Following numerous action movie adaptations of Resident Evil, Sony Pictures is taking another crack at adapting Capcom's beloved survival-horror franchise for the big screen. Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City is directed by Johannes Roberts and promsies to be more accurate to the source material, adapting the stories from the first two games in the Resident Evil series.
It's clear that the filmmakers have a fondness of Resident Evil and want to do right by the franchise with Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. The trailer teases a film that is very accurate to the video games, with tons of Easter eggs and references to Resident Evil 1 and Resident Evil 2 spotted in the trailer alone. Whether or not it all amounts to a quality movie remains to be seen, but in the meantime, one has to wonder where the filmmakers will go if they get the chance to do a sequel.
While some may think the obvious choice is to adapt Resident Evil 3: Nemesis next, it may actually make more sense to adapt Resident Evil Code: Veronica instead. Here are all the reasons why a Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City movie sequel should adapt Code: Veronica next instead of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.
Resident Evil Code: Veronica Movie Could Bring Back Multiple Cast Members
While some think that it would make more sense for the filmmakers to follow-up Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City with an adaptation of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, doing so would potentially mean leaving basically most cast members behind. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis stars Jill Valentine in the lead role as she tries to survive the horrors of Raccoon City while being relentlessly pursued by the titular Nemesis monster. Besides Jill, Brad Vickers, and Barry Burton (who was removed in the remake and never had anything more than a cameo anyway), there are no returning characters in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis that appeared in the previous two games in the series.
This wouldn't be good business for a franchise, which would potentially bank on the popularity of the characters established in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. Moviegoers may be less interested in seeing a sequel movie that doesn't have many returning cast members. The Resident Evil 3 story could be altered to feature more returning characters, but since the filmmakers clearly want to be as accurate to the games as possible, that seems unlikely to happen.
If the Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City sequel was based on Code: Veronica, both Claire and Chris Redfield could return, not to mention Albert Wesker. Plus, the plot could be altered to include even more returning characters from the original movie. Maybe the filmmakers could even do what they did with Welcome to Raccoon City and adapt two games at once, adding Leon in place of Carlos or Steve Burnside to bring back every main protagonist in one film.
Resident Evil Code: Veronica Would Be A Brand New Setting
A Resident Evil 3 film adaptation would presumably be set in Raccoon City again, which is ground that's being covered extensively in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. Resident Evil Code: Veronica, however, could transport viewers to a completely new location, as Code: Veronica has nothing to do with Raccoon City. As fans may recall, Resident Evil Code: Veronica is primarily set on Rockfort Island, which is home to an Umbrella-owned prison complex. Visually, this would look significantly different than Raccoon City, providing a nice change of scenery and opening the door for unique new set-pieces and moments.
Code: Veronica didn't keep the characters rooted in place on Rockfort Island, however. The latter portions of the game actually take place on Antarctica, so Code: Veronica would be more of a globe-trotting adventure. Sequels often try to make themselves seem bigger than their predecessors, and the varied locations found in Resident Evil Code: Veronica could go a long way in accomplishing that goal.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City Introduces the Ashford Twins
One of the main reasons why the Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City sequel should adapt Code: Veronica next is that the film is already laying the groundwork. The Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City trailer confirms that Claire and Leon find a film reel about the Ashford twins, two of the antagonists from the Code: Veronica video game. It seems Umbrella had been conducting experiments on them in the movie universe just like in the games, though it's unclear if their backstories are the same beyond that. Regardless, this sets the stage for Code: Veronica, so it already seems like the natural next step.
Resident Evil Code: Veronica Was Originally Supposed to Be RE3
A lot of people may not realize this, but Resident Evil Code: Veronica was originally supposed to be the third main series Resident Evil game anyway. Resident Evil 3: Nemesis was meant to be a spin-off game when it first started development, but Sony paid for timed-exclusivity for a game with the Resident Evil 3 name. The decision was made to rename the Resident Evil spin-off game to Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, while Resident Evil Code: Veronica was given its unique name instead.
Even though Resident Evil Code: Veronica is not a numbered entry in the series, it is still very much a main series Resident Evil game. There are extremely important plot developments in Code: Veronica with repercussions that would be felt for years to come. Since Code: Veronica was originally meant to be the follow-up to Resident Evil 2 anyway, it would be fitting for the film series to get things back on track.
Resident Evil Code: Veronica Monsters
Resident Evil Code: Veronica would also give the filmmakers more unique monster designs to use so that they're not repeating too much of what was already seen in Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. The Resident Evil Code: Veronica monsters include creatures like the Bandersnatch, which is a fleshy creature with a long arm that it can stretch out at its enemies like some kind of twisted version of Mr. Fantastic, along with the aquatic Albinoids. There's even the Tremors-like Gulp Worm that the characters could contend with, allowing for much more diversity in the creatures that are featured.
If the filmmakers were to adapt Resident Evil 3: Nemesis instead, they would comparatively be limited, as RE3 didn't have a ton of new monsters compared to its predecessors. Not only that, but Nemesis himself has already been adapted for the big screen. And while the Resident Evil: Apocalypse movie is not considered to be a very good movie or all that accurate of a Resident Evil adaptation by any means, they definitely got the Nemesis design done right. Nemesis in the movie looks almost exactly like his video game counterpart, so that would just be retreading old territory.
There are many different directions that a Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City sequel could go, but fans should keep in mind that it hasn't actually been greenlit at the time of this writing. The first Resident Evil movie will need to do well at the box office before plans would move forward on making another one, though considering how much material there is to adapt, it would be great to see. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could prove problematic when it comes to Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City's box office performance, but fans will find out once it hits theaters late next month.
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City premieres in theaters on November 24.