Netflix Reportedly Developing Live Action Resident Evil Series

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www.ign.com/articles/2019/01/25/resident-evil-netflix-series-reportedly-in-the-works?abthid=5c4a5de19b5b4a5a0b0001e8

Netflix is reportedly developing a live-action Resident Evil series, according to Deadline.

The streaming service declined to comment on the report, which says the project is in the early stages of development. Per Deadline, "the plan is for the series to expand the Resident Evil universe and deepen the existing mythology. I hear the series will keep the basic premise, which also served as a setup for the movie franchise. The drama series will explore the dark inner workings of the Umbrella Corporation and the new world order caused by the outbreak of the T-virus."

Constantin Film, the production company behind the Resident Evil movie franchise, is reportedly involved in the series adaptation. The film series - starring Milla Jovovich as Alice - has spawned six movies to date, and wrapped in 2016. A Resident Evil TV series was rumored a few years back under the title "Arklay" (named after the mountainous region outside Racoon City) but never materialized.

It's a big week for the franchise; Capcom's hotly-anticipated remake of Resident Evil 2 (originally released in 1998) drops on Jan. 25; in our review we say that "Resident Evil 2 expertly reanimates the horrifying atmosphere and moments of extreme tension that made the original so revered."
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If you took the very basic premise of Resident Evil and made a Walking Dead-type show with a greater emphasis on action instead of drama (because TWD is like 85% drama with very little action per episode), and if you planned out the stories ahead of time so your characters and storylines are never aimlessly wandering about (which is what has fundamentally been the downfall of TWD: no plans at all for the plot's future)... I still wouldn't want to watch this because I'm sick of zombie shit.

But maybe we'll get lucky and this will be a schlocky, ultra-violent love letter to the cheesiness of the game series. More Ash Versus Evil Dead than The Walking Dead. :optimistic::optimistic::optimistic::optimistic::optimistic:
 
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frozenrunner said:
But maybe we'll get lucky and this will be a schlocky, ultra-violent love letter to the cheesiness of the game series. More Ash Versus Evil Dead than The Walking Dead. :optimistic::optimistic::optimistic::optimistic::optimistic:
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Isn't that just Z Nation, though?

Let's be honest: Every variation of the zombie genre has been done to death. That said, the Resident Evil movies have never done the games justice, so maybe a faithful adaptation focusing more on escaping a large building than on zombie drama would be interesting.
 
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Stab You in the Back said:
Isn't that just Z Nation, though?

Let's be honest: Every variation of the zombie genre has been done to death. That said, the Resident Evil movies have never done the games justice, so maybe a faithful adaptation focusing more on escaping a large building than on zombie drama would be interesting.
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Honestly, I'm so sick of zombie shit that I never gave Z Nation a try. I'm glad to hear it's not just a WD clone.

A faithful adaptation of RE would have to be cheesy because, when you strip away the dynamic added by gameplay, the games are Wisconsin cheesy. And I don't just mean the acting and the dialogue (save the more recent games, which are better in that sense) and specific plot events. Even the basic plot outlines are cheesy. (Example: an evil company creating monsters through scientific research is laughably cliche.)

That's why I think a campy-but-gory approach would work if you're going to try to (more or less) stick to the storylines from the games. You could do that and balance it with substantial character stuff and real drama if you knew what you were doing. (For example, if you had the actors play it straight despite the show itself being self-aware.)
 
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On a more serious note than my snark up there, there's not a need for this series. Games are getting to the point of not only being as good as live action entertainment, but better. Better, because there's more time to tell the story, more ways to tell the story; because you're engaged completely; because you can create entire universes of people who don't exist and the special effects look utterly flawless because everything is special effects.

Show me any adaptation of a video game that would even be in the same zip code with, say, God of War 4 or Prey. Hell, after seeing what they've done with RE2 this time around, how could you do anything live-action and not just disappoint everyone?

Also, there's no need for a "deeper" lore for this game franchise. You've got weird, half-explained evil monsters that defy the law of conservation of matter, and they exist to be shot while snarking. Heavily. And also suplexed because America fuck yeah. And rocket launchers. Just...can't we just have fun with our games?
 
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Vorhtbame said:
On a more serious note than my snark up there, there's not a need for this series. Games are getting to the point of not only being as good as live action entertainment, but better. Better, because there's more time to tell the story, more ways to tell the story; because you're engaged completely; because you can create entire universes of people who don't exist and the special effects look utterly flawless because everything is special effects.

Show me any adaptation of a video game that would even be in the same zip code with, say, God of War 4 or Prey. Hell, after seeing what they've done with RE2 this time around, how could you do anything live-action and not just disappoint everyone?
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It's not that games are better at telling stories than acted entertainment. What's happening is game developers have been learning the hard way—trial and error—for decades how best to tell a (certain type of story) effectively through their fledgling medium, and they're getting better at it. But storytelling in different, superficially similar mediums is so vastly different that directly comparing them is nearly meaningless. And those differences make adaptations from one medium to another very difficult to do well.

But I agree with you that there's no point to an adaptation like this. Who wants it? Studios that want to make bank on a popular property ("we want some of that Marvel money!"), and people whose thought process is this simple: "I like Resident Evil, and I like zombie movies/shows, so they should make an RE show." The latter have no idea what that would actually mean.
 
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frozenrunner said:
If you took the very basic premise of Resident Evil and made a Walking Dead-type show with a greater emphasis on action instead of drama (because TWD is like 85% drama with very little action per episode), and if you planned out the stories ahead of time so your characters and storylines are never aimlessly wandering about (which is what has fundamentally been the downfall of TWD: no plans at all for the plot's future)... I still wouldn't want to watch this because I'm sick of zombie shit.

But maybe we'll get lucky and this will be a schlocky, ultra-violent love letter to the cheesiness of the game series. More Ash Versus Evil Dead than The Walking Dead. :optimistic::optimistic::optimistic::optimistic::optimistic:
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Ash Vs. Evil dead getting cancelled was a travesty.
I actually purchased a subscription to Starz just so I could watch the show.
 
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Place your bets on whose getting race swapped and any lgbt bs added into it.

frozenrunner said:
I know. I'm still mad about it. Not just the show being canceled but that that was the end of Campbell's Ash Williams. "Unacceptable" doesn't come close.
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Sword Fighter Super said:
We should have an Ash Williams grieving thread, lol.
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At least it ended with Ash finding happiness.

Edit:
RE at least has an edge over all the other zombie garbage that came out (ironically because of the first movie probably). Likable, cheesy characters, a variety of monsters, action and a definable villain that isn't just post apocalypse crazy guy.

Hell, I'll take the odd numbered RE movies (the even ones are just being boring bad instead of fun schlock bad) over most zombie movies from the last 20 years outside of Shaun of the Dead and 28 Days Later. At least they were fun and not as Romero said, soap operas with zombies.
 
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I can see only 2 scenarios where a series like this could work:
1) An xfiles type show, where you have a small team of bsaa agents investigating and fighting bio-terrorism.
2) a prequel that takes place in raccoon city/arklay mountains, slightly before shit starts going bad.
 
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Too bad it's Netflix BUT there already is a short film for a cancelled resident evil live action series called Arklay

I hope the creators know that Resident evil isn't about zombies but the horrors of bio terrorism. There need to be mutated humans and monsters.

Also I think a Dead Rising series would be waaaaay better. Like an anti TWD with lots of humor and the god ol psychopaths.
 
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