''Resident Evil: Apocalypse'' is a 2004

action horror film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as ...

directed by

Alexander Witt Alexander B. Witt (born 1952) is a Chilean-American filmmaker and cinematographer mostly known for his work as a camera operator and second unit director, including regular collaborations with director Ridley Scott. Life and career From a 2004 ...

and written by Paul W. S. Anderson. A direct sequel to ''

Resident Evil ''Resident Evil'', known as in Japan, is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...

'' (2002), it is the second installment in the ''Resident Evil'' film series, which is loosely based on the video game series of the same name. The film marks Witt's feature directorial debut; Anderson, the director of the first film, turned down the job due to other commitments, though stayed on as one of its producers.

Milla Jovovich Milica Bogdanovna Jovović; ; ( ; born December 17, 1975), known professionally as Milla Jovovich (), is an American actress and former fashion model. Her starring roles in numerous science fiction film, science-fiction and action films led th ...

reprises her role as

Alice Alice may refer to: * Alice (name), most often a feminine given name, but also used as a surname Literature * Alice (''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland''), a character in books by Lewis Carroll * ''Alice'' series, children's and teen books by ...

, and is joined by

Sienna Guillory Sienna Tiggy Guillory (; born 16 March 1975) is an English actress and former model. She portrayed Jill Valentine in several entries of the '' Resident Evil'' action-horror film series. Other prominent roles include elf princess Arya Dröttning ...

Jill Valentine is a character in ''Resident Evil'' (''Biohazard'' in Japan), a survival horror series created by the Japanese company Capcom. She was introduced as one of two player characters in the original ''Resident Evil (1996 video game), Resident Ev ...

and

Oded Fehr Oded Fehr (; born ) is an Israeli American actor based in the United States. He is known for his appearance as Ardeth Bay in the 1999 remake of '' The Mummy'' and its sequel '' The Mummy Returns'', as well as Carlos Olivera in '' Resident Evil: ...

as Carlos Olivera. ''Resident Evil: Apocalypse'' is set directly after the events of the first film, where Alice escaped from an underground facility overrun by

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: ; ; Kikongo: ''zumbi'') is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies appear in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folkl ...

s. She now bands together with other survivors to escape the zombie outbreak which has spread to the nearby Raccoon City. The film borrows elements from several games in the ''Resident Evil'' series, such as the characters Valentine and Olivera and the villain

Nemesis In ancient Greek religion and myth, Nemesis (; ) also called Rhamnousia (or Rhamnusia; ), was the goddess who personified retribution for the sin of hubris: arrogance before the gods. Etymology The name ''Nemesis'' is derived from the Greek ...

. Filming took place in

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

at locations including

Toronto City Hall The Toronto City Hall, or New City Hall, is the seat of the municipal government of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and one of the city's most distinctive landmarks. Designed by Viljo Revell and engineered by Hannskarl Bandel, the building opened in ...

and

Prince Edward Viaduct The Prince Edward Viaduct System, commonly referred to as the Bloor Viaduct, is the name of a truss arch bridge system in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, connecting Bloor Street East, on the west side of the system, with Danforth Avenue on the east. The ...

. ''Resident Evil: Apocalypse'' received "generally unfavorable reviews" on

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, and became the lowest-rated film in the ''Resident Evil'' series on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, with a rating of 18%. Despite this, it earned $129.3 million worldwide on a $45 million budget, surpassing the box office gross of the original film. It was followed by '' Resident Evil: Extinction'' in 2007.

Plot

Former security operative

and environmental activist Matt Addison escape an underground genetic research facility called the Hive after a

outbreak. The pair attempted to expose illegal experiments being performed there by the pharmaceutical company

Umbrella Corporation ''Resident Evil'' is a horror game media franchise created by Capcom. The series' success has led to a live-action film series, animated films, television series, comic books, novels, audiobooks, and merchandise. The franchise features an exten ...

