‘Resident Evil’ and the Tightrope of Relaunching Old IP

Key takeaways

• Constantine bought Resident Evil rights from Capcom in 1997 after co-president Robert Kulzer discovered the game and founder Bernd Eichinger flew to Japan to close the deal. The property now spans eight live-action films, four animated films, two TV series, a stage play, and dozens of novels and comics, alongside the still-selling game. Sony has distributed since the 2002 original, but each film requires a fresh rights negotiation rather than a standing commitment.
• After the 2021 reboot underperformed, Constantine planned to rest the IP. Cregger and producer Roy Lee approached Kulzer in a Beverly Hills cafe with a fully formed pitch: a first-person, moody take following an ordinary man with no skills who gains weapons and abilities as he progresses, mirroring the experience of playing the game. Cregger says he never watched the earlier films and came purely as a gamer.
• The project developed before Weapons opened, so interest was modest at first. Once Weapons became a hit, multiple studios chased it, but Constantine was already talking to Sony. Berben credits a creative meeting with Tom Rothman for sealing the deal, and hints Sony's PlayStation division came aboard to co-develop the script for the first time. Cregger wanted Austin Abrams from Weapons for the lead from the start.
• The financing follows a modified international sales model. Sony bought worldwide rights except Germany and France, which are carved out for Constantine and longtime French partner Victor Hadida's Metropolitan. Constantine's investment is sized to the value of those two territories, not a flat share of the budget.
• Constantine runs on two roughly 60-40 halves: local-language German-Austrian-Swiss production, where it aims to stay the number one distributor, and international IP exploitation in the US, UK, and France. Feature revenue funds further investment. Its old Netflix deal has been replaced by an output deal with HBO, which is expanding HBO Max globally and wants local-language titles to promote.
• On Marvel, Constantine acquired the full Fantastic Four and Silver Surfer rights, more than 500 characters including Doctor Doom, in the 1980s. It co-produced three Fox-era films, then struck a deal returning the rights to Marvel after the Disney-Fox merger, keeping a continuing interest that makes Berben root for Avengers: Doomsday.

Notable moments

• "Making business with Japan is a long business... You got to drink sake and go in the sauna with them."
• Berben on Cregger's cafe pitch: "He knew the whole movie. He knew everything that he wanted to do."
• Belloni: "You are the beneficiary of the fact that one of the hottest filmmakers out there happens to be a huge fan of this video game."
• On Rothman: "He jumped immediately into it." Belloni: "So he overruled his own people." Berben: "I'm not saying that."
• Cregger is not signed for a sequel, but Berben says he has "a great idea for follow-ups," possibly a trilogy.
• German audience notes: gore-heavy horror underperforms while thrillers and comedies travel well, and David Hasselhoff still carries weight tied to the fall of the Berlin Wall.
• The Doctor Doom rights revelation: Belloni admits, "I'm going to get flamed for not knowing that."
• Berben pushes back on the February timing of the Berlinale by offering Belloni a choice of three parties to lure him to Berlin.
• Call sheet: Practical Magic 2 tracking around 40 million domestic, Sandra Bullock's first theatrical lead since 2022's The Lost City, with Warner Bros. sharing upside because Alcon holds co-financing rights bought from a bankrupt Village Roadshow.

Time saved: 0 hours, 28 minutes.