Last month we reported on the news that the upcoming fourth Resident Evil movie had been pushed back to January, 2011.
Why? Well, if you’ve been following news on Resident Evil: Afterlife you’ll no doubt be aware it’s being done in 3D (by the same team who worked on Avatar, FYI). Apparently the process was going to take longer than the studio initially anticipated, so director Paul W.S. Anderson got a bit more time for shooting. The release date originally was September 24th 2010 (we had reported August 27th but apparently it wasn’t…) but the delay pushed it back to January 14th, 2011.
Those out there eager to see Milla Jovovich back in zombie ass-kicking mode would’ve needed to wait almost 4 months longer than anticipated… until now!
In a surprising turn of events, Shock Till You Drop has nabbed a scoop that Afterlife is not only switching back its release date from 2011 to 2010, but also moving it forward two weeks from September 24th to September 10th. On Twitter, Jovovich claimed the delay wasn’t definitive shortly after it was announced and now it appears she was right to say so.
The original delayed date was January 14th, which clashed with Joss Whedon’s horror flick Cabin In The Woods, another movie that was also pushed back because it was being done in 3D (it seems this 3D technology is a lot harder and a lot more time-consuming than studios first realize). At the time of the news I presumed Whedon’s film would be the one to budge, simply because Resident Evil is a far more well-known project to a general movie going audience.
This re-switching of dates will keep the franchise in tradition: the previous two Resident Evil movies were both released in the month of September to solid box office openings. The reason for the re-switch is unknown – it could mean anything from the fact that they’ve rushed the 3D process (read: we could be looking at some crappy 3D), to the fact that the 3D process might not actually take as long for this particular project. Whatever the reason, it means fans of the franchise can see it back in theaters sooner rather than later.
Thoughts on Resident Evil 4 switching to a September 2010 release date?
As stated, Resident Evil: Afterlife is reportedly now set to be released on September 10th, 2010.
