Until very recently, any property advertising itself as a video game adaptation faced a massive uphill battle and the overwhelming expectation of the worst-case scenario. Currently, video game movies and shows have the tiniest amount of goodwill to squander, but the well-known name they choose still affects their cultural perception.

One of the most common complaints levied against pop-culture adaptations is that the work feels like an unrelated script with the marketable IP's name attached. A studio with a script it may not have the most faith in is likely to slap a barely related name on the front and send it to the screen, but that technique doesn't always help.

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Netflix's Resident Evil did not work out. It's not shocking to those who've experienced previous takes on the franchise. Despite having the most on-screen adaptations, most of them have been despised by critics and disavowed by the fans. The most recent attempt was an eight-episode series that dropped on Netflix to a massive amount of criticism. The series' writing and storytelling received almost constant insult and mockery from fans and newcomers. Its place in the ongoing timeline of the Resident Evil franchise was questionable at best. In fact, the show's connection to the game series it's named after felt less than essential to the proceedings. That raises the question, could fans have been kinder to it if it had removed the scant references and simply called the show something else?

Resident Evil 2022 Jade Billie

For the big studios, releasing anything that doesn't have a huge name attached inherently increases risk. This has been proven wrong time and time again as original content hits huge and becomes fan favorites and many recycled adaptations fail to find an audience. Netflix's history with adaptation has been intensely hit-and-miss, while original content continues to serve as their primary selling point. Of course, Netflix's original content often falls short, and some of their adaptations have been solid gold, but there's a certain weight to appending the word "Netflix's" to a popular brand name. Choosing to give something a marketable brand name may seem like the best option to avoid risk, but tying a new piece of art to something people have already formed opinions about raises new issues.

There were many problems with Netflix's Resident Evil that had nothing to do with its connection to the source material. Changing the title wouldn't suddenly make the jokes funnier or the action less dull. However, it does change the expectations of its audience and the feeling that they'll have before they press play. Without the Resident Evil branding, this is a story about a pair of teenage girls moving to a town owned by an unethical pharmaceutical company, paired with the nightmare future that the company creates. It's not a particularly original story, but it could easily stand on its own without having to see an Umbrella Corporation logo every couple of minutes. A version of the same show without the IP attached would be perceived by its audience with a drastically different outlook that could've vastly improved its reception.

Many people are sick of remakes, reboots, and adaptations. Many audiences are immediately more willing to accept a totally original story on its own merits than to take a chance on something they've heard of before. Especially when dealing with source material as difficult as Resident Evil. The franchise's history with film and TV has been nothing short of a mess. Even the rare standout examples feel strange and incomplete. A random person scrolling through Netflix might see the title they mostly associate with bad films and choose to ignore it. A fan of the franchise might tune in for an episode or two and lose interest after they discover the lack of relevance the show has to the larger franchise. Worse yet, many fans saw the show as an insult. That's good for a few spiteful hate views but bad for the show's overall public profile. No one will see the good in a show that they see as an insult to their favorite franchise's legacy. A show that didn't bear any legacy on its back wouldn't have to deal with those issues and could succeed or fail on its own merits.

The character Evelyn Marcus in Netflix's Resident Evil Series.

Almost every show, no matter how messy or weird, has a few fans out there. A new zombie show with a pair of women of color in the lead roles would have likely been seen as a positive development for Netflix's ongoing difficulties. Anchoring the show to the Resident Evil brand might have gotten it some more press coverage and additional attention, but almost all the attention it's received has been negative. Maybe fewer people would've chosen to watch a show called something else, but, the freedom earned by making an original series outweighs the short-term benefit of a marketable name.

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