Oh no no no no no.

This can’t be happening again can it? Producer Paul W.S. Anderson has confirmed not only that he will be involved in another Resident Evil movie but also that it will be the start of a second trilogy.

Scheduled to release in September 2010, Resident Evil ‘Afterlife’ will be in 3D using the same camera system as the upcoming Avatar. Afterlife will also see the return of Milla Jovovich in her role of Alice. Strangely however Anderson does not see the new movie as a squeal to the open ended third Resident Evil movie (Extinction) but instead reboot the franchise, stating -

"…we've been very lucky where it's a trilogy where the audience has built and built. [….] There are a lot of exciting things about this one. I don't regard it as Resident Evil 4, I regard it as a re-tooling and rebirth of the entire franchise."

After life is expected to include characters from both movies and the games so is sure to draw in fans of both as well. With interest in the franchise high from RE5 I am sure the movie will be a success.

Speaking as a fan of the games the first RE movie proved a disappointment, where as the second and third movies just proved dreadful abuses of the license, ignoring or corrupting the lore of the games. Thus the idea of a reboot seems like a good idea to me in many ways, but the return of Jovovich’s character Alice suggest the movies will remain a heavy source of inspiration. I can also see that the fans the movie (mysteriously) managed to acquire may feel a little betrayed if the old story line is left unclosed.

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