Another entry is added to the list of upcoming video game adaptations, and I have to admit, it's one I'm surprised to see. After Ewe Boll's disastrous adaptation of House of the Dead flopped back in the early 2000s, I didn't imagine any company would want to revive it. I'm happy to hear, however, that a new movie is on the way, and it has some promising talent attached.

Two decades after one of the worst video game movies of all time was released, Deadline has the news that a new House of the Dead adaptation is on the way. What's more, it's coming from a director who has some experience in the undead genre and has made some of the more noteworthy Resident Evil movies.

House Of The Dead Is Coming Back With Paul W.S. Anderson Set To Direct

Paul W.S. Anderson, who directed the original, fourth, fifth and sixth Resident Evil movies, will now take a crack at House of the Dead. The game franchise remains a cult classic in the horror genre, with some crediting it as popularizing the trend of "running zombies" in more modern movies that came after its release. The game itself was a rail-shooter that featured frantic gameplay, with zombies frequently lunging or running at the screen.

Anderson will give House of the Dead a chance at redemption in terms of a feature, though he too has had past struggles adapting video games. More recently, his take on Monster Hunter didn't perform quite on the level its fans would've liked, but I'd prefer to think of that as a learning experience leading up to this upcoming feature.

Isabela Merced Will Lead In The Zombie Adaption

Another bit of bright news is that the movie has secured actress Isabela Merced as the lead in House of the Dead. Readers may remember her as Hawkgirl in Superman or her beloved role as Dina on The Last of Us. It's safe to say with the latter role, she knows a bit about roles where one has to take on the undead.

Beyond a star to lead it, the best thing House of the Dead has going for it is the low bar set by the first movie. The movie sits at a current 3% critical rating and 11% audience approval on Rotten Tomatoes. As previously mentioned, it's ranked among the worst video game adaptations of all time.

Of course, one would hope that in this age where video game movies are grossing a $1 billion+ dollars at the box office, the goal is to have House of the Dead be much better than the first movie. Unfortunately, it's going to be hard to clear more recent offerings like 28 Years Later, but I still think there's a space for this film to exist and still offer something of value to the horror and video game genre as a whole.

I'm eager for more updates on House of the Dead, and hoping we get a true homage to the original game that I loved so much. Bonus points if the 4DX experience feels like I'm playing the arcade rail-shooter, though I won't get my hopes up.

In the decades since its release, one of the best sci-fi movies Event Horizon has continued to earn a steady stream of hype, thanks to the loss of director Paul W.S. Anderson’s original cut. While there are myriad stories about what the director's cut contained (and why it’s seemingly lost to time), actor Jason Isaacs recently chimed in with some interesting information about those "definitely illegal" lost scenes. 

While promoting his latest film, the BritBox Cary Grant biopic Archie, Isaacs shared some more with Yahoo about his time filming the 1997 sci-fi horror mashup. When asked about this storied alternate version, the Harry Potter alum described what he’d heard about the deleted material as follows: 

The infamous behind-the-scenes story of Event Horizon’s altered theatrical release includes a multitude of factors that led the picture to be cut into its currently existing shape. As if it wasn't bad enough the movie had to meet a tight theatrical deadline thanks to Titanic shifting into a December release date, there were also horrified reactions from unsuspecting Paramount executives when they saw the flick for the first time. (Said suits reportedly did not see any footage from the picture until its legendary test screenings. More below.) 

According to further lore surrounding the production, some of the material cut from the film later was apparently so extreme, it led to test audiences being sick. As Jason Isaacs would also mention, there was a disturbingly hellish orgy sequence that recalled the fate of the titular ship's crew and apparently caused much of the panic. With his commentary now shedding some light on what is potentially missing from the final version, I can see where that potential illegality may have come into play. 

The subject of Event Horizon's extended cut persists, especially in a post-Snyder Cut world. It's even gotten to a point where Jason Isaacs questioned the purpose, and even the existence, of Paul W.S. Anderson's longer cut. Expressing those criticisms, Isaacs shaped his thoughts thusly:

To be completely honest, all of this leaves me unsurprised that Jason Isaacs was hearing such bonkers tales on the set during filming.

Even after all this time, Paul W.S. Anderson would love to reshoot the deleted material, creating an Event Horizon “Snyder Cut” to restore his vision in full. With that notion landing support from Horizon star Sam Neill, all that would need to happen is for Paramount executives to approve that venture, and start reaching out to the rest of the cast. But it's hard to tell if the suits would go for it.

Plus, based on this new variation of the BTS tale, some scenes may need to be altered, if not left out altogether. Perhaps this time out the deal can be sweetened by finally letting Isaacs keep the disgusting Event Horizon prop he tried to bag the first time around.

The story of Event Horizon’s potential director’s cut continues to develop and take interesting turns. For now, the theatrical cut we all know and love is all we’ve got, but it’s still as wonderful today as it was back in the day. At the time of this writing, you can stream the film through access to a Paramount+ subscription; proving the point that every season has room for a story of intense, cosmic dread.

Paul W.S. Anderson has become synonymous with big-budget sci-fi action flicks thanks to the Resident Evil franchise. But before Resident Evil, Anderson made his first foray into the video game genre with 1995’s Mortal Kombat. The original film did wonders for his directing career. Recently, the director looked back at the 1990s classic.

While the original Mortal Kombat may have received a tepid response from critics, it made $124.7 million at the box offie and became a cult classic over time. Eventually, the franchise began to wane as the reception for the sequel Annihilation was far worse. Comic Book interviewed original director Paul W.S. Anderson on the 1995 film after the trailer for the reboot dropped. He spoke on the film still resonating with him after two decades:

With the Mortal Kombat reboot just weeks away from being released, Paul W.S. Anderson’s perspective on the 1995 original showed how much he appreciated its impact on his career. Knowing how much he enjoyed the games showed in the original film, even if he didn’t have today’s technology for cool special effects. His mission was to create a film that captured the essence and action of the games. And while the franchise didn't have staying power, Anderson’s work resulted in an animated series and more.

As Paul W.S. Anderson reminisces over the original Mortal Kombat, moviegoers have become increasingly excited about the reboot. On Feb. 18, the trailer dropped and caused a frenzy over certain characters popping up. But not everyone was impressed by the trailer as Mileena’s smile wasn’t what some fans wanted. With that said, the trailer did take the internet by storm as it became the most viewed red band trailer of all time. As the trailer took off, the film’s cast even was impressed by it given their reactions.

Hearing about Paul W.S. Anderson’s fondness for the Mortal Kombat games shed new light on the original Mortal Kombat. While some may hark on the film’s quality, its cult classic status should be a testament to the director’s vision. You can stream the original 1995 film on Vudu and Prime Video with the reboot will be released on Apr. 16 in theaters and HBO Max.

To coin a new version of an old phrase, if you’re truly a fan of the property you’re adapting, you’ll never work a day on set. If you’re someone that really gets the material you’re working with, the results can be pretty inspiring, which is something that’s readily apparent in the way writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson has approached his latest film, Monster Hunter. Though the man behind flicks like Resident Evil and Mortal Kombat is a practiced professional when it comes to turning video games into live action films, this latest Capcom franchise was especially influenced by the fact that Anderson has been playing them for a long time.

I attended the Monster Hunter press day on behalf of CinemaBlend to discuss the latest franchise Paul W.S. Anderson has lent his blockbuster talents to. And with this new project, Anderson had a very personal connection to the material, as he’s been playing the games for almost as long as he’s wanted to make the movie. That passion led to the bedrock of Mr. Anderson’s approach, which can be described as follows:

So how much of a Monster Hunter fan is Paul W.S. Anderson? Well, he’s been playing the games since around 2008, which was so early in the lifecycle of the franchise that the series apparently hadn’t caught on in markets outside of Japan at that time. But during his work on the Resident Evil franchise and recurring trips to that particular country, the Monster Hunter games grew on Anderson. Ultimately, he was convinced he wanted to turn the games into a movie, and the rest was history.

Paul W.S. Anderson’s fandom for Monster Hunter kept him pretty faithful to the sorts of characters he wanted to include from the game series. Ron Perlman’s Admiral is a prime example; a character that even sees the former Hellboy actor sporting the trademark facial hair of his video game counterpart. Not to mention, we’re also introduced to a character known as Meowscular Chef, a member of the Monster Hunter species known as Palicoes. He’s the cook on Admiral’s ship, and in case the name didn’t give it away, he’s a cat that can cook and fight with swords that channel his fire abilities.

