Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil to Be a “Complete New Setup” With Full Creative Freedom

Zach Cregger‘s Resident Evil film will be a “completely new setup” for the franchise, with the director given full creative freedom, says Constantin CEO Oliver Berben.

In a recent interview with Deadline, Berben said that Cregger’s Resident Evil is currently in the editing phase and is “far away from everything that is connected to Resident Evil, only because Zach Cregger has his own style.”

The studio gave Cregger full creative freedom, essentially “carte blanche,” to do whatever he wanted with the franchise. Berben admitted it was a no-brainer to give Cregger “carte blanche to do whatever he wanted to do with that IP.”

“With Resident Evil, we have had an incredible journey with one of the most successful international IPs, generating more than a billion dollars at the box office over many years, and now we are creating something new, not just a new story idea, but allowing a new generation to take the IP into their own hands and shape something different.”

Here are the plot details for the upcoming Resident Evil movie:

Bryan (Austin Abrams), a laid-back organ courier, is sent on a late-night delivery to Raccoon City General Hospital. En route through a snowy mountain road, he accidentally hits a strange woman with his car. She survives — but something is very wrong. As he tries to help, Bryan stumbles into a full-blown outbreak involving horrifying tentacle-based mutations and bio-engineered monstrosities.

The cast includes Abrams as Bryan, a medical courier, alongside Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Johnno Wilson.

Directed by Cregger, who co-wrote the screenplay with Shay Hatten, the film serves as the second reboot of the Resident Evil film series. It is the eighth installment overall in the franchise, which is based on the video game series by Capcom.

The film is produced by Columbia Pictures and PlayStation Productions, in association with Constantin Film and Vertigo Entertainment.

Resident Evil will hit theaters on September 18, 2026, by Sony Pictures Releasing.