Director Zach Cregger is making one of 2026’s most-anticipated video game movies in Resident Evil, but don’t expect him to make another film based on a franchise again.
Speaking to Deadline, Cregger said, “I’m doing this [Resident Evil], and that’s it for me. I’m not going to go tackle any other franchises.”
Why? He said it’s because he wants to “write whatever I want to write,” as opposed to adhering to a specific franchise’s history and lore.
“I don’t want to write something where I have to make sure I’m tagging different data points to satisfy X. I just want to satisfy me,” he said.
Cregger said the “only reason” that Resident Evil made sense for him was because he’s a big fan of the games and he came up with what he believes is an original idea for it.
“I think this movie is cool, and I hope it checks the fan boxes because I’m a fan and I’m checking my boxes. I’m making the Resident Evil movie that I wish existed, so I can do that with a clean heart and a clear conscience and not feel like I’m getting f*cked by some weird industry thing,” he said.
Cregger also clarified comments he made previously about his story for the Resident Evil movie. Some had theorized that what Cregger meant when he said he came up with an original story for Resident Evil was that he wrote a story and then slapped the Resident Evil name on it. That’s not quite the case.
“What I mean is it’s an original story, but it’s still a Resident Evil story. I’m not taking a story from the games; that’s what that means,” he said.
Something else that might have convinced Cregger to sign on to write and direct Resident Evil was the money–he was reported to have been paid $20 million.
While Cregger may be finished with franchise movies, he is attached to co-write the upcoming Siren Head movie. Cregger’s next movie is The Flood, a sci-fi movie set in deep space.
Resident Evil releases in theaters on September 18, and it’s expected to have the biggest opening weekend ever for the movie series.