On the villainous end, we get the roster of monsters that Milla Jovovich’s Captain Artemis gets to hunt throughout the survival epic that unfolds. Creatures like the Black Diablo, which attacks the joint operations task force that Captain Artemis is a part of, and the Greater Rathalos, which is shown in all of its fire breathing glory in the Monster Hunter trailer, get to be brought to life in living, breathing color. But mindful of his audience, and the fact that not everyone is going to enter this film as a huge fan of the franchise, Paul W.S. Anderson made sure to invent a new character in Captain Artemis, which in its own way ties into one of the aspects at the core of Monster Hunter’s play mechanics:

Monster Hunter is in theaters today, and if you’re feeling safe enough to head out to theaters, you’ll want to track this beast down in IMAX. If you’re going to hunt monsters, you may as well do it big. Also, if you want to find some fun at the movies in the near future, take a look at our 2021 release schedule and find your next adventure at the movies.

Writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson may best be known by mass audiences for two landmark films in the world of video games: 1995’s Mortal Kombat and 2002’s franchise-spawning hit Resident Evil. But between those lynchpin entries in the Anderson filmography lies a cult classic that has its own following in the depths of moviedom: the 1997 horror film Event Horizon. An eventual home video success, the Paramount sci-fi film has had an extended cut teased for some time, with a new Blu-ray treatment slated for 2021 giving fans a glimmer of hope they’d finally see it. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be likely, but there’s good news, as thanks to the Snyder Cut, Paul W.S. Anderson is dreaming yet again of restoring his complete vision.

During the press day for Paul W.S. Anderson’s latest film, the video game adventure adaptation Monster Hunter, my attendance on behalf of CinemaBlend presented me with an opportunity to ask about this particular white whale of ‘90s sci-fi. While the initial theatrical release of this cosmic horror show was a dud, home video provided such a boost for Event Horizon’s fortunes that Paul W.S. Anderson suggested he would eventually work on a fully restored cut to reward eager fans. Unfortunately, that reality found itself traveling a long and winding road to the following answer as to why next year’s Shout Factory Blu-ray probably won’t include the long sought-after alternate version:

You absolutely read that right, dear readers: the original version of Event Horizon not only horrified Paramount executives in the ‘90s, it frightened test audiences as well! But it’s apparently nothing that modern day audiences aren’t craving for, and with the right approach, Paul W.S. Anderson could finally restore his vision. All it’d take is a budget and a reunion of the principal players to get things underway; which, again, doesn’t sound impossible after Zack Snyder’s Justice League became a reality. But rather than being able to just reshoot materials to go with the restored scenes that Zack Snyder lost when he walked away from Justice League, Anderson’s quest is a much more involved scenario that requires a bit of a history lesson.

You see, back when Event Horizon was being put together on a tighter than usual schedule, it was discovered that audience members and executives alike were absolutely frightened by what they saw. All of the spooky energy coming out of the film’s “gory” workprint required that Paul W.S. Anderson re-shape the finished film from its original 130 minute form to the eventual 96 minute theatrical version fans are more familiar with. Apparently, the edict was to turn Event Horizon into a less bloody version of hellish interdimensional travel, so the movie couple play more like a horror blockbuster and less like a cult classic. This meant that moments like the one seen below had to go:

Luckily, a couple deleted moments survived in some capacity and made it into the special features of that first DVD. Which posed the question of what happened to the footage cut from Event Horizon that caused it to go missing? Well, apparently there are three words you never want to hear when it comes to storing your sensitive celluloid materials for a rainy, director’s cut enhanced day: “Transylvanian salt mine.” It’s where Paul W.S. Anderson’s materials disappeared off to once they were snipped from the Paramount-friendly version of Event Horizon, and they were found years after the fact, but in an unusable shape. Allegedly, the only copy of the assembly cut that exists happens to be a VHS copy in the hands of producer Lloyd Levin; and Anderson’s insistence that those original elements cannot be resurrected persists to this day.

Should fans of Event Horizon want to see a newly released Blu-ray with some extra bells and whistles, they won’t have to wait too much longer. But if they want to enjoy the version of Phillip Eisner’s script that was supposed to make it to the screen, apparently the only way they’ll get that picture is through the increasingly rare novelization that was released before the film debuted in theaters. Should Paramount find itself wanting to mirror some of that Snyder Cut energy, it sounds like it has the perfect opportunity to dive back into the past and freak some folks out with one hell of a hellscape. That is, unless the new Amazon Prime Video series adaptation isn’t looking to commit itself to this quest itself.

Paul W.S. Anderson’s Monster Hunter debuts in theaters this Friday, and if you’re looking to pick up the new Event Horizon Blu-ray, it will be released on March 23, 2021. But if you’re still fixated on the cinematic, you can check out the 2021 release schedule for your next potential haunt. Just be careful, as once you take a look at the potential future of movies at a theater near you, it might not let you leave.

This poll is no longer available.

Video game movies tend to get a bad rap, as this particular genre of film perpetually frustrates fans of properties like Monster Hunter. Whether it’s diversions from the source material, or a misunderstanding of tone and execution in the cinematic medium, game adaptations are sometimes unfairly maligned in general. There are some movies that are the exception to the popular "rule," though, and writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson’s Monster Hunter is the latest to be counted as safe from being lumped in as a stereotypical video game flick. Devotee and non-fan alike should be able to enjoy this surprisingly exciting adventure that’s dedicated to help end 2020 on a high, monster slaying note.

Monster Hunter starts with an investigation into a missing team of military operatives, led by Captain Natalie Artemis (Milla Jovovich). What begins as a routine expedition to find a disappearing military unit turns into a fight for survival, however, as Captain Artemis and her team are transported to a parallel world by complete accident. In this new realm, larger than life monsters roam the earth, and Natalie will have to depend on a hunter native to this dimension (Tony Jaa) if there’s any chance of surviving long enough to make the journey home.

Audiences might find themselves surprised by how fun Monster Hunter actually is.

No stranger to the video game movie process, writer/director Paul W.S. Anderson adapted Monster Hunter with almost a decade of experience as a fan of the property himself. His excitement for the game shows in the story he tells with this particular narrative, as it’s a fast and adrenaline charged affair from the very start. Clocking in at a little over an hour and a half, the movie doesn’t waste any time dropping the audience into a new world based off of a landmark Capcom property, and his comfort in this arena shows throughout the entire adventure.

Even fans of Paul W.S. Anderson’s Resident Evil franchise might find themselves surprised by how much fun they have with Monster Hunter. Instead of engaging in the shoot ‘em up zombie action that particular concluded series was known for, Milla Jovovich and Tony Jaa’s unlikely pair is seen puzzling out how to defeat the various monsters they’re stacking up against. Though that’s not to say there isn’t a healthy amount of action packed into the movie, as Jovovich and Jaa get to square off with their individual fighting disciplines with rather impressive results.

Monster Hunter is pure adventure cinema, for better or worse.

If you’re looking for a story that packs a dense feeling of lore and world building, Monster Hunter isn’t exactly the film for you. With a first act that speeds through with as little build up as possible, there are clues thrown out for the audience to piece together the backstory, but very little handholding or exposition. This is a pure piece of adventure cinema, for better or worse, as the audience is given only the basics to get them on their feet before really heading into the cinematic world of this Capcom franchise.

However, once Monster Hunter finds its groove, Paul W.S. Anderson’s film plants its feet firmly in a world of action-fantasy survival, and from that moment on it’s a pure adventure romp that’s eager to please. Investing itself in a quest filled with problem solving, the slick fast cutting approach that Anderson has used in the past is eschewed for clear cut action and thought process that allows the audience to really take in the world it’s being shown. It’s no surprise that Monster Hunter is headed for theaters this weekend, as this is an absolute must see in as large a cinematic presence as you can get your hands on.

By the time Monster Hunter kicks into full gear, it becomes an action-fantasy ride that’s worth the ticket.

It takes a little while for Monster Hunter to hit its stride, but every step is confident and assured. When the film eventually finds its footing, an action-fantasy ride filled with interesting creatures and old fashioned thrills is to be had by those who decide to take the journey. This may very well be one of Paul W.S. Anderson’s best video game films, worthy of being mentioned in the company of Resident Evil, and even Mortal Kombat.

In a year that’s seen various movies delayed or released in a business model that’s far from typical, Monster Hunter is a prime example of a film that could only debut on the big screen. A story of such scope that it’s truly an adventure to experience, audiences that feel comfortable heading out to their local theater should seek out this fast moving thrill ride on a screen that can show these monsters in their truly massive scale. For a year that's made audiences miss going to the movies, Monster Hunter just might be one of the best reasons to get out to a theater near you.

In the modern age, the Chinese box office is a big deal. There are a lot of movie fans in the most populated country on Earth, and getting a blockbuster hit over there means raking in a lot of money. The problem is that opening an American film in the nation's theaters isn't the easiest task. Not only does the government limit the number of titles that can be released annually, there are also strict guidelines in terms of content that is allowed and that is not allowed. It's created a complicated history between Hollywood and China, and now a new chapter is being written due to a controversy surrounding a scene in Paul W.S. Anderson's Monster Hunter that has been deemed racially insensitive.