before Alice and Matt were taken into custody by Umbrella. A team from Umbrella investigating the Hive is overrun by zombies, which spreads the outbreak to the nearby Raccoon City. In response, Umbrella quarantines the city and evacuates crucial personnel. Angela Ashford, daughter of researcher Dr. Charles Ashford, goes missing after her security car is involved in a collision during the evacuation. Meanwhile, disgraced S.T.A.R.S operative Jill Valentine returns to her precinct to urge her fellow officers to evacuate. Alice wakes in a deserted hospital and wanders the city for supplies while Umbrella evacuates civilians via the only bridge. At the bridge, Jill encounters her former partner, Sgt. Payton Wells, but a civilian turns into a zombie, biting Wells. Upon the outbreak reaching the bridge, Major Timothy Cain, leader of Umbrella forces, seals the exit, forcing residents back into the city. After being abandoned by their employer, Umbrella soldiers Carlos Olivera and Nicholai Ginovaef team up with surviving police units to repel various zombie attacks. Their position is overrun; Carlos is bitten and infected. Meanwhile, Jill, Wells, and reporter Terri Morales are saved by Alice just before being overrun. Umbrella deploys the mutated supersoldier,

, who kills the remaining STARS before searching for Alice. Dr. Ashford hacks into the

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of closed-circuit television cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signa ...

system to contact Alice and the survivors, offering to arrange their evacuation in exchange for rescuing his daughter. He makes the same offer to Carlos and Ginovaef, explaining Umbrella plans to destroy Raccoon City with a nuclear warhead to eliminate the zombie infection. While heading to Angela, Alice and the group are ambushed by Nemesis. Jill kills Wells after he turns into a zombie. Alice fights Nemesis but is injured, leading her to draw him away from the others. Jill and Morales rescue stranded civilian L.J. and later meet Carlos to find Angela, though Morales and Ginovaef are killed. Angela reveals that the zombie outbreak stems from the T-virus, created by her father to treat her genetic condition, and she requires an anti-virus serum to avoid becoming a zombie. Alice uses some of the serum to cure Carlos. Dr. Ashford informs Alice of an extraction point with a waiting helicopter. The group reaches the rendezvous but are ambushed by Umbrella forces. Cain kills Dr. Ashford and compels Alice, revealed to be enhanced by the T-virus, to fight Nemesis. Alice subdues Nemesis but stops when she discovers that Nemesis is Matt, who was mutated by Umbrella's experiments. Nemesis turns on Cain and attacks the Umbrella troops but is killed while protecting Alice. The remaining survivors seize the helicopter and eject Cain from it, and he is killed by zombies. As the survivors escape, a nuclear warhead detonates over the city, and the resulting blast wave causes the helicopter to crash. Alice sacrifices herself to save Angela and is impaled on a metal pole. T.V. footage attributes the blast to a meltdown of the city's nuclear power plant, obscuring Umbrella's involvement. Alice wakes up in an Umbrella research facility and escapes with help from Carlos, Jill, L.J., and Angela. She also displays

psionic In American science fiction of the 1950s and '60s, psionics was a proposed discipline that applied principles of engineering (especially electronics) to the study (and employment) of paranormal or psychic phenomena, such as extrasensory percept ...

abilities after

telekinetically Telekinesis () (alternatively called psychokinesis) is a purported psychic ability allowing an individual to influence a physical system without physical interaction. Experiments to prove the existence of telekinesis have historically been cri ...

killing a security guard. As they leave, Dr. Alexander Isaacs, a top-ranking Umbrella employee, reveals that Alice's escape is part of Umbrella's plan.

Cast

Themes

Media studies scholar Stephen Harper said that both ''Apocalypse'' and the first ''Resident Evil'' film present "highly ambiguous" perspectives on the themes of corporate power, race, gender and sexuality. Describing them both as

postmodern Postmodernism encompasses a variety of artistic, cultural, and philosophical movements that claim to mark a break from modernism. They have in common the conviction that it is no longer possible to rely upon previous ways of depicting the wo ...

and

postfeminist Postfeminism (alternatively rendered as post-feminism) is an alleged decrease in popular support for feminism from the 1990s onwards. It can be considered a critical way of understanding the changed relations between feminism, femininity and po ...

