Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City: Reviews, Why It Flopped

Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) flopped at the box office with a 31% critic score while earning a 65% audience score—a 34-point gap revealing the divide between casual viewers and game fans. The film grossed $41.8 million against a $25 million budget, prompting an early 2022 reboot plan and fueling sequel rumors around Umbrella Chronicles.

Release Year: 2021 · Setting: 1998 · Adapts Games: Resident Evil 1 & 2 · Key Event: Zombie outbreak in Raccoon City · Streaming: Available on Netflix

Key details about the 2021 film:

Is Welcome to Raccoon City that bad?

The critical consensus was not kind. Rotting Tomatoes critics scored it 31%, with the aggregate noting it as “an affectionately faithful adaptation that further proves its source material is ill-suited to the big screen” (Rotten Tomatoes consensus). Yet the audience score tells a different story—65% of viewers who bought tickets on opening weekend gave it a passing grade (SlashFilm analysis).

Critical reception

Critics on Rotten Tomatoes were divided between acknowledging game fidelity and condemning execution. The consensus recognized the attempt to honor source material while questioning whether live-action translation was the right vehicle. Audiences who actually played the games, however, showed more tolerance—willing to overlook production shortcomings in exchange for something that felt connected to the original experience.

Audience reactions

The CinemaScore tells the full story of that divide. Viewers gave the film a C+ on opening weekend, a notably lower grade than the B CinemaScore Paul W.S. Anderson’s Resident Evil films routinely earned (SlashFilm analysis). That gap reflects more than preference—it points to a fundamental tonal shift. Where Anderson built action-driven spectacles around Milla Jovovich’s star power, Roberts stripped the franchise down to horror vibes that felt closer to the games but alienated franchise fans expecting that signature spectacle.

Common complaints

Metacritic user reviews consistently call out cheap CGI, B-horror movie dialogue, and pacing problems—while simultaneously noting the adaptation’s accuracy to the source games (Metacritic user reviews). Reddit users captured the frustration succinctly: “Very bad acting, terrible writing, actors don’t match, pacing all over the place.” The paradox is that the same qualities that drew criticism from casual viewers are what some game fans point to as the adaptation’s saving grace.

The catch: game fidelity and good filmmaking are not the same thing, and critics consistently punished the film for the latter.

Why did Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City flop?

The box office math is stark: $41.8 million gross on a $25 million budget, the lowest financial return in franchise history (Bloody Disgusting editorial). That poor return on investment triggered immediate franchise recalibration. Plans for a new reboot began in early 2022, less than three months after theatrical release, according to Wikipedia reporting on the 2026 film timeline.

Box office performance

The financial underperformance wasn’t random—it reflected structural problems baked into the production. The franchise had conditioned audiences over six films to expect high-octane action and Milla Jovovich’s presence. Raccoon City delivered neither. The absence of recognizable star power hurt marketing appeal, and the horror-focused tone felt like a bait-and-switch for fans who had supported the Anderson films.

Production challenges

Bloody Disgusting’s editorial analysis identifies the core problem: attempting to adapt two full Resident Evil games (the first and second) into a single film resulted in “rushed adaptation” that sacrificed depth and character development (Bloody Disgusting editorial). The overcrowded script meant nothing got proper breathing room—not the characters, not the horror set pieces, not the lore that made the games compelling. Additionally, the story’s scope left no room to properly introduce Nemesis, one of the franchise’s most iconic antagonists.

Marketing factors

The tonal shift compounded the marketing problem. Previous films had built their audience around action spectacle, and the promotional materials for Raccoon City emphasized horror authenticity over crowd-pleasing entertainment. The disconnect between audience expectations and actual content damaged opening-weekend performance and poisoned word-of-mouth.

What this means: the film chose accuracy over accessibility, and the box office punished that artistic choice.

Is there a new resident evil movie coming out in 2026?

Yes. A new Resident Evil film is in development for 2026, marking the second reboot and eighth overall installment in the franchise (Wikipedia). This represents the franchise’s third attempt at a live-action relaunch following the Anderson era and the 2021 Raccoon City film.