According to Variety, the video game adaptation starring Milla Jovovich hit the big screen this past Friday, but its run has come to an abrupt end as a result of a scene in the movie that some people have found to be offensive. The scene in question features Chinese rapper Jin Au-Yeung a.k.a. MC Jin and an unnamed actor riding in a vehicle. At one point Jin's character exclaims, "Look at my knees!" and the other character responds, "What kind of kneese are these?" Jin jokingly responds, "Chi-knees."

The reason this has been found offensive is because some have linked the line to an archaic, racist schoolyard rhyme that begins, "“Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees..."

Monster Hunter first premiered at midnight on Friday in China, and approximately 25 percent of screenings around the county were showing the film – but by Saturday the controversy had become so widespread that the percentage dropped to .7 percent. The trade's sources say that there was at one point a notice that said that a new censored cut of the movie was going to be made available, but the plans to make the edits haven't moved forward.

In an official statement (via Deadline), German production company Constantin Film has issued an official apology, saying,

This is a pretty big deal for the box office business of Monster Hunter, which was surely hoping that the film would find success in China. Major markets around the globe are still being affected by the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, which means that every ticket sold counts right now, but there is also the consideration that Paul W.S. Anderson movies have expectations of doing well overseas. As an example, the director's last film, 2016's Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, made $312.2 million when all was said and done with its global release, and $159.5 million of that came from China (that's 51 percent). Not being able to show in those theaters is going to seriously hurt the bottom line.

We'll have to wait and see where things go from here when it comes to this China situation, but for those of you who are interested in seeing Monster Hunter stateside the good news is that plans for its release have not changed. After initially being shifted to 2021, the movie – which stars the aforementioned Milla Jovovich and Jin Au-Yeung in addition to Tony Jaa, T.I., Meagan Good, Diego Boneta, and Ron Perlman – will be released on the big screen in open theaters on Christmas Day.

It has been nearly 20 years since Paul W.S. Anderson took a beloved survival horror video game series and made it into one of the most successful and polarizing film franchises of the 21st Century. In 2002, the director, who made a name for himself with 1995's over-the-top Mortal Kombat just seven years earlier, took a turn from what many fans expected to see from the video game adaptation and gave audiences a new spin on Resident Evil, which ended up being a hit despite its lack of tie-ins with the source material. But how the film became a success, and a talking point nearly two decades later, is the result of some pretty massive behind the scenes facts dating back to at least the late 1990s.

If you have ever wanted to know what went into the iconic laser scene, what was going through Paul W.S. Anderson's head when he was writing the script, or why the godfather of zombie movies didn't make the cut you're in the right place, because you'll find out all of that and more here in this rundown of 10 behind-the-scenes facts from Resident Evil.

George A. Romero Wrote Several Drafts, But The Producers Felt It Was Too Graphic For Wide Appeal

When the idea of making a Resident Evil movie was first getting thrown around shortly after the first game's release in 1996, Robert Kulzer of Constantin Film (the German company that owns the film's rights) wanted to work with George A. Romero because, well, it's a zombie movie and who is better than the man responsible for Night of the Living Dead? Well, as the head of production told Fangoria in 2002, the ultimate zombie movie that Kulzer had hoped for wouldn't be found in Romero's script:

George A. Romero's version (all five or six drafts) of Resident Evil would have been more faithful to the source material than the version that was later released, but it's not hard to see why the production company was hesitant, especially when you consider the late director's love of blood, guts, and so many exploding heads.

Paul W.S. Anderson Was A Fan Of The Games But Wanted To Make The Movie Appeal To A Wider Audience

When talks fell through with George A. Romero and several other writers were brought on to write scripts for what would become the Resident Evil movie, the job eventually fell into Paul W.S. Anderson's hands, and judging by his love of video games and hand in creating one of the better adaptations in Mortal Kombat, he seemed to be up to the task. Around the time Resident Evil: The Final Chapter was released in 2017, Anderson sat down with THR where he argued his case about making so many changes for the first movie all those years ago:

Earlier in the conversation, Paul W.S. Anderson revealed that he was obsessed with the games back in the day and even beat the first two back-to-back over the course of 10 days and immediately thought to himself that had to turn it into a movie.

The Filmmaker Was Just As Much Influenced By Lewis Carroll As He Was The Original Game

When working on his treatment for Resident Evil, Paul W.S. Anderson not only looked to the video games for inspiration, he drew from his love of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, which he explained to Fangoria in 2002 had quite a few similarities:

Elements of Lewis Carroll's masterpiece can be found throughout the 2002 video game adaptation, including the main protagonist played by Milla Jovavich being named Alice, the computer running the lab and Hive being called the Red Queen, and the way in which Alice's life is turned completely upside down as she ventures deeper into the hole.

David Boreanaz Was Originally Up For A Leading Role But Turned It Down Because Of Angel

The first Resident Evil movie would have looked a lot different if David Boreanaz, best known for the titular role on the Buffy the Vampire Slayer spinoff series Angel, hadn't turned down the lead role that eventually went to Eric Mabius. According to CountingDown.com, Boreanaz was offered the role in early 2001, but confirmed at the Los Angeles Comic Book & Sc Fi Convention that he was forced to turn down the opportunity because it interfered with the shooting schedule for Angel, which was in the middle of its reign on WB. A smaller role was offered later on, but nothing ever came of it and zombie and vampire fans around the world missed on an opportunity to see what the film's producers originally had planned.

Production Was Temporarily Halted Because Of The September 11 Attacks

By the time Summer 2001 was coming to an end, most of Resident Evil had already been shot, but members of the production crew and Milla Jovavich needed to go to Toronto to film the film's closing moments (Alice waking up in a desolate Raccoon City), but shooting had to be postponed in the wake of the September 11 attacks. During a 2017 conversation with Thrillist, director Paul W.S. Anderson revealed that he was on a plane from New York to Toronto when everything went down. Like pretty much everything else at the time, Anderson said they cancelled the shoot and pushed it back about a month after everything settled down. But still, Anderson said the event had a huge impact on him and was one of the reasons the film dropped the Ground Zero from its original title.

Milla Jovovich Said Resident Evil Was The Toughest Film She Had Worked On

Anyone who has seen the first Resident Evil movie knows that Milla Jovovich's Alice kicks a lot of ass but is also subjected to quite a few blows along the way. It doesn't help that she is wearing nothing more than a pair of boots and tiny red dress through most of it, either. While filming the movie, Jovovich was on set for as long as 16 hours a day, with some of those days spent repeatedly jumping in and out of freezing cold water upwards of 40 times a day or jumping on metal grates. Leading up to the release of the movie, the actress told Fangoria that it was one of the most difficult shoots of her career, stating:

Well, at least the experience wasn't for nothing and it helped propel Milla Jovovich into superstardom just a few years after proving she could handle her own in The Fifth Element.

Puppets Were Used For Alice’s Final Showdown With The Licker

This is somewhat of a rarity these days, but the effects team on Resident Evil created two fully-movable puppets to film the scenes involving the licker throughout the second half of the movie, including the insane climax on the train. There was some CGI for a few shots, but the team spent a great deal of time and energy perfecting the look and movements of the mechanical creatures so that they could be used as much as possible. In the behind the scenes documentary that accompanies the Resident Evil home release, special effects and make-up supervisor Pauline Fowler revealed that one of the puppets was made of reinforced steel and could be used as a battering ram, so to speak, while the second unit was created in a way that it would correspond to every movement from the puppeteer.

The Visual Effects Team Made A Full Model Of Colin Salmon’s Body For The Iconic Laser Scene

One of the most memorable moments from the first Resident Evil movie is the scene in which the Umbrella Corporation commandos get stuck in the corridor armed with lasers. This frantic and frightening scene is perhaps one of the most anxiety-inducing in the whole movie, especially because you think that James "One" Shade (Colin Salmon) is going to make it out just before he is diced into tiny cubes. What makes it even better is the fact that a large part of the final product was created through the use of practical effects.

In the behind the scenes documentary that accompanies the Resident Evil home release, director Paul W.S. Anderson revealed that the makeup team made a full-body mold of the actor and then cut the model up into small cubes that were then broken apart during the filming. To pull off the effect, the mold was placed in front of a green screen and held up by individual rods. As the rods were removed, the mold fell apart and produced the desired effect.

The Train Escape Scene Was The Most Intense Of The Entire Shoot

Near the end of Resident Evil, the last few survivors attempt to make their escape from the Hive by using one of Umbrella's underground trains, but like everything leading up to that point, it doesn't go too well. Despite not being the best of escapes for the characters, the scene made for a thrilling and climactic conclusion to the movie, and by the sounds of it, pulling off this section of the movie was no easy task for anyone involved in the production.

In the behind-the-scenes documentary accompanying the Resident Evil home release, production designer Richard Bridgland explained that the train was the biggest thing they had to shoot when you consider all of the engineering and time that had to go into it to pull it off. The original tracks were a few feet too deep, so the production team had to built several hundred meters of platforms that could support the weight of a 12-ton train. And since the real train couldn't go as fast as the shoot required, a model was built to pull off the exterior shots.

