‘Resident Evil’ film franchise brings video game glory back on screen

With the back-and-forth launches of video game adaptations to the silver screen, one film franchise carrying the name of the hit zombie game managed to get past the game-to-movie curse of imminent failure and made an original take from its video game source.

The "Resident Evil" film franchise must be the most successful straight out-of-the-video-game movie series that was ever made. Four films from this franchise have almost reached billion dollar status. Now, the final film will set to release early next year. The makers of the blockbuster movie series reveals the secret to the success of the billionaire franchise.

"It started out as this huge game," Screen Gems president, Clint Culpepper told Variety. "By the time we got involved with the first film, it had already sold phenomenal numbers. This was back before people realized how big gaming was going to be."

Unlike the 1993 "Super Mario Bros.," which flunked out of movie history due to complete lack of Nintendo source material, Screen Gems took a different recipe to avoid the impending doom that might inevitably plague the newborn video game adaptation. "We studied how they wanted it to move, how they wanted it to grow. Gamers are very proprietary, and they loved the idea that someone had adapted 'Resident Evil' to the screen." Culpepper said.

It is all thanks to the series' writer and director, Paul W.S. Anderson as the successful ingredient to the franchise mixture. Culpepper credits that Anderson is "everything" to the series along with producer Jeremy Bolt.

"This movie is made by people who genuinely adored the video game," said Anderson from his New York Comic Con talk with Polygon. "No one would ever dream of adapting War and Peace without reading the book, but somehow people have the hubris to adapt a video game without having ever played it or knowing what the fans like about it."

According to the author of Generation Xbox: How Videogames Invaded Hollywood, Jamie Russell, the biggest achievement that the "Resident Evil" director acquired was the ability to create video game adaptations to a wider audience other than gamers. Russell also said that Anderson does not slavishly follow the game series.  "In fact, the 'Resident Evil' movies have become a brand that exists independent of the games." He said.

Aside from the breakthrough acting of lead heroine Alice, played by none other than Paul W.S. Anderson's wife, Milla Jovovich. Culpepper finally reveals the longevity formula of "Resident Evil."

"Zombies. There's just some kind of fascination in our culture with zombies." The Screen Gems president declared. He also attributes The Walking Dead by AMC as one of the hype boosters for each "Resident Evil" movie. A possibility of having a "Resident Evil" television series was also called out.

"Resident Evil: The Final Chapter" will conclude the series and will be out on Jan. 27, 2017.  "This is the movie where we discover the truth about Alice and the truth about the Umbrella Corporation." According to director Anderson.