EXCLUSIVE: More details are leaking out on the Resident Evil franchise reboot. James Wan has come aboard to produce the first of the Resident Evil reboots from a script by Greg Russo, and we’re hearing and it will have an entirely new cast. Russo wrote Mortal Kombat and Wan is known for producing the box office coups Lights Out, Annabelle and Saw, to name a few.
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The Wan brand name is a strong one and should give a boost to the reboot. Also producing are Constantin Film and Michael Clear for Atomic Monster. It has no director aboard as yet, we’re told.
Greg Russo
Wan and Russo worked previously together on Mortal Kombat, which is getting its own reboot through New Line. They also worked together on Robotech for Sony.
Wan, who is currently directing Aquaman for Warner Bros, will produce the Resident Evil reboot pic (the first of six, as reported by our sister publication Variety) for Constatin Films and Screen Gems. They have been in business for the previous wave of films in the franchise.
The most recent film, which was announced as the last one, came out this year. Resident Evil: The Final Chapter bowed in January and has since made $312.2M. Given that it made so much money in China ($160M+), it’s no wonder they aren’t stopping the IP based on the Capcom video game now.
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter was marketed throughout China by Leomus Pictures, and its smart campaign paid off with an enormous $94.3M debut, which ranked as the the biggest-ever three-day opening in China for an import. The Milla Jovovich-led epic zombie battle also became the No. 2 FSS launch for all films in the Middle Kingdom, behind only 2015’s Lost in Hong Kong.
The Resident Evil movie franchise itself has earned $1.2B worldwide to date and is also known as the highest-grossing film series based on a video game and the second-biggest horror franchise of all time behind the Alien movies.
Both Wan and Russo are repped by Paradigm, with Wan also repped by Stacey Testro International management and attorney David Fox and Russo also repped by Madhouse Entertainment and attorney Jeff Frankel.