Paul W.S. Anderson Was Inspired By The Early John Carpenter Movies When Deciding On The Score

One of the things that Paul W.S. Anderson was most adamant about with the production of Resident Evil was the way the score would sound. In the documentary Scoring Resident Evil, Anderson explained that his plan all along was to have something similar to the music used by one of his influences, stating:

To pull off something similar to John Carpenter's work in the 1980s but have it in the 21st Century required Paul W.S. Anderson to take an unconventional route in the scoring, which is why he called on Marco Beltrami and Marilyn Manson to come up with something that would go against the grain. And anyone who has watched the movie or has listened to the score knows that putting those two together created the desired effect.

Well, those are some of the more interesting and frightening facts from Paul W.S. Anderson's 2002 Resident Evil. If you are still hungry for more from the successful video game franchise, fear not as Netflix will soon be releasing a television series based on the survival horror classic.

There's a movie called Monster Hunter scheduled to be released this September 2020, based on the video game series. It was written and directed by Paul W. S. Anderson and stars Milla Jovovich, so hopefully Resident Evil fans are served what they like. But the first official photo for Monster Hunter came out in fall 2019, followed by two official posters this weekend, and now I'm thinking the star of the movie is not Milla Jovovich as Captain Natalie Artemis or even Tony Jaa as The Hunter. It's that sword. It has to be.

The sword is already prominent in that official movie photo, posted above, but check out the poster Milla Jovovich just shared, focusing on her character:

You'd think the sword's name was Milla Jovovich. There's a second poster in her Instagram post, slide over to see Tony Jaa as The Hunter. He doesn't get to hold the sword this time. I do love a clean, simple poster design that doesn't try to cram every character into the mix. So well done there. The images are striking.

I don't happen to play Monster Hunter, but it looks like there are all kinds of swords in use in the game, including the Great Sword. The movie seems to be sticking pretty closely to the game:

Hot damn! The Monster Hunter movie also stars Ron Perlman and T.I. Harris. Milla Jovovich posted a bloody photo with Perlman during filming for the movie back in December 2018:

Milla Jovovich followed that shortly afterward with a long wrap post on December 20, 2018, writing in part:

She also thanked the incredible cast and crew, and the military advisers for kicking her butt enough to bring Captain Artemis to life.

Back in November 2018, Paul W. S. Anderson talked to /FILM about Monster Hunter, revealing he was a fan of the games long before making this movie:

He said Monster Hunter is not quite like Resident Evil when it comes to creating new characters:

He said the movie leads heavily on the favorite creatures from Monster Hunter: World, but also bringing in some monsters from earlier games:

This will be a big year for Milla Jovovich and Paul W. S. Anderson. Not only do they have Monster Hunter hitting screens this fall, they already welcomed their third daughter a month ago in early February 2020. Monster Hunter is currently expected in theaters on September 4, 2020. Keep up with everything heading to the big screen this year with our 2020 movie release date schedule.

Earlier this year it looked as though Resident Evil had finally run its course on the big screen, with director Paul W.S. Anderson delivering fans Resident Evil: The Final Chapter back in January. It turns out that while it's true that we may never see Milla Jovovich's Alice again, however, the franchise is far from done, as reboot plans are now in the works.

Variety is reporting news out of the Cannes Film Festival that Constantin Film - the production company that owns the movie rights to the Resident Evil franchise - is currently in the midst of planning a brand new future for the property. As of now there are no other details available about the developing project - including what characters it may follow, who is involved creatively, and how it may relate to the previous movies - but what we do know is that the big screen video game series is far from dead.

The six Resident Evil movies that were released between 2002 and 2017 were never huge domestic hits, but they managed to continue being released thanks to high demand overseas (particularly in China). None of the films managed to make more than $60 million at the United States box office, but they all made over $100 million when worldwide numbers were factored in. It actually makes all of the sense in the world that Constantin Films wants to keep the Resident Evil movies going, as Resident Evil: The Final Chapter made an impressive $312 million globally on a $40 million budget (the movie only made $26 million in America).

What does seem likely is that the husband-wife duo that has been at the heart of the last 15 years of the franchise will not be involved. Paul W.S. Anderson wrote all six Resident Evil movies, and directed four of them, while Milla Jovovich starred in every single installment. In the making of The Final Chapter, both were adamant about it being the end - and that won't necessarily change just because the production company wants the features to keep coming.

Obviously there isn't much to know about this new Resident Evil reboot just yet, but given that this announcement is coming just four months after the release of what was the franchise finale, it's easy to imagine more details rolling in soon. Be sure to stay tuned here on CinemaBlend for all of the latest updates, and be sure to hit the comments section below to tell us what you think about this new development.

This poll is no longer available.

Oh, Resident Evil. What can you say about Paul W.S. Anderson's movie franchise that people haven't already highlighted? For starters, it's a franchise that's spanned six movies and 15 years, when three solid films over six years might have done better. It's gone from kinda scary to kinda action packed to paper thin, and to be completely honest it's kinda got to go. And yet, there's one simple solution for all of the series' various issues: it's time to reboot the Resident Evil franchise.

With Resident Evil: The Final Chapter allegedly closing the Anderson franchise, it's time to give the franchise the fresh coat of paint that it deserves. There's a good story in the source material, and there's even better angles that can be taken with the saga, with the right sort of thinking. Humbly submitted for your approval, here are our reasons as to why Resident Evil needs an undead refresh.

We Need A Proper Adaptation Of The Games

Before Paul W.S. Anderson gave us Alice, "The Mansion," and the Resident Evil that resembled the games on a surface level, George A. Romero was supposed to bring the action of the games to life -- and with an actual adaptation of the first game's events. If only Sony hadn't passed on that version of the story, we could have seen the Spencer Mansion on the big screen, in lavish, bloody detail. Now that Alice's adventures are wrapping up as we know them on the big screen, and interest in the series has been sparked up once more, we hope the folks in charge will take the opportunity to start a new save file, and play Resident Evil on a harder difficulty level.

It's Not Scary Anymore, And That's An Issue

The hardest thing to remember about the Resident Evil film franchise is the fact that, for at least one movie, it was actually kind of scary. While it wasn't necessarily so spooky that we were having nightmares, at least Paul W.S. Anderson's first installment styled itself as a horror film. But as time went on, the franchise became more of a buffet of action set-pieces and post-apocalyptic sci-fi, yet even that became stale. Out of the two genres that the films have dabbled in, Resident Evil probably has a better chance of surviving as a film series if it goes back to its horror roots by hiring someone who can handle modern horror / conspiracy stories.

The Story Is Broken Beyond Repair

Ok, you can have a moment to laugh at the headline. Yes, we know Resident Evil isn't the type of film you go to for a story-heavy experience. Well, as anyone who's played the games will tell you, it damned well should be. This is especially important after the Anderson series has had good guys turn heel, Wesker making side deals with the heroes in order to get things done, Alice losing her powers (only to get them back), and several characters that have fallen off the face of the films. (Where the hell was Chris Redfield in Resident Evil: Retribution?) Even with the customary introduction where Alice reminds us of her name and the last couple of movies that came before, the actual themes of the films are as thin as tissue paper. Bring back the shadowy conspiracy aspect of the Umbrella Corporation, with limited outbreaks cropping up to keep it interesting.

The Reboot Strategy Actually Worked For The Games

Much like the film franchise, the video game series for Resident Evil has taken a bit of a beating with more recent entries. By time Resident Evil 6 came around, there was some major griping with fans of the console based incarnation of zombie mayhem. So what did Capcom do? They took a step back, refreshed the franchise with Resident Evil VII, and went with a game teased as being a Texas Chainsaw Massacre variant of the horror classic. How it connects to the six games before it, we're not so sure, as the folks over in GamesBlend haven't relinquished their copies yet. But the buzz on the street pretty much says that taking a novel approach to the storied franchise worked for the video game side. The movies need just as swift a kick in the ass.

A Fresh Start Almost Always Helps

No matter how much evidence you put in front of the judges known as the viewing public, the scientific fact is starting over with a fresh draft gives you a lot of leeway with what you're creating. Even if Screen Gems didn't want to adapt the games outright, and just wanted to create a new series that ran parallel to the games, or was heavily inspired by them but took new twists, we could get behind that sort of action. The era that Resident Evil was born in has long since died, just ask the folks who winced at the idea of xXx: The Return of Xander Cage. If the horror of Raccoon City is going to have any chance of returning to the multiplex, new creators and visionaries are going to have to give the series a modern revival. If Tomb Raider can get remade, Resident Evil surely deserves to be born again.

While not a household name among non-video game players, the Monster Hunter game series is a global powerhouse. Now, it's taken a huge step toward the big screen, though how this is going to turn out is anybody's guess. While the producers of the new Monster Hunter film see this as a potential franchise, the producers in questions are Paul W.S. Anderson and Jeremy Bolt, the same team behind the Resident Evil film adaptations.

