Video game adaptations are tough, and the majority of them fail, which is probably why Sony was apprehensive about taking a huge chance on the first Resident Evil film, which was directed by Paul W.S. Anderson.
In an extensive interview over at Deadline, Anderson and producer Jeremy Bolt reveal that they were already two-thirds of the way through production on the first adaptation of the Capcom game when Sony came aboard to distribute. There was a strong stipulation, though, which could have landed the franchise direct-to-DVD. Yes, Resident Evil was a single test screening away from being dumped to video!
“We only closed the deal with Sony two-thirds of the way through the shoot and it was just a straight P&A deal,” Anderson reveals. “The first time Sony saw the movie was a test screening in Burbank, and our deal with Sony was if it scored under a certain percentage, they could put the movie straight to DVD. They didn’t have to take it theatrically.”
DEADLINE: “What was the percentage? Do you remember?”
ANDERSON: “It was pretty high.”
BOLT: “It was very stressful.”
“It was over 80,” Anderson continues. “For horror movies and action movies, it is hard to get that high because people feel bad about liking a movie where people get eaten alive. It’s easier to like comedies. By that point, we’d had Hollywood experience. We hung on to the movie. Everyone was pressuring us to test it early, and we said absolutely not. Jeremy and I held out until we had pretty much the version that we released. The visual effects weren’t completely done, but close.”
Bolt adds: “We learned our lesson on ‘Event Horizon’, where the studio pushed us to test early and we weren’t ready. They were like, don’t worry about the visual effects. Rubbish. You have to test it in the most perfect condition.
DEADLINE: “What happens after a ‘Event Horizon’ test before it was ready?”
BOLT: “The studio gets nervous.”
ANDERSON: “I’m sure they never tell you, but your P&A spend goes down.”
BOLT: “There’s a different story in there also, because ‘Event Horizon’ obviously had some very extreme sequences in it.”
“But the first ‘Resident Evil’, we got it in great shape,” Anderson adds. “We took it to Burbank. Everyone from Sony was in the audience sitting behind us, making us even more nervous. We start the movie and there’s that sequence where everyone gets killed in the hive, and there’s a woman trapped in an elevator and she’s trying to get out and the elevator brakes are going and then the elevator drops and her head’s sticking out, and she’s obviously going to get decapitated. Just at the point where she’s going to get decapitated, we cut to black. And this guy in front of me stood up and went, “I love this movie.” The whole audience erupted, cheering. I looked back and I see all the Sony guys. They’ve got big smiles on their faces. We talked about this afterwards and how we were idiots for not thinking ahead and hiring someone to do that, regardless of whether the movie was any good or not. The test went great. We scored very, very well.”
I love hearing inside stories like this, which really shape your perspective of what it’s really like to make a studio movie. Saw nearly was dumped to DVD, too, as were so many other classic films. Test screenings can be good for a film, but can also be devastating. I don’t think they should be used in an arbitrary kind of way – but are great for fixing issues if the filmmakers already have an idea of what they’re having problems with. Does the opening work? How about the finale? Sometimes too much tinkering can kill a movie, but there are times it can polish a turd. And then there are those bizarre moments where a distributor holds the test screening over a filmmaker’s head to get what they want out of it. It’s crazy to hear that Event Horizon could have bombed because of the studio’s lack of confidence in it – and even beyond their fears it raked in $25 million here in the States.
Can you imagine if Resident Evil scored a 79%? They wouldn’t have this massive franchise with several sequels under their belts and a relationship with Bolt and Anderson. Talk about a strange alternate universe that exists, right?!
[H/T] Deadline
