Following numerous action movie adaptations ofResident Evil, Sony Pictures is taking another crack at adapting Capcom’s beloved survival-horror franchise for the big screen.Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon Cityisdirected by Johannes Robertsand promsies to be more accurate to the source material, adapting the stories from the first two games in theResident Evilseries.
It’s clear that the filmmakers have a fondness ofResident Eviland want to do right by the franchise withResident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. The trailer teases a film that is very accurate to the video games, with tons ofEaster eggs and references toResident Evil 1andResident Evil 2spotted in the trailer alone. Whether or not it all amounts to a quality movie remains to be seen, but in the meantime, one has to wonder where the filmmakers will go if they get the chance to do a sequel.
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While some may think the obvious choice is to adaptResident Evil 3: Nemesisnext, it may actually make more sense to adaptResident Evil Code: Veronicainstead. Here are all the reasons why aResident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon Citymovie sequel should adaptCode: Veronicanext instead ofResident Evil 3: Nemesis.
Resident Evil Code: Veronica Movie Could Bring Back Multiple Cast Members
While some think that it would make more sense for the filmmakers to follow-upResident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon Citywith an adaptation ofResident Evil 3: Nemesis, doing so would potentially mean leaving basically most cast members behind.Resident Evil 3: Nemesisstars Jill Valentinein the lead role as she tries to survive the horrors of Raccoon City while being relentlessly pursued by the titular Nemesis monster. Besides Jill, Brad Vickers, and Barry Burton (who was removed in the remake and never had anything more than a cameo anyway), there are no returning characters inResident Evil 3: Nemesisthat appeared in the previous two games in the series.
This wouldn’t be good business for a franchise, which would potentially bank on the popularity of the characters established inResident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. Moviegoers may be less interested in seeing a sequel movie that doesn’t have many returning cast members. TheResident Evil 3storycould be altered to feature more returning characters, but since the filmmakers clearly want to be as accurate to the games as possible, that seems unlikely to happen.
If theResident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon Citysequel was based onCode: Veronica, both Claire and Chris Redfield could return, not to mentionAlbert Wesker. Plus, the plot could be altered to include even more returning characters from the original movie. Maybe the filmmakers could even do what they did withWelcome to Raccoon Cityand adapt two games at once, adding Leon in place of Carlos or Steve Burnsideto bring back every main protagonist in one film.
Resident Evil Code: Veronica Would Be A Brand New Setting
AResident Evil 3film adaptation would presumably be set inRaccoon Cityagain, which is ground that’s being covered extensively inResident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City.Resident Evil Code: Veronica, however, could transport viewers to a completely new location, asCode: Veronicahas nothing to do with Raccoon City. As fans may recall,Resident Evil Code: Veronicais primarily set on Rockfort Island, which is home to an Umbrella-owned prison complex. Visually, this would look significantly different than Raccoon City, providing a nice change of scenery and opening the door for unique new set-pieces and moments.
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Code: Veronicadidn’t keep the characters rooted in place on Rockfort Island, however. The latter portions of the game actually take place on Antarctica, soCode: Veronicawould be more of a globe-trotting adventure. Sequels often try to make themselves seem bigger than their predecessors, and the varied locations found inResident Evil Code: Veronicacould go a long way in accomplishing that goal.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City Introduces the Ashford Twins
One of the main reasons why theResident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon Citysequel should adaptCode: Veronicanext is that the film is already laying the groundwork. TheResident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon Citytrailer confirms that Claire and Leon find a film reel about theAshford twins, two of the antagonists from theCode: Veronicavideo game. It seems Umbrella had been conducting experiments on them in the movie universe just like in the games, though it’s unclear if their backstories are the same beyond that. Regardless, this sets the stage forCode: Veronica, so it already seems like the natural next step.
Resident Evil Code: Veronica Was Originally Supposed to Be RE3
A lot of people may not realize this, butResident Evil Code: Veronicawas originally supposed to be the third main seriesResident Evilgame anyway.Resident Evil 3: Nemesiswas meant to be a spin-off game when it first started development, but Sony paid for timed-exclusivity for a game with theResident Evil 3name. The decision was made to rename theResident Evilspin-off game toResident Evil 3: Nemesis, whileResident Evil Code: Veronicawas given its unique name instead.
Even thoughResident Evil Code: Veronicais not a numbered entry in the series, it is still very much a main seriesResident Evilgame. There are extremely important plot developments inCode: Veronicawith repercussions that would be felt for years to come. SinceCode: Veronicawas originally meant to be the follow-up toResident Evil 2anyway, it would be fitting for the film series to get things back on track.
Resident Evil Code: Veronica Monsters
Resident Evil Code: Veronicawould also give the filmmakers more unique monster designs to use so that they’re not repeating too much of what was already seen inResident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. TheResident Evil Code: Veronicamonstersinclude creatures like the Bandersnatch, which is a fleshy creature with a long arm that it can stretch out at its enemies like some kind of twisted version of Mr. Fantastic, along with the aquatic Albinoids. There’s even theTremors-like Gulp Worm that the characters could contend with, allowing for much more diversity in the creatures that are featured.
If the filmmakers were to adaptResident Evil 3: Nemesisinstead, they would comparatively be limited, asRE3didn’t have a ton of new monsters compared to its predecessors. Not only that, but Nemesis himself has already been adapted for the big screen. And while theResident Evil: Apocalypsemovie is not considered to be a very good movie or all that accurate of aResident Eviladaptation by any means, they definitely got theNemesis designdone right. Nemesis in the movie looks almost exactly like his video game counterpart, so that would just be retreading old territory.
There are many different directions that aResident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon Citysequel could go, but fans should keep in mind that it hasn’t actually been greenlit at the time of this writing. The firstResident Evilmovie will need to do well at the box office before plans would move forward on making another one, though considering how much material there is to adapt, it would be great to see. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could prove problematic when it comes toResident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City’s box office performance, but fans will find out once it hits theaters late next month.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon Citypremieres in theaters on November 24.
