Video games have been brought to life for decades, and despite how poorly they are often received, they typically perform relatively well at the box office. The ’90s gave us adaptations like Super Marios Bros., Street Fighter, and Mortal Kombat, but it was 2002’s Resident Evil that really opened the door for horror games to get the live-action treatment. The Milla Jovovich-starring series of films scored poor reviews with each release, while also earning profits at the box office. That franchise set the bar for horror movies based on video games quite low, as audiences kept turning out for them.
The perception of horror video game adaptations was entirely shattered this month with Zach Cregger‘s Resident Evil. Opening both to impressive reviews and a strong box-office performance, Cregger may have cracked the code on the genre: rather than faithfully adapt decades-long lore, he tried to replicate the tension of actually playing the game. One of the producers of the new Resident Evil, Roy Lee, has another beloved horror title on the way.
As revealed in a new profile by the Wall Street Journal, Lee also has a Silent Hill reboot on the horizon. Details on the project are sparse, so it’s unclear whether the project is a movie or if it could be a TV series, and we also don’t know how far into development the project is, but any new update on the franchise is an exciting one.
It didn’t take long after the success of the original Resident Evil movie for a Silent Hill movie to be made. Will the Jovovich movie leaned more into the sci-fi and action realms, the Radha Mitchell-starring Silent Hill attempted to embrace the nightmarish imagery of the source material, as well as the atmospheric dread that set the game apart from its peers.
Despite the built-in passion for the game series, 2006’s Silent Hill failed to make much of an impact on audiences. It did get the sequel Silent Hill: Revelations in 2012, though that similarly failed to resonate with audiences. Just earlier this year, Return to Silent Hill was released in theaters to little fanfare.
The history of Silent Hill on the big screen might not be particularly strong, but having Lee on board could be exactly what the series needs. In addition to producing all of Cregger’s films, he also produced projects like The Ring, The Grudge, IT, and Hokum. With no other name officially attached to the project, a new Silent Hill is at least off to a strong start with Lee being behind it.
Would you like to see a new Silent Hill? Let us know in the comments below!