Upcoming film details

Zach Cregger is attached to direct, with production involving Constantin Film, Vertigo Entertainment, and PlayStation Productions as co-production partners. The cast includes Austin Abrams, Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, and Kali Reis. This is a complete creative restart—the film has no connection to previous entries and will tell its own story within the Resident Evil universe.

Connection to Welcome to Raccoon City

Despite the sequel rumors around Umbrella Chronicles—a potential follow-up that received $2 million in funding from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation (JoBlo report)—the franchise moved in a different direction. Rather than continuing from Raccoon City’s foundation, the 2026 film starts fresh. Director Johannes Roberts had expressed interest in adapting Code: Veronica and later Resident Evil 4 for sequels, but those plans never advanced.

Release status

The film remains in development with a 2026 target release date. Given the franchise’s history of delays and pivots, that timeline could shift, but the announced production team and creative direction suggest this is further along than typical early-stage announcements.

The pattern: each failed Resident Evil film triggers a faster reset. The Anderson era lasted six films over 15 years. Raccoon City got less than three months before plans changed. The 2026 reboot is the franchise admitting it hasn’t found the formula yet.

What is the correct order to watch the Resident Evil movies?

The franchise now spans three distinct eras with no single continuity: the six Paul W.S. Anderson films (2002–2017), the Netflix series (2022, cancelled), and the upcoming 2026 reboot. Welcome to Raccoon City stands apart as the only film that adapts the original game story rather than continuing the Anderson narrative.

Release order

The Anderson films established the franchise’s mainstream identity: Resident Evil (2002), Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004), Resident Evil: Extinction (2007), Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010), Resident Evil: Retribution (2012), and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2017). These films built their own continuity and can be watched as a standalone series.

Chronological order

Within the Anderson universe, chronology matches release order—the story follows the same progression in both timelines. The Netflix series exists in a separate continuity set after the events of Resident Evil (2002) with an aging Umbrella Corporation and bioweapon outbreaks in post-apocalyptic settings. For more on the actress’s filmography, check out Jennifer Lawrence films.

Where Welcome to Raccoon City fits

The 2021 film adapts the first two Resident Evil games, covering the 1998 zombie outbreak in Raccoon City and the Spencer Mansion origins. It shares no continuity with the Anderson films and functions as a standalone origin story—the only live-action attempt to tell the games’ original narrative.

The viewing implication: fans wanting the complete story should watch Raccoon City separately from the Anderson series, as they exist in parallel universes.

Is Welcome to Raccoon City connected to Resident Evil?

Yes, but only to the game series—not to the Paul W.S. Anderson film universe. Welcome to Raccoon City adapts the first two Resident Evil games, telling the 1998 origin story with the Spencer Mansion, the initial T-virus outbreak, and the destruction of Raccoon City.

Game adaptations

The film draws directly from Resident Evil (1996) and Resident Evil 2 (1998), incorporating key characters like Jill Valentine, Chris Redfield, Leon S. Kennedy, and Claire Redfield. It recreates iconic locations including the Spencer Mansion and the Raccoon City Police Department.

Previous films

The Anderson films created their own mythology, introducing Alice as the protagonist and diverging significantly from game lore. Welcome to Raccoon City ignores this continuity entirely, treating the games as its sole source material.

Shared universe

There is no shared universe between the Anderson films, the Netflix series, and Welcome to Raccoon City. Each represents a separate attempt to translate the franchise to live-action, with the 2026 reboot representing yet another fresh start.

The consequence: viewers expecting connections to previous films will find none—Welcome to Raccoon City stands alone as a game faithful but franchise disconnected adaptation.

“"A clear picture is beginning to form around ‘Resident Evil: Welcome To Raccoon City’ and why it flopped."”

— SlashFilm Editorial, Film Critic

“"‘Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City’ is worse than a bad movie; it’s a mediocre movie that had the potential to be fantastic."”

— Cedars Reviewer, Student Journalist

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Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City aimed to revive survival horror roots, though its plot, cast, and reviews reveal mixed critical and audience reactions.

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