Monster Hunter is a game series by Japanese developer Capcom and while it's mostly popular in Japan and China, it's got a strong fan base in the United States as well. The game series follows a hero character who protects and defends villages in a fantasy setting by fighting and trapping monsters. The setup for the film, according to Deadline, will follow an ordinary man who discovers that he's descended from an ancient hero and must travel to a magical land to learn how to fight monsters. Paul W.S. Anderson has apparently already written the first draft of the script and they have still and VFX visual renderings of the monsters, including an image of a dragon attacking Los Angeles International Airport, so we'll apparently be getting fantasy monsters attacking the modern world in the story.

Opinions on the Resident Evil movies vary, but we can probably say that calling them "classic cinema" would be a stretch. At best, the movies are ridiculous fun, at worst they're terrible. They are showcases of violence and special effects that don't let the story stand in the way of their visual spectacle. If you go in expecting that, you at least won't be disappointed. However, if you're a video game who would like to see the medium taken as seriously as comic books now are, Resident Evil does not help your cause.

Monster Hunter certainly had a lot to be attracted to when it comes to major blockbuster movies. The opportunity to make some impressive CGI creatures is certainly there. Unfortunately, since that's all the team behind Resident Evil really focused on, we have every reason to expect that's all we'll get. Blockbuster movies with great special effects have their place, but it's difficult to say if that's all fans of the game franchise are looking for.

Would you like to see a Monster Hunter movie? Are these the guys you'd like to see make it? Let us know in the comments below.

We've yet to have the first truly great video game movie, with even the most promising of films failing to reach audiences. Assassin's Creed may finally be the one to buck the trend, but until then we're going to have to look ahead to what other project could claim that coveted title. What better adaptation to win the prize than the Mortal Kombat reboot, a property that's all about beating competitors to death? It's been in development for years, but now the reboot may have finally found a director.

As reported by Variety, New Line's Mortal Kombat reboot may have found its director in the form of Simon McQuoid. The Australian director is in early talks to helm the project, which will serve as a new introduction into the video game world of Mortal Kombat. Simon McQuoid's name may sound unfamiliar to you, but you've move than likely seen his work a dozen times over. McQuoid is one of the most in demand commercial directors out there, having done ads for high-profile brands like Samsung, Playstation, Duracell, Halo, and Dr. Pepper. The Mortal Kombat reboot would be the director's first feature film.

Originating as a fighting arcade game in the 90's, Mortal Kombat has since gone on to become one of the most popular video game brands in the world. It's spawned dozens of games in its series and has cemented itself in pop culture with its violent "Fatality" finishing moves. Known for being one of the bloodiest games in the business, Mortal Kombat features a slew of characters, often competing in a tournament to decide the fate of the world.

Paul W.S. Anderson directed the first Mortal Kombat movie in 1995, which went on to gross $70 million at the box office. The film featured fan favorite characters like Liu Kang, Sonya Blade, and Raiden competing in an interdimensional tournament to decide the safety of Earth. The film spawned one sequel, Mortal Kombat: Annihilation, which is panned by both critics and fans and effectively killed any future movies. Interest in a Mortal Kombat film was revitalized with Mortal Kombat: Legacy, a web series that offered a more grounded and modern take on the fantastical property.

Simon McQuoid is an interesting pick for the reboot. His commercials are typically equal parts imaginative and ambitious, with a healthy dose of special effects. Plus, they just look good, as you can see with his recent Rogue One themed Duracell commercial. You can see his other work (as well as a very cool fantasy short film called The Stone Forest) at his website here.

For more updates on Mortal Kombat, keep it here at CinemaBlend and we'll keep you updated with more information as it becomes available.

Next year Resident Evil: The Final Chapter will hit theaters and finally end a story that began 15 years ago. The video game based franchise has five movies under its belt, and one of the issues for any long-running series is making each entry unique and different for the last. Whether or not Resident Evil has done that up to this point is up for debate, but according to director Paul W.S. Anderson, _Final Chapter _will be unlike all its predecessors.

There's also a giant dragon monster in the film, so that helps too.

Paul W.S. Anderson has directed every single Resident Evil movie, and he sat down with Collider to talk about the series he's been with since its conception. When asked how Final Chapter comes full circle and ties into the first film, Anderson answered that it wasn't just about physically going back to Raccoon City and the Umbrella Corporation, but emotionally going back for Alice (Milla Jovovich). Fans of the series will know that Alice has very little memories of her life before the events of the first film. She hasn't gotten many answers throughout the series, but it looks like Final Chapter will answer lingering questions.

The film won't just answer the questions about Alice's past, but also some of the biggest loose threads in the entire series. What is the Umbrella Corporation and why would they make a virus to wipe out all humanity? What's the deal with the Red Queen, the little girl in the computer? Thankfully, these are questions the movie hopes to answer satisfyingly.

In case you haven't seen it, here's the trailer for Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, in which it makes it very clear that this will be the final movie.

Resident Evil: The Final Chapter is directed by Paul W.S. Anderson and stars Milla Jovovich, Ali Larter, Ruby Rose, Ian Glen and Shawn Roberts. The film is scheduled to release on January 27, 2017.

The set of the new Resident Evil movie has seemingly become an incredibly dangerous place to work. Only a couple months after a stuntwoman was in a terrible accident that left her in a coma, another crew member, who had nothing to do with stunts, died after sustaining an injury on the set. What’s worse, is that this accident happened nearly a month ago but the news is only now coming out.

Ricardo Cornelius was a crew member on the film’s shoot in South Africa when he was standing near a Humvee that was located on a rotating platform. Apparently, the Humvee was not properly secured and it slid off the platform. According to Deadline, when this happened it pinned Cornelius against a wall and crushed him. The crew member was rushed to the hospital and placed on life support, but he passed away a few hours later.

The curious thing is that this terrible accident apparently occurred on December 3rd, but has only come to light in the last day. There has been no public comment by the studio, director Paul W.S. Anderson, or anybody else involved in the production. At the very least you would expect a comment offering condolences to the man’s family. The complete silence is deafening. It’s understandable that from a business perspective nobody wants to make a big deal out of the tragedy, but by not saying anything at all it gives the impression that nobody cares.

It’s possible there was an intentional attempt to avoid even more bad publicity. This fatal tragedy comes on the heels of a near fatal one, where stuntwoman Olivia Jackson was in a motorcycle crash that left her in a coma. A camera on a mechanical arm failed to move out of the way, and Jackson crashed into it at hish speed. While she has since awoken from the coma, the accident resulted in her having an arm amputated and left her with severe facial injuries.

The film has reportedly completed its production, which at the very least means that there won’t be any additional reports like this one. The new movie is also titled The Final Chapter and the word is that the franchise will be living up to the title and wrapping up after this so whatever curse is following the movie will not continue onto another.

Our condolences go out to the wife of Ricardo Cornelius, Shafiefa, who had only been married to the crew member for a year. Movies are supposed to be escapes from reality, so it’s truly awful when horrible things like this occur while trying to create entertainment.

Like the vicious creatures in the films themselves, just when you think the Resident Evil franchise is dead and gone, it sits right back up again and drops another movie. Fans can start getting excited now because star Milla Jovovich just delivered your first taste of the latest installment in the action-packed horror saga, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.

Jovovich shared this photo on Instagram, and as you can clearly see, she’s getting a mold of her face taken, which has always seemed like it would be an unpleasant experience. Uncomfortable special effects necessities aside, Jovovich and her husband, director and franchise mastermind Paul W.S. Anderson, are definitely preparing for some serious "zombie killing."

In fact, production appears to be imminent. Not only is Jovovich going through the prep work, according to the message that accompanies this photo, she is set to depart tomorrow, July 16, for South Africa to get things rolling. That should make fans of the Resident Evil movies quite happy. The fact that it’s the last chapter in the tale of badass monster slayer Alice, not so much, but if nothing else, there’s at least one more movie to come.

Resident Evil 6 was originally supposed to hit theaters last year, in September of 2014, but it was delayed at the last minute due Jovovich’s pregnancy. You probably guessed it’s hard, and dangerous, to perform crazy stunts and wear skintight outfits when you’re carrying a baby. This was after the script took longer to come together than expected, but even though it may have taken the scenic route, it’s still headed to theaters before too long.

With everything apparently rolling along at a nice, even pace, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter should be on track to make its September 2016 release date. At this early stage, we don’t much about what the plot will entail, but so long as it features Milla Jovovich as the amnesiac heroine Alice, heavily armed and kicking all kinds of monster ass, the hardcore fans out there will likely be satisfied.

The films have never been critical darlings—the first two ended up on Roger Ebert’s most hated lists for their respective years—but they’ve all done well financially. The 2002 original earned $102 million globally, while 2004’s Apocalypse earned $129 million, 2007’s Extinction scored $147 million, 2010’s Afterlife gathered a series high $296 million, and Retribution, 2012’s penultimate episode, raked in $240 million. We’ll have to wait and see how The Final Chapter stacks up to its siblings, but the production process is getting started in short order.

