New Resident Evil movie drops its first teaser — and it looks nothing like the Jovovich films
Sony Pictures has released the first official teaser for its Resident Evil reboot, and it looks nothing like the six Milla Jovovich action films that ran from 2002 to 2016. The clip debuted at CinemaCon in Las Vegas before going public on 30 April 2026, and early audience reactions were reportedly strong. Directed by Zach Cregger — the filmmaker behind 2022's Barbarian — this is a harder, slower kind of horror.
The setup
The story follows Bryan, a courier played by Austin Abrams, who heads into Raccoon City to deliver a package to a hospital. He ends up trapped in an abandoned building, desperately searching for a phone to make what might be a final call to his girlfriend. From there, the teaser escalates fast: bloated zombies in the sewers, a horde chasing Bryan across rooftops, bodies hitting the pavement below. The tone is survival horror, not action spectacle — closer in spirit to the Resident Evil 2 and RE4 video games than anything in the previous film series.
Crucially, this is an original story. No Leon Kennedy, no Jill Valentine, no Umbrella Corporation backstory (yet). Cregger has said he hasn't watched the earlier films; instead he drew directly from the games' resource-management mechanics and atmosphere.
Why this one feels different
Cregger's previous film, Weapons (2025), earned Amy Madigan an Academy Award and grossed $269 million worldwide — which is why Sony won a bidding war against Warner Bros. and Netflix in March 2025 to bring him on board, per Variety. The $80M budget is the largest of his career — more than double what Weapons cost — and PlayStation Productions is co-producing, a signal that Capcom's IP is being taken seriously this time, per Wikipedia).
Cregger has also acknowledged the pressure publicly: with Resident Evil Requiem (the game) setting a high bar for the franchise recently, he knows fans won't be forgiving of a weak film.
Release
Resident Evil opens in US cinemas on 18 September 2026, distributed by Columbia Pictures. UK date hasn't been officially confirmed, but typically aligns with the US theatrical window. Check IMDb for updates as the release approaches.
