RESIDENT EVIL 5

The franchise is based on a video game of the same name. It has been one of the few franchises that has been able to make a successful transition from the video game platform to full featured film. And a lot of that success has to rest upon director Paul W.S. Anderson. He has been able to take a video game that blends two genres, horror and action and make it work. Each subsequent film in the franchise has outperformed the previous film. We'll see if Paul can keep up that remarkable track record when he releases the fifth film next september.

To keep mixing it up, making sure the franchise stays fresh, Anderson will be introducing the Las Plagas parasite. You can also expect plenty of action scenes that were featured in the video game. Also expect an assortment of characters straight from the game to make an appearance.

One of the things Anderson felt was important was meeting with the producers of the game, Capcom. He immediately met with officials of the company to map out the film in such a way that the next movie wouldn't screw up the continuity of the game. As an example he stresses that he'd like to avoid killing off a character that Capcom plans to keep alive in further games. Also, having them act out of character from their game version is another issue he'd like avoid.

RE:5 starts filming in Toronto in a week.
Anderson lent heavily on the video games for inspiration for Retribution, just as they did with the previous films.

They’re bringing in the Las Plagas parasite from the games for Retribution. It will allow the undead to “run around, ride motorbikes, and shoot machine guns.”

They’re recreating an action set-piece from the fifth video game where the characters are driving in a Hummer while being chased by zombies. Anderson changed the vehicle to a Rolls Royce Phantom.

They had to tear apart and rebuild the Phantom with roll-bars and such in order to shoot the chase scene.

Responding to criticisms that the film franchise has become too action-heavy while sidelining the horror, Anderson said the games have followed the same trajectory, leading to some phenomenal action sequences. He praises the franchise for consistently changing things up.

When decided which new characters to include in Retribution, Anderson and Milla Jovovich listened to the fanbase. They settled on adding Leon Kennedy, Ada Wong, and Barry Burton, who they felt where the three fan-favorites that the film franchise has yet to touch on.

When casting for the new characters, they tried their best to get people that looked as much like the game characters as possible.

Retribution takes place in Tokyo, Moscow, and North America. They’re filming in all three locations.

When Anderson signed on for the first film, he flew to Osaka and spent three days at Capcom explaining his vision and having a dialogue with the game creators.

Anderson says the relationship between the films and Capcom is symbiotic. They look at the scripts and give notes, and sometimes the Anderson and the people working on the film franchise will change things because of the comments.

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Written and directed by Paul Anderson, Resident Evil: Retribution stars Milla Jovovich, Boris Kodjoe, Sienna Guillory, and Colin Salmon. Resident Evil: Retribution in theatres on September 14, 2012 from Screen Gems.