While some fans clamor for a trilogy’s finale because their anticipation for the film has reached its unbearable apex, others are anxiously waiting for that franchise to be completely eradicated from the daily entertainment headlines. The Resident Evil franchise is the perfect example of both of these polarized viewpoints - though considering it’s nearing the end of its second trilogy, the voice of the naysayers are echoing loudly through the halls of the Umbrella Corporation and nobody seems to be listening.

Even though there’s almost no certifiable information about the project, a sixth Resident Evil film already has a release date set, giving fans and haters alike at least another year and a half to look forward to/dread yet another one of these action-horror romps. Shock Till You Drop reports the sixth entry in this franchise will see a tentative nationwide release of September 12, 2014, serving as the tepid coffee at the end of a hearty meal of summer blockbusters. No title. No casting, beyond Milla Jovovich’s automatic appearance. Just the fever dream that is Paul W.S. Anderson’s imagination, and the assumption that it will somehow follow the events of Resident Evil: Retribution, which left Alice and Wesker at the White House with all forms of shit soon hitting the fan.

If the film will see a release next September, that would mean that Anderson would be shooting for a filming schedule to start up this fall at the latest. Considering the recent news about Emily Browning joining Anderson’s long-gestating disaster flick Pompeii, it’s unclear what happens now. It doesn’t seem likely the big budget volcano epic – and that term is used very lightly – will see its entire production happen in the next six months, so expect some project shuffling from Paul W.S. Anderson in the near future.

There is good news and bad news, movie fans. The good news is that we presumably did not all die in an intense volcanic explosion. The bad news, however, is that Paul W.S. Anderson has not yet come out to say he has given up on making a movie about an intense volcanic explosion. In fact, that film’s cast just got a little bigger.

Anderson will be bringing that most famous of volcano eruptions to the big screen with Pompeii, and the Spanish site Peliblog reports that Emily Browning will be joining the cast as the female lead opposite Kit Harrington (Game of Thrones), who was added to the cast at the end of last year. Browning is best known for leading the all-female cast of Sucker Punch, and recently popped up at Sundance in the Chilean thriller Magic Magic with Michael Cera. Though she hasn’t had much experience working with volcanoes, I’m guessing she’ll still be the most convincing aspect about this film.

Harrington will play Milo, a slave in love with his master’s daughter (Browning) who gets sold to another owner. As Mt. Vesuvius begins to erupt, Milo dangerously races through the city to rescue his new love as well as his gladiator best friend who’s trapped inside of the coliseum. The script was written by Batman Forever scribes Lee and Janet Scott Batchler with a few touch-ups done by Downton Abbeycreator Julian Fellowes. I’m guessing it will retain the realism of Batman far more than it will of the Abbey.

Pompeii will be the first non-remake and non-adaptation in Anderson’s career since 1998’s Soldier, with Kurt Russell. And to think he hit his prime with Mortal Kombat and Event Horizon and then immediately lost it. We’ll have to wait until 2014 to see if he reaches it again. But we have a pretty strong feeling he won’t.

Paul W.S. Anderson and Milla Jovovich reunite on the fifth installment of the blockbuster Resident Evil franchise, Resident Evil: Retribution, bringing forth another zombie-laden horror-thriller centered on the remarkably resilient security officer turned zombie slayer, Alice. In the first film, Alice was betrayed by the evil Umbrella Corporation, who wiped her memories and buried her deep in the bowels of their genetic research facility, where she had to battle hordes of gruesome mutations to survive.

In Resident Evil: Apocalypse, the viral infection from the first film hits Raccoon City hard, turning its residents into monsters. Waking from a coma, Alice soon discovers Umbrella plans to not only quarantine the city, but also incinerate it and all those within its walls. Though Alice once more escapes destruction, and she does so with new super human abilities, which come in handy in Resident Evil: Extinction, where she is forced to face off against a new onslaught of Umbrella forces that includes her own clones.

Finally, came Resident Evil: Afterlife, where Alice and her clones join forces to topple Umbrella. In this battle, Alice not only loses her doppelgangers, but also her superpowers. The last we saw this scrappy survivor, she was calling upon all those who have so far survived Umbrella's carnage to unite, providing a solid launch point for the franchise's next adventure, which now at long last has a full trailer, viewable below, courtesy of the flick's Facebook page.

The trailer was unveiled after a live-chat with the film's star, and aside from the dizzying action displayed above, Jovovich promises so much more, assuring the excited crowd assembled in New York:

She also revealed that if Anderson has his druthers, there will be at least one more film with Alice. From there, Jovovich suggested that the franchise could live on without her or Anderson, which caused cries of dismay from the audience. To which Jovovich winsomely laughed, "Momma needs a rest!"

Speaking on the passion she and Anderson—who is also her husband—share for the franchise, and she explained their drive to "up the ante," teasing, "This opening sequence is crazy, and I'll give you a hint: it's all played backwards!"

Look forward to that and so much more when Resident Evil: Retribution hits theaters September 14th. For more on the film, check our Blend Film Database.

It may come as a surprise, but the Resident Evil franchise is one of the longest currently running in Hollywood today. Starting in 2002, they've made three films in the year since and have been hard at work on the fifth installment: Resident Evil: Retribution. The newest movie isn't due out until September, meaning that we still have a good amount of time to wait until we see a full theatrical trailer, but today G4's Attack of the Show premiered the first teaser trailer and now it's online.

Thanks to the short run time there isn't really much to comment on here, but did anyone else notice that it uses one of Daft Punk's songs from the Tron Legacy soundtrack. I could be wrong, but that sure sounds a lot like "Recognizer."

Directed by Paul W.S. Anderson, Resident Evil: Retribution once again features Alice (Milla Jovovich) fighting back against the evil Umbrella Corporation and battling hordes of the undead. The movie is being seen as a reunion of sorts, as it's bringing back some old cast members while also introducing new ones, such as Kevin Durand, Michelle Rodriguez, Jason Isaacs, Sienna Guillory, Oded Fehr, Jhann Urb, Shawn Roberts and Boris Kodjoe. The movie arrives in theaters on September 14th.

Say what you will about Paul W.S. Anderson and his gifts as a filmmaker, but he's been one of the fiercest champions of shooting 3D movies in actual 3D, starting with last year's Resident Evil: Afterlife and now with The Three Musketeers, the movie that prompted him to proclaim at Comic Con last year that he would never make another movie without 3D.

But is all that effort worth it? Anderson had a lot of period costumes, swords and elaborate locations to work with in Three Musketeers, but it's not what you have, but what you make of it that counts when you're trying to take advantage of 3D technology. To find out, read the latest installment of To 3D or Not to 3D, as we break the movie down with the goal of figuring out whether it's worth your hard-earned money to add that extra dimension.

Does It Fit?

The answer to this really depends on whether or not you think live-action ever deserves to be in 3D. Three Musketeers isn't nearly as heavy on computer effects as Anderson's Resident: Evil movies, and features very few fully CGI shots that can really pop out in 3D. But when you've got locations and costumes this elaborate, plus the opportunity to stick some swords out at the audience, you can see why the temptation is there. Put it this way: it fits better than Fright Night.

Planning & Effort

As mentioned above, Anderson is a total cheerleader for shooting in actual 3D, and he automatically earns two points for simply using the 3D cameras. And there are several moments throughout Three Musketeers, whether the patented Anderson move of watching Jovovich fling herself through a hail of bullets or a simple sword poked in the right direction, where you can tell he was happy to let the 3D cameras roll. How effective they are is another story, but it's clear that Anderson had 3D in mind throughout the shooting of this movie.

Beyond the Window

You know all those poking-out swords I was talking about? The Beyond the Window effect is the opposite, the effect you get when a 3D movie opens up on to a giant landscape, and you can really feel the various planes that make this feel like a real world. Unfortunately, despite a lot of really lovely locations and opportunities to show real depth, the 3D in Three Musketeers never show it off. There are even shots in long palace hallways that don't seem to get any added depth from the 3D, and the action sequences seem to look almost exactly like they would in 2D. Usually this is where a live-action 3D film ought to score the highest, but in this one, it makes almost no difference.

Before the Window

So this is where you look for the swords poking out at the screen, or dust and ash floating in front of the characters, or anything that makes it feel like the world of the film is coming out in front of you. Unfortunately Three Musketeers totally fails here too-- even the handful of sword gags don't seem to be popping out that far. Maybe the 3D cameras they were working with just didn't express depth that well? Whatever happened, this category is a total miss as well.

Brightness

The more 3D movies we see, the more they seem to be solving this problem, which basically requires bumping up the overall brightness of the film so you can see even when you're wearing dim 3D glasses. Three Musketeers, with a lot of scenes in broad daylight or brightly lit palaces, has pretty much no brightness issues, even in action-heavy scenes that can sometimes get muddled (Anderson's penchant for slo-mo action shots probably helps that a little). It kind of fits in with the rest of the 3D in the movie-- you barely notice it.

