Zach Cregger has spent much of his Resident Evil press run defending a movie that skips the franchise’s most famous faces in favor of an original story. In recent interviews, particularly in one with IGN, the filmmaker has openly admitted he underestimated how fans would react to that choice, describing the promotional tour as something close to a political campaign.
Zach Cregger Admits He Was “Naive” About Fan Reactions
Resident Evil Movie | Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing
Rather than adapting a specific game, Cregger’s Resident Evil follows Bryan (Austin Abrams), a medical courier caught in the Raccoon City incident, a character invented for the film rather than pulled from Capcom’s roster. That decision to sideline series icons like Leon Kennedy is largely what sparked pushback once the movie was finally revealed, with some fans arguing the project borrows the name without capturing what made the games great in the first place.
Talking about it, the director stated:
“I think I was naive,— I thought fans of these games, like me, would be thrilled that somebody was coming along and turning Resident Evil into a survival horror movie. I was like, ‘That’s great.’ I did not really appreciate the sentiment that, ‘We’ve been waiting forever for Leon’s story.’ And I appreciate that, and I’m sorry that’s not the story I’m bringing. I get it, I understand the frustration.”
The filmmaker has acknowledged that reaction directly, saying he assumed fellow players would welcome a horror movie built around the feeling of playing Resident Evil rather than a retelling of one specific entry. He’s since admitted that assumption was off base, adding that he didn’t fully account for how long some fans have waited to see a specific character’s arc brought to the screen.
Resident Evil Movie Director Talks About the Promotion Tour
Austin Abrams in Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil | Credit: Sony Pictures Entertainment
Cregger has described the last several months of interviews as feeling less like promotion and more like damage control, comparing it at one point to a political campaign where he was “running for office” (via The Playlist) aimed at convincing skeptical fans that he’s a genuine fan himself rather than an outsider cashing in on the brand.
He also suggests that this defensive posture has started to wear thin, with his more recent comments leaving the film itself as the only argument he has to make, encouraging doubters to at least watch it before passing any judgement.
He’s also open to revisiting this corner of the Resident Evil universe down the line, even while acknowledging the movie hasn’t been released yet, and any follow-up remains hypothetical. At the same time, the director has hinted this is likely his last stop in franchise filmmaking altogether, saying he’d rather build original stories going forward than manage the expectations that come with an established IP.
Resident Evil comes to the big screen on September 18. What expectations are you holding from the movie? Let us know in the comments below!
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