The brain behind the upcoming Resident Evil film adaptation has sworn off developing any other titles based on the famed horror gaming franchise—or any other franchise, for that matter.
Zack Cregger, a director best known for his work on hit 2025 horror movie Weapons, is the man in charge of adapting Capcom’s precious IP for the silver screen, with his vision of Raccoon City set to release on September 18. But, according to GameSpot, Cregger has said this will be the last title he ever develops for a franchise.
For Cregger, it comes down to his own personal freedom to “write whatever [he] wants to write”. The concept of having to stick to an IP’s already established lore and storyline doesn't match with the director, with him saying: “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.”
For his previous titles, horror sleeper hit Barbarian and Oscar-winning Weapons, Cregger had complete creative freedom and was not bound by rigid corporate oversight. Despite his comments, Cregger said he is still committed to delivering on his vision for this Resident Evil adaptation, saying: “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.”
Cregger’s comments can’t come as a surprise to those who have followed the onslaught of Resident Evil fan criticism leveled at his adaptation. Extremely protective of the game series’ lore and canonical accuracy, fans have called into question Cregger’s direction of the film—it follows a totally new character named Bryan, who finds himself caught up in the Raccoon City outbreak during a medical delivery of organs for transplant. The director added in some easter eggs, but the plot is largely separate from any previous work in the RE franchise.
The fact the story exists outside of any previous Resident Evil narrative has greatly upset fans, who have long clamored to see franchise stars like Leon Kennedy or Claire Redfield take centre stage in an RE film adaptation. Instead, Cregger’s slow-burn vision follows an ordinary person navigating the chaos on the periphery of the main game events—a notion which fans simply cannot abide by.
Cregger has previously discussed with IGN the pressure placed on him by Resident Evil fans, saying he was “naive” and that he really believed they would be “thrilled” that such a buzzy horror director was turning their beloved franchise into a survival horror movie. Instead, fans bombarded him with criticism about almost everything, from the film’s design, casting decisions and lack of typical RE monsters. Cregger said his press run for the movie has turned into somewhat of an “apology tour”, and tells fans to see the movie first before condemning it as valueless tripe.
Cregger’s outing isn’t the first time Resident Evil has come to theatres, with a long-running series fronted by actress Milla Jovovich dividing fans when it began in the early 2000s. Like the new adaptation, the six-film run notoriously ignored Capcom’s in-game lore and invented a new protagonist called Alice, who was caught in a never-ending battle against the nefarious Umbrella Corporation.
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