texts, Harper argued that, despite containing some progressive elements including feminist themes that undermine patriarchal power, the films also played into several stereotypes. He said the relationship between Alice and Valentine differs from interactions between male characters in action films as seen by a lack of camaraderie and co-operation between the two and, unlike male characters in ''Apocalypse'', both Valentine and Alice are separately shown being "protective and nurturing" of the young Angela; Harper stated even violent action heroines are often portrayed with such characteristics. Harper also criticized how their revealing clothing and camera angles objectified Alice and Valentine throughout the film, and noted that through the

African-American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from any of the Black racial groups of Africa. ...

character L.J. ''Apocalypse'' showed an "ironic awareness" of racist stereotypes, though "it stops short of challenging them and, indeed, often deploys them".

Douglas Kellner Douglas Kellner (born May 31, 1943) is an American academic who works at the intersection of "third-generation" critical theory in the tradition of the Frankfurt University Institute for Social Research, or Frankfurt School, and in cultural stu ...

from the

University of California in Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Its academic roots were established in 1881 as a normal school then known as the southern branch of the Cal ...

argued the film's ending played "on fears of out of control nuclear technology and government cover-ups". A news segment shown in the film, which claimed that reports of corporate wrongdoing were false and that people should instead be thanking the Umbrella Corporation, was "a barely disguised allegory of lying by corporations and the state during the Bush- Cheney era".

Production

Pre-production

While promoting the first ''Resident Evil'' film in late February 2002,

and director Paul W. S. Anderson discussed a potential sequel. Anderson said he began writing the screenplay for the second film after completing the first, and had plans for Alice to meet up with Jill Valentine. Jovovich confirmed her character would return in the sequel if the first film was successful. In early March,

Eric Mabius Eric Harry Timothy Mabius (born April 22, 1971) is an American actor. Born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, with a degree in cinema studies. After working in theater productions, M ...

, who played Matt Addison in the first film, stated a sequel was confirmed, would be set in Raccoon City, and would feature the Nemesis character. The sequel was officially

greenlit In the context of the film and television industries, to greenlight is to give permission to proceed with a project. It specifically refers to formally approving its production finance and committing to this financing, thereby allowing the project ...

Sony Pictures Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc. is an American diversified multinational mass media and entertainment studio conglomerate that produces, acquires, and distributes filmed entertainment (theatrical motion pictures, television programs, and rec ...

in mid-2002 but Anderson chose not to direct due to his commitments to '' Alien vs. Predator'' (2004). He stayed on as the film's

screenwriter A screenwriter (also called scriptwriter, scribe, or scenarist) is a person who practices the craft of writing for visual mass media, known as screenwriting. These can include short films, feature-length films, television programs, television ...

and as one of its producers. Anderson used the game '' Resident Evil 3: Nemesis'' as the basis of the story and wrote in elements from his favorite films, such as the perimeter wall in ''

Escape from New York ''Escape from New York'' is a 1981 American Independent film, independent science fiction film, science fiction action film co-written, co-scored and directed by John Carpenter, and starring Kurt Russell, Lee Van Cleef, Ernest Borgnine, Donald ...

'' and the deserted city in ''

The Omega Man ''The Omega Man'' (stylized as ''The Ωmega Man'') is a 1971 American Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction, postapocalyptic action film directed by Boris Sagal and starring Charlton Heston as a survivor of a pandemic. It was written by John W ...

''.

was hired to direct the film, marking his feature film directorial debut. The script had already been completed when Witt was hired. He made some suggestions to Anderson and fellow producer Jeremy Bolt, which resulted in some minor script changes.

Casting

Jovovich was the only person to reprise a role from the first film. Mabius initially told reporters he would be reprising his role as Matt Addison in the form of portraying Nemesis, but the part ended up going to Matthew G. Taylor. Mabius still appears via stock footage from the previous film used in a flashback scene. The original film did not feature any characters from the games, but it had always been the intention to add several to ''Apocalypse''. Reports of actresses who were approached for the roles of Valentine and

Claire Redfield is a character in ''Resident Evil'' (''Biohazard'' in Japan), a survival horror series created by the Japanese company Capcom. Claire was first introduced alongside Leon S. Kennedy as one of two player characters in ''Resident Evil 2'' (199 ...

