The ‘Resident Evil’ Reboot Is Still Moving Along Nicely
By George Robbins
Movies are in a bit of a downward spiral at the moment due to the way that the industry is handling movie releases and how far down movie theaters are going. Movie theaters are not able to bring people in the same way that they have always been able to do so and there is nothing that can really be done at the moment to change that fact. The fact remains that people are still far too wary of theaters to want to go out to them and watch new films unfold before their eyes. Businesses that focus more on just amassing large crowds so that they can make their money are the ones currently suffering the most with what is going on at the moment. Movie theaters easily remain near the top of that list because that it the basis of their entire business model.
With movie theaters pretty much down for the count on bringing in customers, they have begun to suffer significantly when it comes to their revenue streams. If theaters are suffering, then it is easy to see why studios have been refocusing their efforts on moving around release dates and making sure they have better release windows. They have been focusing their efforts almost entirely on moving dates around and trying to ensure that current projects have been getting worked on. The former side of things has even caught some criticism from one Christopher Nolan who believes they should instead be trying to help theaters by coming up with new plans. Rather than delaying their films, he thinks they should come up with new release ideas to help out theaters.
Studios are not so much focused on their movie release plans anymore, so it is unknown just how they will react to Nolan’s statement. More than likely, they won’t say or do anything at all to try and help theaters by coming up with new strategies, even though they should. In the end it would only end up helping them in the long run to try and come up with new plans to help theaters as they have become essential to their business models over time. Even if they tried to explore alternatives for film releases, the current model of release still supports more overall revenue for the studios. One would think that studios just need to come up with a better way of dealing with this pandemic and their releases, but we should recognize that it also isn’t all that easy.
While releasing films is pretty much outside of the range of many studios at this moment, making them doesn’t seem to be an issue these days. When the pandemic first started, pretty much every aspect of the movie industry was shut down and most upcoming movie projects pretty much stopped being worked on in any kind of official capacity. As a result, many films had their releases pushed back solely due to production problems and many had to wait to start filming again. Eventually though, like most other things that were shut down due to the pandemic, movie productions started back up once again. Now, movie productions are back in full swing with a few hiccups occurring here and there but there is still plenty of time for people to work on those films.
There are films that are also being worked on behind the scenes as well because they have yet to be fully established as films that will be made. Even if they are going to be made, there is still just a lot of different work that needs to be done for them to even begin the production process properly. One such project that has once again managed to resurface in media as of late is the scheduled reboot film for the ‘Resident Evil‘ franchise. The resident evil franchise has managed to bring in a massive number of fans over the years due to the video games in the series and as such a movie was made for the games in 2002. What followed from there was a series of films crafted by Paul W.S. Anderson which told a story with some characters and places from the games involved, but with a new character as the focus.
Despite this being a way for the director to bridge the gap that many saw between both movies and video games, by crafting a new story he made something people wanted to criticize constantly. Needless to say, the ‘Resident Evil’ series of films has managed to be both a successful video game movie franchise while being negatively reviewed by critics everywhere. Fans of the games have been upset with the movies for years since they chose to more-so shy away from a lot of what people loved about the games. On top of that, it is hard to make a video game movie interesting since most of the fun of games comes from the interactivity. That being said, it is still within the realm of possibility for studios to make a good movie based upon a video game.
While the balance may end up being off a bit more than people hoped for, it is definitely possible for a video game movie to be made that is able to properly make the audience entertained. That is why they are now taking their chances with a reboot to Paul W.S. Anderson’s film series which was announced back in 2018. They apparently intend to focus much more upon the story that is told in the games with a lot of the focus going into the character people know from the games. Just recently, Gotham actor Donal Logue has signed on to play antagonist Chief Irons from the ‘Resident Evil’ games and it is sure to be an interesting performance if they continue making the film in a way befitting of the games they are based on. It is still a long ways away before the release of the film, but it is one we can all definitely be excited for, as long as they can pull it off.