The Glasses Off Test

The real test for whether or not a movie is taking advantage of 3D is to take off your glasses in the middle of the scene and figure out if you can understand what's going on without them. If the picture is blurry beyond recognition, that means the images are really popping off the screen when you put the glasses back on; if you barely notice a difference, that means the 3D isn't have much impact. There are entire stretches of Three Musketeers that could be watched with no glasses and absolutely no problem. Even in the scenes that ought to have real depth, everything looks almost ordinary even without the glasses. It's proof positive that the 3D is a wasted opportunity.

Audience Health

Sometimes when 3D is done badly, the action scenes can make you feel ill, with the switching planes and the general sense that you're actually trapped inside the movie with them. Shooting with actual 3D cameras pretty much eliminates this problem, and though Anderson's action scenes are stagy and sometimes overly slow, they at least keep the audience from getting vertigo while they watch them. You'll have no more problem with nausea than you would in a 2D movie, because Three Musketeers is barely in 3D to begin with.

Final Verdict: 21 isn't the most abominable score you can get in the To 3D or Not to 3D rankings, and that's mostly to the credit of the 3D cameras, which keep everything looking bright and shiny and non-illness-inducing. But it also keeps everything looking pretty much like it would in the 2D version, which means there's absolutely no reason to see this movie in 3D, even if that's what the director intended all along. There's not really much of a reason to see this very, very silly movie anyway, but if you simply can't wait to catch it on cable on a slow Saturday, at least see it in 2D and save yourself some cash.

This poll is no longer available.

For more 3D analysis, visit our To 3D Or Not To 3D archive right here.

While the movie didn't screen early for critics, Paul W.S. Anderson's The Three Musketeers opened at midnight last night and some reviewers bought tickets so that they could publish an opinion on the movie today. The result has been overwhelmingly negative, our own Katey Rich calling it, "the rare movie that's so dumb it's impossible to understand" (expect her full review later today). If the studio promoting the movie, Summit Entertainment, knew that they had a dud on their hands it's understandable that they wouldn't go out of their way to promote it with full force, but now one of the film's stars is calling them out for it.

Milla Jovovich, who not only stars in the film as Milady de Winter but is married to the director, recently took to her Twitter account to call out the studio for their lack of promotion. The actress started by calling out to fans asking if people actually knew about the film, but then brought down the hammer. "Are 'summit' promoting it as a family adventure movie?" Jovovich asked. "Or are they resting on their laurels from "twilight" n making no effort? Let me know!" She then continued her comments about the company, admonishing them for sweeping the movie "under the rug" and saying, "Shame on them. SHAME ON YOU 'SUMMIT'."

It's worth noting that The Three Musketeers is already out in many international markets (premiering in some territories as early as September 1st) and has already made $50 million overseas on an estimated $75 million budget. The question is where things go from here. Is this going to be a small moment of outrage and anger that will just go away, or can we expect a lawsuit to be announced in the coming weeks? A lot of that could depend on the movie's performance this weekend - where it's going up against Halloween power-house Paranormal Activity 3 - so we'll just have to wait and see.

It's never funny when people are injured on a movie set, doing their jobs in the name of making some entertainment for the masses, but it's hard to resist when the people injured are 16 extras dressed up in full zombie makeup. I mean, the possibilities for confusion are endless-- is that an actual broken bone or a prop one sticking out of your leg? How do you tell the difference between fake and real blood?

Luckily none of the injuries sustained by the extras on the Toronto set of Resident Evil: Retribution were life-threatening, according to TMZ, so it's not quite as tasteless to make the zombie jokes. But still, these were real people, not the undead, and they really did get hurt, including some broken bones, back injuries and general arm and leg pain. The accident occurred when the actors were placed on a set with wheels that suddenly moved, sending them falling a terrifying 20 feet to the ground. It's unclear which scene was being shot, but given that all of the Resident Evil movies involve packs of zombies in one form or another, you can pretty much guess "any of them."

The Toronto Police Department and the MInistry of Labor are investigating the accident, presumably to figure out if any of the crew members were doing their jobs correctly, but there's no word on whether or not this will slow down production on the film, which is set for release on September 14 next year. The film stars Milla Jovovich, as always in the lead role of Alice, along with Michelle Rodrgiuez, Sienna Guillory, Colin Salmon, Shawn Roberts, Boris Kodjoe, Oded Fehr, Johann Urb and Kevin Durand. Paul W.S. Anderson is also back as a writer and director.

The cast of Resident Evil: Retribution just keeps getting bigger and what's more is that it looks as though it will be some sort of strange franchise reunion. In addition to Milla Jovovich, who will once again be playing Alice, Michelle Rodriguez, Sienna Guillory, Colin Salmon, Shawn Roberts and Boris Kodjoe will be making their comeback. But if you think that's going to be it, you're sadly mistaken.

Deadline reports that Oded Fehr, Johann Urb, and Kevin Durand have all lined up parts in the new movie. While the movie will be a return to the franchise for Fehr, who played Carlos Olivera in both Resident Evil: Extinction and Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Urb and Durand are both newcomers. While latter's role is unknown, the former will be playing the leader of the Resistance that teams up with Alice to take down the Umbrella Corporation. Few specific details are known about the movie, but production will be setting up in Tokyo. Directed and written by Paul W.S. Anderson, Resident Evil: Retribution is scheduled to hit theaters on September 14, 2012.

Though I'm not a huge fan of the franchise, I can't help but be curious about how the plot of this new movie will shake out. The cast is comprised of characters introduced at totally different stages and some of them even had grisly, awful deaths (I'm looking at you, Michelle Rodriguez). Could they be pulling a Fast and the Furious and be moving the fifth installment to an earlier point in the timeline? At this point it's all a mystery.

Michelle Rodriguez didn't have what you would call a gracious exit from the Resident Evil franchise. Playing Rain Ocampo in the first movie, her character was first bit and infected by one of the zombies before being shot in the head by Matt Adison (Eric Mabius). But if you think a slight case of death is going to prevent her from coming back, apparently you couldn't be more wrong.

Bloody Disgusting has learned Rodriguez is set to return as Ocampo in Resident Evil: Retribution 3D, the fifth film in the franchise. The news has since been confirmed as accurate. Also returning will be Shawn Roberts, who played Albert Wesker in Resident Evil: Afterlife, though apparently that will only be a cameo. The two will join the cast that already includes Milla Jovovich (who returns as Alice), Sienna Guillory (who will play Jill Valentine for the third time), Colin Salmon (who will be coming back as James 'One' Shade) and Boris Kodjoe( once again playing Luther West). The new movie will be set in Toyko, Japan and is scheduled to be released on September 14, 2012.

I wonder how Paul W.S. Anderson plans to get around this one. Ocampo was most definitely dead by the end of the first movie, so it will take some seriously creative maneuvering to bring her back. Then again, this franchise is as much sci-fi as it is action and horror, and we all know that anybody can return from the dead in science-fiction. The question that remains, however, is what team she will be playing for after her resurrection.

Join me on a journey back in time, will you, to the long-lost time of 2007, when Roman Polanski, believe it or not, was planning a $100 million disaster epic about Mount Vesuvius. And it was going to star Scarlett Johansson and Orlando Bloom. And it was really a movie that was really going to happen, until Polanski abruptly walked away that September, citing fears about the upcoming writer's strike but maybe also realizing, "Good Lord, I bet I can just make The Ghost Writer instead and have a much easier time of it."

Four years later the story of Mount Vesuvius and the lost city of Pompeii has been revived, and in the hands of someone who's much more likely to make the bombastic disaster epic of your dreams: Paul W.S. Anderson. The Resident Evil and Three Musketeers director will reunite with his Musketeers distributor Summit Entertainment to make Pompeii, a historical disaster film with more than a few shades of Titanic in its plot. Tell me if any of this sounds familiar: a young lower-class man falls for a rich woman, who is already engaged to a wealthy and corrupt man. When disaster strikes the two lovers are separated, and he must fight his way through the unfolding chaos to find her again. Cue the Celine Dion!

This time the hero character is a slave, his beloved is his master's daughter and the evil fiancee is a corrupt Roman Senator; of course the disaster that strikes isn't an iceberg, but a giant erupting volcano spewing lava over the entire city. Basically the stakes have been raised to even more ridiculous levels, and you can be sure that there's at least a small part of Paul W.S. Anderson that's thinking "Yeah, Cameron, I can top that." As a professed sucker for any and all disaster movies, no matter how absurd-sounding, I welcome this movie with open arms, especially now that Roland Emmerich has moved on to making a Shakespeare movie-- no, really-- and we need someone to fill the void. Anderson plans to shoot Pompeii in spring of 2012, and while there's no cast set yet, I'd bet a chunk of money on a part for his wife Milla Jovovich.

