Sony drops first teaser for Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil, arriving in UK cinemas 18 September
Sony Pictures has released the first teaser trailer for Resident Evil, directed by Barbarian and Weapons filmmaker Zach Cregger, starring Austin Abrams as a courier fighting to survive a Raccoon City outbreak — hitting UK screens on 18 September 2026.
TL;DR
- The official teaser arrived 30 April 2026, introducing Austin Abrams’ character Bryan, a medical courier trapped in a T-virus outbreak.
- Cregger co-wrote the screenplay with Shay Hatten; the film contains no existing game characters such as Leon S. Kennedy or Jill Valentine.
- Resident Evil opens in UK and US cinemas on 18 September 2026, in IMAX, via Columbia Pictures and TriStar Pictures.
- The film carries an $80 million budget — the most expensive project Cregger has directed — and was shot on location in Prague.
Sony Pictures dropped the teaser on 30 April 2026, accompanied by a PlayStation Blog Q&A in which Zach Cregger detailed his creative approach to the franchise. The footage opens on Abrams’ character arriving at a dark, empty house on a snowy night, calling his girlfriend to tell her he is in “a seriously f***ed-up situation” and that they “might not get to talk to each other again.”
What follows are glimpses of bloated bodies in a sewer, disembodied limbs moving independently, and a towering pale figure lurking underground — imagery that Deadline compared to the Baron from Denis Villeneuve’s Dune films.
A new story, not a retread
Austin Abrams — who also starred in Cregger’s previous film Weapons — plays Bryan, described in the official logline as “a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in an action-packed, non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos.”
Cregger confirmed the film will not feature established franchise characters. “Leon exists in the games,” he told GamesRadar+. “I don’t want anyone to ruin that for me.” The script he co-wrote with Shay Hatten — whose credits include John Wick: Chapters 3 & 4 — is set during events running parallel to Resident Evil 2 (1998).
Speaking at CinemaCon in Las Vegas earlier in April, Cregger said audiences would be “locked in with a protagonist on a foot journey through a world hell-bent on destroying them,” with no narrative time jumps or chapter structures.
The cast behind the chaos
Alongside Abrams, the film features Emmy winner Paul Walter Hauser as Carl, Zach Cherry (Severance) as Dave, Kali Reis (True Detective: Night Country) as Pauline, and Johnno Wilson (Twisted Metal) as Max. Principal photography began in Prague on 10 October 2025, with Dariusz Wolski serving as cinematographer.
Production comes from Columbia Pictures, Constantin Film, and TriStar Pictures. Producers include Robert Kulzer, Cregger, Roy Lee, Miri Yoon, and PlayStation Productions’ Asad Qizilbash. Sony won the distribution rights following a bidding war with four other studios, including Warner Bros. and Netflix.
“Over the last couple of decades, I have played a shit ton of Resident Evil. If you love the games, you will feel their influence everywhere in the movie.” — Zach Cregger, The Hollywood Reporter
UK release date and cinema details
🇬🇧 UK
Resident Evil is confirmed for UK cinemas on 18 September 2026 — simultaneous with the US release — via Sony Pictures, as listed in Screen Daily’s UK & Ireland theatrical calendar. The film opens day-and-date in IMAX. A BBFC classification has not yet been assigned, though the survival horror tone and trailer content suggest a strong 15 or 18 certificate is likely.
Horror fans in the UK will be well aware of Cregger’s track record: Barbarian arrived on these shores to strong word of mouth, and Weapons earned Amy Madigan a Best Supporting Actress Oscar for her role as Gladys — a performance that played particularly well with British critics praising the film’s slow-burn tension.
Franchise context
This is the eighth Resident Evil film and second reboot attempt, following Johannes Roberts’ 2021 entry Welcome to Raccoon City, which received a mixed critical reception. The Milla Jovovich-led original series — six films released between 2002 and 2017 — collectively grossed more than $1.2 billion worldwide, according to Variety.
Capcom’s video game franchise launched in 1996 and has been one of gaming’s most commercially durable horror properties, with the recent Resident Evil Requiem ranking among the top five best-selling entries in US series history.
For those hungry for more horror on the horizon, our coverage of Evil Dead Burn’s trailer and UK release and A24’s Elden Ring film casting news has more on the video game adaptation wave coming to cinemas.
Reported from publicly available interviews and verified press sources. Last reviewed 1 May 2026.
Lewis Calvert Founder & Editor, BriefLedger
Lewis founded BriefLedger and has six years of experience covering film, TV, and entertainment news. He leads the site’s Movies and TV sections and runs the news desk — always with a straight-talking British take.
