Netflix has released a clip that gives fans a sneak peek at the opening scene of their upcoming animated series Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness. This series will be set after the events of the fourth Resident Evil game and before the fifth installment and will see fan favorites Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield team up once again.
Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness takes place in 2006, right after Leon went on his infamous mission to save the Presidents daughter. Leon is ordered to investigate a hacking incident in the White House and encounters a zombie breakout, which is where he runs into Claire, who's been checking a mysterious illustration from a child refugee.
This isn't the first time seeing Resident Evil in a film or television format. Fans of the franchise might be familiar with the live-action films, most of which were helmed by director Paul W. S. Anderson, as well as the animated films Resident Evil Vendetta, Resident Evil Degeneration, and Resident Evil Damnation.
Leon was introduced to fans as a green and inexperienced rookie cop. After the events of the second game, Leon became a hardened government agent focused on eradicating those responsible for creating and spreading the virus that caused the outbreak. Leon is one of the popular recurring characters of the Resident Evil franchise.
The animated format often feels like the best option to tell a movie based on a video game. Fans are still waiting for a universally acclaimed video game movie to hit theaters because none have got there quite yet. Mortal Kombat was released this year while Uncharted and Borderlands are on the way. The two top running contenders for best video game movies are Detective Pikachu and Sonic The Hedgehog, which isn't saying too much in the grand scheme of things. Video games have just recently started to be taken seriously and even then there's a pushback, so it will take movies even longer to get that respect in terms of finding notable directors or creators who would like to work on them.
There's also the live-action television format that can be an alternative. A few series are in the works that may be in a similar format as The Witcher. Amazon is supposed to be working on a Fallout series (from the creators of Westworld) and there's a Last of Us project in the works. Hopefully, these will help make the case because video games are rich with storytelling potential that deserve proper adaptations.
Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness will be available on Netflix on July 8th, 2021.
Source: Netflix/Youtube