Though he wound up marrying leading lady Milla Jovovich, Paul W.S. Anderson let the Resident Evil franchise go on without him after directing the first film, as he moved on to Alien vs. Predator and Death Race and stuck around Resident Evil as a producer. But for Resident Evil: Afterlife he's back in the director's chair, and handling an even bigger challenge than zombies and an evil corporation: 3D.

Using some of the same cameras and crew that helped make Avatar a reality, Anderson and his cast-- with Wentworth Miller newly on board-- set about translating the world of Resident Evil into the third dimension. Anderson is now a total convert to the medium, and not just because he has the bragging rights of the releasing the few live-action movies of 2010 actually filmed in 3D, not post-converted. I caught up with Anderson at Comic Con, before I or anyone else at the roundtable had seen a frame of footage from the 3D film, so we had to rely on Anderson to explain what to expect, and how 3D was going to change the look of the world. It says a lot about Anderson's enthusiasm that even the first question, a joke about what his bullets are, turned into an explanation of what cool thing to expect. Check it all out below. Resident Evil opens September 10.

[Jokingly] What's your favorite bullet?

I'll tell you exactly what my favorite bullet is. In this movie, Milla collects quarters. It's like, why do you need money in a post-apocalyptic world. And what you discover is she's making shotgun shells, but instead of pellets in the shotguns it's a whole roll of quarters. When she shoots the sawed-off shotgun you have the great slow-motion shot where all these coins come out. And they kind of go heads-tails, heads-tails-- it's like that spinning thing just plows through the undead.

What were the challenges filming this movie in 3D?

I think if you work with any new technology you have to expect it's going to be a little problematic. You know, the cameras were a little twitchy. You'd get less footage every day, less setups. The interesting thing about it is you just composed images in a different way. I moved the camera in a completely different way than I had on the movie I did beforehand [Death Race]. I went for more of a classical approach to filmmaking, lots of dolly and track and cranes, slightly slower, more choreographed fight moves. Because it looked better in 3D, and allowed you to experience the space a little more. It altered the way I shot the movie, completely. After 20 years of filmmaking I felt like I was on my first movie all over again.

I think that's what makes a mockery of a lot of those 3D conversions, where they're shot in 2D and converted to 3D. Having made a real 3D movie, you realize that right from the production design you're designing sets that complement the 3D. You're designing interactive elements, like rain or smoke--all this particulate matter in the air enhances the 3D. But if you're shooting in 2D, you don't know about that. I'm convinced 3D is the future of cinema. I think it's a paradigm shift in terms of cinema, and those things don't happen very often, The introduction of sound, the introduction of color photography, and now 3D. It happens once every 40 or 50 years, so it's very exciting to be a filmmaker working while one of them is happening, and also to really be on the cutting edge. We really will be the first live-action 3D movie of the year. There hasn't been one this year yet, it's all been conversions. When people see what real 3D looks like, they'll go "oh, that's why I spend an extra 5 bucks on a cinema ticket. That's worth it."

You have a lot of characters from the games in your films, but you're taking them in different directions. Do you have a lot of input from Capcom or anyone telling you what you can or cannot do.

I always run the stories by them, they read the scripts, they give their comments. I would never want to, like, kill a character they want to use in the next game. So absolutely. We're very respectful of the world of the video game. And though we're telling new stories and introducing different characters, I've always felt like this is what the video game does itself. One of the reason Resident Evil is a successful franchise is that they've constantly evolved. And that's what we do in the movies. We use characters from the world, but every episode of the movie franchise has new characters, new shorelines.

When new games come out and you see new characters, do you get excited and start writing them into your films?

Well a good example of that is the dogs. I love the dogs, ever since I played Resident Evil 2 and the dog crashed through the window, it just terrified me. But I have to say after three movies of them, there's a limit to what you can do with dogs. They don't take direction well, they get tired-- they're the real divas on set. And then I played Resident Evil 5, and it's like "Eh, dogs again" and then their heads split open. It's freaky shit !I love this. That's a perfect example of how the game reinfused me to use those characters.

Is there going to be a lot of digital effects of things flying out at the screen at us, like in Final Destination 3D for example?

What happened in Final Destination, I don't know if you noticed, but the movie was in post-production a long long time. I think they changed a lot of the deaths, so a lot of those things were last-minute additions. Our process, everything we shot is in the movie, and it's all being designed. We haven't changed anything. It's been a year of making these things happen exactly as we had pictured them. We have stuff coming out a the screen, but it's not going to look bad. It's not slapdash. Will stuff come out of the screen? Absolutely. Will it look as bad as that tire in Final Destination 3D? Don't' worry, it's not going to look like that.

Zombies are front and center in pop culture right now. What makes them such an appealing foe?

For me it's a multitude of things. In the modern world there's a real fear of loss of individuality, and I think the undead speak to that. And the idea of the dead coming back to life, and this unstoppable foe coming after you slowly, I think it's a real primal fear, like a fear of claustrophobia or a fear or heights or a fear of water. I've had that recurring dream since I was a child. I think that's one of the things that horror and action films provide for us. They provide those surges of adrenaline, surges of terror, that when you live in a Western society you don't really get anymore.

If you’ve seen the trailers for Resident Evil: Afterlife the answer to the question “how much of this movie was computer generated?” may surprise you. Since it was filmed entirely 3D and computer generated images are easier and cheaper to make work in the format, and since let’s face it, Hollywood rarely seems interested in putting the effort into practical effects anymore, you’ve probably already assumed the entire thing was filmed with Milla Jovovich sitting on a pair of green egg crates while stunt men in green unitards threw green tennis balls at her. If so, you would be spectacularly wrong.

In fact it would seem that they actually went through a great deal of trouble to build as many real sets and do as many real makeup effects for Resident Evil: Afterlife as possible. The proof is in ten minutes of completely uncut video taken from the set, embedded in the two videos below. Click play and you’ll get a unique and candid look at how some of the movie’s biggest scenes were filmed. Watch:

The airplane sequence? They actually built an airplane, stuck Milla Jovovich in it, and sent it rocketing down a runway set. Zombie dogs? They got real Dobermans and hired real, talented makeup effects artists to paint them up like they’d just been spat out of hell. Another movie, a lazier movie, some of them starring Milla Jovovich, would have CGI’d all of that. Resident Evil: Afterlife opted to build it, to paint it, to make something tangible in the hopes that it’ll give the audience something to latch on to. Say what you want about the RE franchise, but they at least deserve praise for that.

For comparison, these are completed versions of four scenes. Here’s how the finished product came out:

For one final proof that, maybe, Resident Evil: Afterlife might actually know what it’s doing, I offer the following featurette. Watch:

In the above vid, when Milla Jovovich talks about how good the script is, you probably rolled your eyes. Rightfully so. But when she talks about what it’s like when they’re on set “immersed in the world”, that was worth paying attention to. You don’t get that with endless walls of green screen. Or later in the video, when Ali Larter talks about how important the physicality of the film is to her performance, to me that seems like a big bullet point. It's something which directors like George Lucas, who don’t bother building sets when CGI will do, who don’t bother with live dogs when a CGI one can be dragged out of some photoshop library, never seem to get. Apparently Paul W.S. Anderson, of all people, does.

He still uses plenty of green screen and you just heard them talking about that too… but it’s in conjunction with physical sets and props and makeup, as much as they can build or slather on, to give the actors and the audience something real to latch on to. And that’s cool.

Milla Jovovich has taken to her Twitter account to give us our first look at costume designs for Paul W.S. Anderson's The Three Musketeers (not to be confused with the one currently being produced by Doug Liman). In the film, Jovovich will be playing Milady de Winter, a spy working for the evil Cardinal Richelieu and one of the chief protagonists in the film.

While I am certainly no fashion expert, I can occasionally recognize a nice dress, and this certainly qualifies. If I were of a different sex, I would use this portion of the article to talk about the fabric and pretty frills, but I have no extensive surgery scheduled in the next few minutes. Certainly feel free to let me know what you think in the comments section, however. To see the images full size, head on over to Milla's Twitter.

The battle of the competing Three Musketeers movies just got even more real. While the Doug Liman-directed project moves forward at Warner Bros., the one headed by Paul W.S. Anderson has found a distributor with Summit Entertainment, and is now scheduled for a release next summer.

According to THR the new summer release date means principal photography has to be moved up by a month, with shooting now scheduled to start in August. Meanwhile Doug Liman won't start shooting until the fall, which almost definitely means Anderson's project will be the first to hit theaters, even with the fact that it's in 3D. Much of the cast was announced last week, with Logan Lerman, Ray Stevenson, Luke Evans and Matthew Macfadyen on board to play the Musketeers (you know there were four, right?), and Christoph Waltz as the villainous Cardinal Richelieu. Last we hear Orlando Bloom was being pursued to play another villain, but the new THR report has Mads Mikkelsen on board as a different baddie, Rochefort. Anderson's wife Milla Jovovich is also in there somewhere as an old flame of one of the Musketeers, just to add some requisite girl power.