Zach Cregger Doubles Down on His Resident Evil Movie Amid Fan Backlash

I knew the first teaser for Zach Cregger's Resident Evil would stir things up, but wow, the comments section is already a war zone. The short version: Cregger is not doing a beat-for-beat retelling of the games, and that choice has some fans heated. He gets it, he just doesn't agree.

What Cregger is (and is not) doing

• New lead: the movie follows Bryan, a medical courier who gets caught in the middle of an outbreak during a routine delivery.
• No Leon S. Kennedy this time. Yes, the guy who has headlined 10+ Resident Evil games and popped up in multiple past film adaptations is sitting this one out.
• Shot for IMAX.
• From Zach Cregger, the filmmaker behind Barbarian and the upcoming Weapons.
• The first teaser dropped May 21, 2026.
• In theaters September 18, 2026.

The fan freak-out, and Cregger's response

After the teaser hit, Cregger talked with Curry Barker about the blowback from gamers who want the familiar characters and storylines front and center. He says he hears them, but he also thinks simply re-running the games would be a mistake.

"But if I did that (following the same pattern) I don't think I'd be creatively fulfilled, and I don't even think they would enjoy it. If I just did the story of the games, I think the most diehard fans would be bummed."

That Leon decision is part of the same logic. In an interview with Inverse, Cregger said fans already have tons of Leon content across the games and earlier films, so he wanted to anchor this movie to someone new and less invincible. Hence Bryan, a courier who is absolutely not trained for what is about to happen.

Why he skipped the previous Resident Evil movies

Here is where things get a little spicy. Cregger says he has played the Resident Evil games for years and loves them, but he never watched the earlier movie runs. Not because he thinks they are bad, but because they didn't feel like the games he knows. Different horror vibe, different rules. His words, as relayed to press and reported by Polygon:

"I was such a fan of the games, and they just didn't look like the games to me. Maybe they're great. I have no idea. But I just wasn't interested because what's great about the games is they're shrunk down into this single perspective."

So the plan here is to build a fresh story that still speaks the language of survival horror the games pioneered: limited perspective, relentless tension, and ordinary people in over-their-head scenarios. It is a risk. It is also, frankly, more interesting than another cover band version of 1998 Raccoon City.

Bottom line

If you want Leon and the classic beats, this probably is not your movie. If you are open to Cregger taking a big swing inside the Resident Evil world, circle September 18, 2026. Filmed for IMAX, too, which should make the panic feel nice and huge.