On a $75 million production budget, the 2026 feature film Resident Evil went on to make $384 million over its first five weeks at the box office. Its director and co-writers, Zach Cregger (Weapons, Barbarian) and Shay Hatten (Rebel Moon, Army of Thieves), decided to portray a new story not aligned with any of the games.
Cregger told IGN of his naivety in thinking that fans of the series wanted a new story and not a retelling, despite also noting that he hasn’t seen the former Resident Evil films because “they don’t look like the Resident Evil that [he] loves.” He’s since stated that he won’t bring another franchise to the big screen.
In the meantime, a fully fledged direct adaptation of Resident Evil has been made, and while it’s not a feature film, it certainly shows the potential of such a project. This new project has been spearheaded and stars a fan-favourite of The Walking Dead’s original run, clearly showing their affinity for zombies.
Chandler Riggs Brings Ethan Winters to Live Action
Billed as a “fan-made project,” Biohazard faithfully adapts one of the most iconic scenes from Resident Evil VII: Biohazard. In the 19-minute short film, the man who played Carl Grimes in The Walking Dead, Chandler Riggs, steps into the boots of Ethan Winters in a live-action showing of the tense scene that sees him trapped by the Bakers.
Jason Douglas, who also features for a spell in The Walking Dead, brings his presence to the film as Jack in the garage encounter. As quoted by BD, Riggs wanted to “see a good, true-to-the-game live-action adaptation of Resident Evil,” from the get-go. This goes in stark contrast to the approach from the outset from Cregger and Hatten, and to fans of the source material, it shows.
Biohazard began pre-production before the Cregger-Hatten written film was announced, so it was made without knowing anything that would happen in the box-office release. Riggs even wanted to beat Cregger to launching, but couldn’t quite get everything completed in time. Funnily enough, this may have helped its reception, delivering for those who expected a full Resident Evil movie but didn't get one.
Riggs’ direct adaptation of Resident Evil made horror and movie headlines when it collected an 8.3 rating on IMDB. This put the passion project ahead of the critical and commercial success of Resident Evil, which is now at 7.6. In just 11 days, the short fan film collected over 246,000 likes to 687 dislikes, and over 2.6 million views. Of course, these numbers are helped by Riggs being involved.
Putting Some Weight Behind a Resident Evil Project
It’s impossible to understate the influence of The Walking Dead on prestige American television, and Riggs was a big part of that. While it only exists on new TV programming as spin-offs, the prominence of the original run can still be felt across entertainment.
Not only did Biohazard get an extra dose of attention for TWD alumni being involved, but its many official games boast a similar draw. After all, at the time of writing, one of the most prominent entries in the Our Picks section on the platform of UK slots online is The Walking Dead slot duology.
Both fully licensed games are complete with characters from the show and the iconic soundtrack, fully banking on the enduring appeal of the show. It’s a demonstration of just how influential the show is and the subsequent appeal of its contributors. Riggs has certainly leveraged this to help bolster his Resident Evil short film.
Given how well received Biohazard has been, perhaps there’s a chance for Riggs to be given the reins to a direct adaptation in the form of a feature film. Then again, the Cregger-Hatten riff on Resident Evil did well enough that studios probably don’t think that they need to back a more faithful project.