Fan favourite returns in new Resident Evil film

A new CGI Resident Evil film has been revealed ahead of the Resident Evil 4 remake, and brings back a fan-favourite character.

Capcom and Sony Pictures have revealed a new animated Resident Evil film, bringing back fan-favourite character Jill Valentine.

The new film, called Resident Evil: Death Island, was announced with a teaser trailer provided exclusively to IGN, and will serve as a direct sequel to 2017’s Resident Evil: Vendetta. Like that film, Death Island will be a computer-generated animated film, and will be set in the Resident Evil universe.

“D.S.O. agent Leon S. Kennedy is on a mission to rescue Dr. Antonio Taylor from kidnappers when a mysterious woman thwarts his pursuit,” the movie’s synopsis reads.

Leon Kennedy is another fan-favourite character, and is set to star heavily in the upcoming Resident Evil 4 (RE4) remake. RE4 was first released exclusively on the Nintendo GameCube in 2005, but was ultimately ported to the PlayStation 2, PC, the Nintendo Wii, and many other platforms in the years following.

“Meanwhile, B.S.A.A. agent Chris Redfield is investigating a zombie outbreak in San Francisco, where the cause of the infection cannot be identified,” the synopsis continues, “The only thing the victims have in common is that they all visited Alcatraz Island recently. Following that clue, Chris and his team head to the island, where a new horror awaits them.”

Avid Resident Evil fans immediately noticed fan-favourite character Jill Valentine at the end of the teaser trailer, one of the series’ most popular characters. Jill has appeared in multiple Resident Evil games, most recently the remake of Resident Evil 3, but has not appeared in new main series games for multiple entries.

Resident Evil: Death Island does not yet have a release date, but Sony Pictures Home Entertainment says the film will be distributed sometime in 2023. It’s likely that the film will be released before the Resident Evil 4 remake, which is scheduled to launch in March.

Jill Valentine was briefly seen at the end of the Resident Evil: Death Island trailer. Picture: Capcom/IGN

A Resident Evil fan remake was “cancelled” by Capcom recently, according to the developers of the unauthorised project. The development team had been working on a remake of the cult classic Resident Evil Code: Veronica, but was reportedly told to shut the project down.

Capcom also recently brought its popular Monster Hunter Rise game to Xbox and PlayStation, after over a year of console exclusivity on the Nintendo Switch. The game was also available on PC, and received an expansion on both Switch and PC that will come to the new platforms at a later date.

Written by Oliver Brandt on behalf of GLHF.