, the latter of whom did not end up featuring in the film, were made prior to production, though Anderson later dispelled these as baseless rumours. The role of Valentine went to

who prepared for the role by studying Valentine's movements and posture in the games. The role of L.J. was written specifically for

Snoop Dogg Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of t ...

, though he dropped out of production and was replaced by

Mike Epps Michael Elliot Epps (born November 18, 1970) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He played Day-Day Jones in '' Next Friday'' and its sequel, '' Friday After Next'', and also appeared in ''The Hangover'' and '' The Hangover Part III'' as ...

; the character was rewritten to suit Epps's personality.

Evanescence Evanescence is an American Rock music, rock band founded in 1994 by singer and keyboardist Amy Lee and guitarist Ben Moody in Little Rock, Arkansas. After releasing independent extended play, EPs and a Origin (Evanescence demo album), demo ...

guitarist

Ben Moody Benjamin Moody (born January 22, 1981) is an American guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He is known as co-founder of rock band Evanescence, which he departed in 2003 after the release of their debut album '' Fallen'' (2003). After leav ...

was given a cameo as a zombie Ginovaef kills.

Filming

The film was shot in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada;

and its surrounding suburbs stood in for Raccoon City. Cinematography was performed by

Christian Sebaldt Christian Sebaldt is a German cinematographer best known for his work on the long-running '' CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'' television series, for which he received a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Cinematography for a Single-Camera Seri ...

and Derek Rogers, and filming took place at 47 locations. Very few sets were made for the film. Several city blocks were closed down and the

bridge was closed for three days so scenes could be filmed on it. Scenes were shot outside

for two weeks. Jovovich and Matthew Taylor spent several hours a day for six weeks practicing martial arts together for the fight scene between Alice and Nemesis. The fight was originally scripted to appear in a train station and focus heavily on interaction with props, though was eventually shot in an open space outside Toronto City Hall after Witt decided to give the fight less screen time. Actors portraying zombies spent four days training with

choreographers Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which motion or form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A choreographer creates choreographies thro ...

at a zombie "boot camp" to make sure they all had consistent behavior and movements. Anderson and other crew members considered making the zombies move faster but decided that it would be breaking a fundamental element of the games. Anderson only appeared on set for a couple of days due to other commitments, though he communicated with Witt via email about several dialogue and production changes during filming. The script's original ending had Alice escaping from Umbrella on her own via greater use of her

telekinetic Telekinesis () (alternatively called psychokinesis) is a purported psychic ability allowing an individual to influence a physical system without physical interaction. Experiments to prove the existence of telekinesis have historically been cri ...

powers before meeting up with Valentine. Half of the scene was filmed before the ending was rewritten. The original ''Resident Evil'' film took only broad elements from the games; ''Apocalypse'' incorporated many specific features from them, such as the re-enactment of scenes. The introductory

cutscene A cutscene or event scene (sometimes in-game cinematic or in-game movie) is a sequence in a video game that is not interactive, interrupting the gameplay. Such scenes are used to show conversations between characters, set the mood, reward the ...

of '' Resident Evil – Code: Veronica'' featuring Claire Redfield inspired the scene where Alice runs through a building while an Umbrella helicopter fires. The introduction of ''Resident Evil 3: Nemesis'' inspired another scene where Raccoon City is overrun by zombies, and the police and Umbrella soldiers are fighting back. Valentine's outfit in the film, which consisted of a

tube top A tube top is a shoulderless, sleeveless garment primarily worn by women that wraps around the upper torso. It is generally tight over the breasts, and usually uses elastic bands at its top and bottom to prevent it from falling. The tube top's pr ...

and miniskirt, is based on her costume from ''Nemesis''. Anderson considered several ways to justify having the revealing costume in the storyline, such as making it her

undercover A cover in foreign, military or police human intelligence or counterintelligence is the ostensible identity and role or position in an infiltrated organization assumed by a covert agent during a covert operation. Official cover In espionage, a ...

outfit, though eventually decided to ignore the issue on the grounds that anyone questioning her attire "probably shouldn't be watching a ''Resident Evil'' movie". The film also references several aspects from the original game and ''

Resident Evil 2 ''Resident Evil 2'' is a 1998 survival horror video game developed and published by Capcom for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation. The player controls rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy and college student Claire Redfield, who must escape Raccoon ...

