resident Evil universe – to shut down the nefarious Umbrella Corporation once and for all. And we really do mean once and for all. But for all of the lavish set pieces littered across Anderson’s series, the director told Empire that fans can look forward to a more realistic aesthetic in a few months’ time, stating: “It’s a more location-driven picture. It gives this movie a reality that some of the others have lacked.”
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, also starring Iain Glen, Shawn Roberts, Ruby Rose, Eoin Macken, William Levy, Fraser James and Ali Larter as Claire Redfield, opens on January 27, 2017.
Picking up immediately after the events in Resident Evil: Retribution, humanity is on its last legs after Alice is betrayed by Wesker in Washington D.C. As the only survivor of what was meant to be humanity’s final stand against the undead hordes, Alice must return to where the nightmare began – Raccoon City, where the Umbrella Corporation is gathering its forces for a final strike against the only remaining survivors of the apocalypse. In a race against time Alice will join forces with old friends, and an unlikely ally, in an action packed battle with undead hordes and new mutant monsters. Between losing her superhuman abilities and Umbrella’s impending attack, this will be Alice’s most difficult adventure as she fights to save humanity, which is on the brink of oblivion.