Back when we got our first photos of Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City last month, there was some skepticism present. Despite promising a closer adaptation of the video games when compared with the original movies, the screenshots were questionable at best. For one thing, fans instantly latched on to the obvious issue: the characters shown weren’t exactly one-to-one likenesses of the memorable characters. Director Johannes Roberts spoke out about this, claiming that the actors were chosen based on their ability to capture the character’s spirit, not simply based on looks alone. Today, the first trailer for the film was released, and we’re getting a better idea of what he meant by that. (Can you spot all the game references?)
There’s certainly no time to breathe during the two-minute trailer, packed with characters we all know and love. For those outside the loop, the film’s cast includes Claire Redfield (Kaya Scodelario), Chris Redfield (Robbie Amell), Leon Kennedy (Avan Jogia), Jill Valentine (Hannah John-Kamen), Albert Wesker (Tom Hopper), and Ada Wong (Lily Gao). There’s also plenty of Lisa Trevor references and scenes from the Spencer Mansion heaped into this pile of goodness. We say ‘goodness,’ because it does look like the film is sticking close to the first two games of the Resident Evil series, at the very least.
Like most big-name film projects over the past year and a half, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City was also hit with a delay, originally set to release in September. The silver lining? It’s now coming just in time for the holidays and is scheduled to release on November 24, 2021. A new Resident Evil game is rumored to be coming to the Nintendo Switch, though nothing was announced at the most recent Nintendo Direct. The film will have to tide fans over for now.