'', such as locations, place names, character moves, props, and camera perspectives.

Effects

Special effects for the film included

green screens Chroma key compositing, or chroma keying, is a visual-effects and post-production technique for compositing (layering) two or more images or video streams together based on colour hues ( chroma range). The technique has been used in many fie ...

computer-generated imagery Computer-generated imagery (CGI) is a specific-technology or application of computer graphics for creating or improving images in Digital art, art, Publishing, printed media, Training simulation, simulators, videos and video games. These images ...

(CGI),

matte Matte may refer to: Art * paint with a non-glossy finish. See diffuse reflection. * a framing element surrounding a painting or watercolor within the outer frame Film * Matte (filmmaking), filmmaking and video production technology * Matte pai ...

paintings,

tracking Tracking may refer to: Science and technology Computing * Tracking, in computer graphics, in match moving (insertion of graphics into footage) * Tracking, composing music with music tracker software * Eye tracking, measuring the position of ...

wire removal Wire removal is a visual effects technique used to remove wires in films, where the wires are originally included as a safety precaution or to simulate flying in actors or miniatures. It uses a lot of rotomatting, a process of using splines in ...

and

scale model A scale model is a physical model that is geometrically similar to an object (known as the ''prototype''). Scale models are generally smaller than large prototypes such as vehicles, buildings, or people; but may be larger than small protot ...

s. The Nemesis character was created with a costume, and the only CGI effect added was an adjustment to his eye. Taylor was chosen as his height at and weight of made him suitable to portray the character. The costume was specifically built for his body and weighed about . Despite the character's height,

aspect ratios The aspect ratio of a geometric shape is the ratio of its sizes in different dimensions. For example, the aspect ratio of a rectangle is the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side—the ratio of width to height, when the rectangle is orien ...

were still modified to make him appear 10–20% larger in certain scenes. The Lickers, a type of mutated zombie, were completely CGI. The effects team had originally used

animatronics An animatronic is a puppet controlled electronically to move in a fluent way. Animatronics are the modern adaptation of the automaton and are often used for the portrayal of characters in films, video games and in theme park attractions. Anim ...

for some of the scenes, but were unhappy with the results. C.O.R.E. Digital Pictures won the contract to animate the Lickers, beating several other effects companies who had submitted preliminary designs, and described it as the most challenging special effect they created for the film. The studio created over 250 special effects including superimposing Jovovich's face onto a stunt double; Jovovich performed most of her own stunts though her insurance company would not allow her to attempt several of the more dangerous ones.

Frantic Films Frantic Films Corporation is a Canadian branded content and live action production company based in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Frantic Films is known for producing live action reality shows, documentaries and for its work in feature film visual effects. ...

created 78 special effects for the film including tracer fire,

muzzle flash Muzzle flash is the light — both visible and infrared — created by a muzzle blast, which is caused by the sudden release and expansion of high-temperature, high-pressure gases from the muzzle of a firearm during shooting. Both the blast ...

es, lasers and slow motion, using effects programs

Eyeon Fusion Blackmagic Fusion (formerly eyeon Fusion and briefly Maya Fusion, a version produced for Alias-Wavefront) is post-production image compositing developed by Blackmagic Design and originally authored by eyeon Software. It is typically used to cre ...

Autodesk 3ds Max Autodesk 3ds Max, formerly 3D Studio and 3D Studio Max, is a professional 3D computer graphics program for making 3D animations, models, games and images. It is developed and produced by Autodesk Media and Entertainment. It has modeling capa ...

as well as in-house software. Mr. X Inc. created additional effects including the scene showing the destruction of the Toronto City Hall building. Four months were spent making a 1/6 scale model of the building with 1,600 panes of glass, each of which was wired with an explosive to create the final effect.

