Following the theatrical release, fans ask: is it Resident Evil without Leon Kennedy?
This article contains spoilers for Resident Evil (2026).
Zach Cregger, director of Weapons (2025) and Barbarian (2022), returned to theatres in September with his adaptation of Resident Evil. Prior to its commercial release on Sept. 15, the film drew heavy criticism, with many fans describing it as “loosely connected” to the narrative of the video game it is based on.
Written by Zach Cregger and Shay Hatten, the film is an adaptation of Capcom’s Resident Evil video game series. The video game franchise follows various heroes as they navigate zombies, human experimentation, and bio-organic weapons across decades. Throughout the major games, a mysterious organization known as the Umbrella Corporation sits in the middle of the chaos.
It is precisely the term “adaptation” – the retelling of an existing story in another art form – which spawned much of the backlash. Rather than create a beat-for-beat cinematic recreation, Cregger wanted to take a different approach.
“It’s for the uninitiated and the initiated alike,” Cregger said in a video posted on X in September. “It’s a self-contained story.”
Some viewers expressed their dissatisfaction with the “self-contained story,” including Taran Singh of CineCritiq. Singh wrote: “the biggest disappointment is how loosely connected this movie is to the original Resident Evil franchise.”
Resident Evil follows courier Bryan Hodukavich (Austin Abrams) as he tries to deliver a package to a remote hospital. Much to his misfortune, he quickly becomes wrapped up in an outbreak of mutated, violent people and creatures. His journey to the hospital, located in the fictional Raccoon City, turns into both a fight for his own survival and for the survival of the whole city.
The movie does not follow any established characters from the game series. Additionally, Cregger chose to base the plot around a “peripheral activity.” Instead of portraying the game’s main story, audiences follow Bryan through a unique series of events that are to the wayside of the original narrative. Cregger described it as a “gauntlet just to the side of the events of the game,” when interviewed by Polygon.
“[Bryan is] on this mission that’s gonna take him into the heart of the storm that he doesn’t know exists yet,” He said. “What I wanted to see was the rhythm of the games.”
Resident Evil sought to replicate the feeling of playing the original series. Among its camera shot types were point-of-view shots and over-the-shoulder shots, which are primarily used in first-person or third-person shooter games. This genre is one of many that the game franchise leans into.
Bryan’s first experience with the undead is also marked by visual disturbances, including his too-small flashlight, snowfall, and the night. When he steps through a snowy forest, the audience is asked to imagine themselves in his shoes. Some might find the sequence similar to another dark, first-person cutscene from the video game Resident Evil Village.
Moreover, Bryan was intended to resemble the viewer rather than resemble an established protagonist. He shrieks, curses, and fumbles with his weapons. He screams potentially just as much as he fires guns; often at the same time. For some of those playing horror games, this can be a common occurrence.
One notable scene comes after he is attacked by a woman in a red dress. With the woman close behind, there is a thirty-second sequence where Bryan is running around a toppled police car. He and the woman do several laps, both screaming all the while, as he tries to figure out his gun. Some viewers on social media described this as a familiar site: wherein players will circle the same object to try and lose their attacker.
Although the film is still a hot topic in popular culture discourse, it has set records for the series and for Cregger as a director.
Sony Pictures Entertainment announced a cumulative total of US$320.2 million during its fourth weekend in theatres. This makes it the highest-grossing live-action installment of Resident Evil, surpassing the previous record holder, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016), which grossed US$312.2 million worldwide.
Additionally, Resident Evil has become Cregger’s biggest film opener to date, exceeding the US$70 million that Weapons (2025) had garnered.
Cregger, in an interview with Polygon, described the film as “one-and-done.” Referring to the marketing as a personal “apology tour,” he has expressed the desire to focus on original works for the foreseeable future.
His next directorial project is reportedly in development. The science fiction film, titled The Flood, is set to release next summer.