MOVIE NEWS – The first teaser for the new Resident Evil movie is only 90 seconds long, but that is already enough to make Zach Cregger’s take look more promising than most of the franchise’s previous live-action attempts. The director of Barbarian and Weapons is not simply copying the action-heavy style of the old films, but seems to be pushing the series back toward horror through the nightmare of a new survivor.

Sony Pictures has released the first teaser for the new Resident Evil movie, and despite its brief running time, it clearly shows the direction of this next theatrical adaptation. Based on the 90-second preview, Zach Cregger is not trying to continue the tone of the earlier Milla Jovovich-led film series, nor is he simply extending the more nostalgia-driven approach of 2021’s Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. This new film looks much more like a tense survival story filled with body horror and panic, placing viewers not behind familiar heroes, but beside a completely new character thrown into the middle of an outbreak.

The story follows Bryan, a medical courier played by Austin Abrams, who gets caught in an increasingly horrifying situation while delivering a package. In the teaser, he enters a seemingly abandoned house to ask for help, only to discover that the world around him is no longer following normal rules. The footage flashes glimpses of deformed infected figures, disturbing body movements, horrors lurking in the sewers and bodies dropping from buildings onto the street. This does not look like a film relying only on the familiar sight of zombies, but like a chaotic survival chase in which the protagonist has no idea what he has stumbled into.

Cregger and Shay Hatten’s script tells an entirely original story set within the Resident Evil universe. That means, based on current information, Leon S. Kennedy, Jill Valentine, Claire Redfield and Chris Redfield are not at the center of the plot, and the film is not simply recycling the games’ most recognizable locations. That is a risky decision, because many fans always want to see the classic characters return, but it may also give the film a real chance to become more than a badly assembled parade of video game references. It could become a horror movie that works on its own terms.

A New Protagonist, An Old Fear

Zach Cregger has previously made it clear that he does not want to take away the stories of the games’ main characters. In his view, Leon’s story already exists in the games, so pulling him out of his own narrative space for a new movie would not be the right direction. Instead, the director wants a story that respects the game universe without desperately forcing every iconic name and location into the plot. That approach could be especially important for a franchise whose cinematic history has been uneven at best.

Many of the earlier Resident Evil films were closer to action movies with horror decoration than to true survival horror. Cregger’s new version, judging by the footage so far, appears to think differently. It follows one protagonist as he moves from one dangerous situation to the next, while the infected world reveals an increasingly brutal face. That structure may also be closer to the core experience of the games, where fear often comes from not fully controlling the situation, lacking information and knowing that every door might hide another problem.

The cast includes Austin Abrams, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis and Paul Walter Hauser. The film is backed by Constantin Film, Vertigo Entertainment, PlayStation Productions and Sony, with release currently set for September 18, 2026. The big question, of course, is whether this new Resident Evil can finally break one of the oldest curses of video game adaptations. Based on the first teaser, there is at least now a real reason not just to shrug, but to be cautiously hopeful.

Sources: 3DJuegos, Entertainment Weekly