Resident Evil fans are having a very good week. On the heels of Capcom’s January 24 release of Resident Evil 7 across all platforms, including PlayStation VR, comes Sony Pictures’ film Resident Evil: The Final Chapter on January 27.
Milla Jovovich’s sixth time playing the role of Alice, an original character created by director/writer/producer Paul Anderson, will be her final one. The film franchise, which is set in Capcom’s video game universe but tells an original story, is the most successful video game movie series of all time, generating more than $947 million at the global box office.
“So you’re actually going to see the newest creatures from the game in the movie, which is really cool.”
“Resident Evil 7, the game, is coming out this month, so we were really lucky because we got a chance to look through all of their newest monsters and see what the new inspirations are for the game,” Jovovich told Digital Trends. “So you’re actually going to see the newest creatures from the game in the movie, which is really cool.”
Anderson has kept gamers engaged with the films over the years by incorporating characters from the Capcom series like Claire Redfield (played by Ali Larter once again) into the film franchise’s original storyline.
“At first it was a little bit intimidating because people that play the Resident Evil video game are so loyal, but we try to keep it really close to the vest, meaning I dye my hair red, I put on the red leather jacket and I have a lot of the same weapons that she has in the game,” Larter told Digital Trends. “In the fourth film (Apocalypse) I fought the Axe Man from the game, so it really is a wink to the people that play the games to see what similarities we bring to each movie.”
Jovovich believes the time is right for her to retire her video game guns after six films.
“It’s so crazy after 15 years to finally say goodbye to Alice,” Jovovich said. “I have to say that she inspires me. I feel like when I’m stressed, when I’m frustrated, I channel my inner Alice, so to think that I’m not going to be able to go back to this crazy universe where we’ve been living for 15 years is wild. I’m going to miss the people and I’m going to miss the sets. I’m going to miss the zombies. I love them.”
Sony Pictures is making sure the franchise goes out with a bang. The studio has released a virtual reality experience through effects house Mr. X (which also does the visual effects in the films) called The Killing Floor, which takes cues from the first and sixth films and puts users in the heart of The Hive.
Sony has also unleashed the Red Queen from the new film on Facebook as a messenger app from artificial intelligence agency IV.AI. The virtual queen challenges fans in Resident Evil trivia using automated AI with built-in natural language processing, making the experience eerily close to interacting with a real person.
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter hits theaters nationwide on Friday, January 27.
