Resident Evil Reboot: New Tale in Raccoon City

It's April 2nd, entertainment and celebrity news today starts now, AI-powered and trending.

Zach Kragger is stepping up to direct the Resident Evil reboot hitting theaters on September 18th, 2026.

He's crafting a fresh story set in 1998, Recoon City, where a medical courier named Brian, played by Austin Abrams, gets trapped in a hospital amid the outbreak.

The cast includes Paul Walter-Hauser, Kelly Rice, and Zach Cherry, all new faces steering clear of the classic game heroes.

Kragger knows fans of this huge franchise might not love every change, since it's tough to satisfy everyone when loyalties run deep.

He chose original characters to avoid messing with beloved backstories like those of Leon Kennedy or Chris Redfield, keeping the focus on suspense in.

A standalone tale, meanwhile, Hollywood's all-in on video game movies right now.

Hits like the Super Mario Bros. movie pulled in $1.36 billion worldwide, and a Minecraft movie made 961 million.

Even Five Nights at Freddy's raked in 291 million from a niche fanbase.

Studios are chasing big IPs from Call of Duty to the Legend of Zelda, proving games now outpaced movies and cultural pull.

Experts say it's not that Hollywood found games, games just grew massive.

This reboot taps into Resident Evil's legacy, which kicked off back in 1996 and just dropped its latest chapter, Resident Evil Requiem.

On February 27th, 2026, to Rave Reviews. Kragger's aiming to nail that gripping tension with something totally new.