Digital intermediate Digital intermediate (DI) is a motion picture finishing process which classically involves digitizing a motion picture and manipulating the color and other image characteristics. Definition and overview A digital intermediate often replaces or a ...

work was completed by the Computer Film Company. Colors in the film were edited heavily in post-production, giving it a darker look overall while enhancing the brightness of blood and gore. The colors of the Nemesis costume were also tweaked to make it look more lifelike and Alice and Valentine were given modifications such as increasing the glow of their skin and redness of their lips.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for ''Apocalypse'' was released on August 31, 2004, and contained

alternative metal Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music that combines heavy metal with influences from alternative rock and other genres not normally associated with metal. Alternative metal bands are often characterized by ...

songs both featured in the film and "inspired" by it. Johnny Loftus of

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

gave the soundtrack three stars out of five, saying it was an "unscrupulous moneymaker" that predictably catered to the film's target audience of teenage boys, adding the "aggression, mania, and generally apocalyptic tone of this material fits well with a movie based on a video game about blowing away crazy zombies".

Jeff Danna Jeff Danna is a Canadian film composer. He has composed or co-composed scores for a wide range of films and television, including ''The Boondock Saints'' (1999), '' Resident Evil: Apocalypse'' (2004), ''Silent Hill'' (2006)'', The Imaginarium of D ...

composed the film's score performed by the London Philharmonia Orchestra. It was released on September 28, 2004. Mike Brennan from Soundtrack.net gave the score 2½ stars out of five, praising the blend of orchestral and electronic styles, though saying it "could have easily benefited from some more thematic development and a bit more variation in the sound of the music".

Release

Marketing and box office

Marcus Nispel Marcus Nispel (born 26 May 1963) is a German film director and Film producer, producer, best known for several high-profile American remakes such as ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003 film), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' (2003). He has also di ...

was hired to create a

teaser trailer A teaser trailer, also shortened to teaser, is a short trailer (promotion), trailer and a form of teaser campaign advertising that focuses on film and television programming. It is a videography pre-release film or television show advertisement. Sh ...

, titled ''Regenerate''. It purports to be advertising a skin rejuvenation product created by the Umbrella Corporation, before the woman in the commercial turns into a zombie. By May 2004, the teaser had been downloaded 8.5million times from the film's official website. Part of the teaser was shown in the film briefly on a television in the background and a part of it also appears in a

mid-credits scene A post-credits scene (also known as a stinger, end tag, or credit cookie) is a short teaser clip that appears after the closing credits have rolled and sometimes after a production logo of a film, TV show, or video game has run. It is usually i ...

. The film's

theatrical trailer A trailer (also known as a preview, coming attraction, or attraction video) is a short advertisement, originally designed for a feature film, which highlights key scenes of upcoming features intended to be exhibited in the future at a movie thea ...

was released on

Yahoo! Movies Yahoo! Movies (formerly Upcoming Movies), provided by the Yahoo! network, was home to a large collection of information on movies, past and new releases, trailers and clips, box office information, and showtimes and movie theater information. Ya ...

in July 2004. A novelization of the film written by

Keith DeCandido Keith Robert Andreassi DeCandido (born April 18, 1969) is an American science fiction and fantasy writer and musician, who works on comic books, novels, role-playing games and video games, including numerous media tie-in books for properties such ...

was published by

Simon & Schuster Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group US ...

the following month.

Screen Gems Screen Gems is an American film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. ''Screen Gems'' has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the de ...

created a faux newspaper, ''The Raccoon City Times'', to promote the film. ''Apocalypse'' opened at number one in the United States on September 10, 2004, where it grossed over $23million on its opening weekend. The film also opened at number one in Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines and Mexico, and performed well in Japan, France and Brazil, though the horror film ''

Saw A saw is a tool consisting of a tough blade, Wire saw, wire, or Chainsaw, chain with a hard toothed edge used to cut through material. Various terms are used to describe toothed and abrasive saws. Saws began as serrated materials, and when man ...

'' overshadowed it at the box office in the United Kingdom, and it received a lackluster reception in Sweden, where it grossed $473,550. Earning over $6million in Canada, ''Resident Evil: Apocalypse'' was the highest grossing, domestically produced Canadian film in 2004. ''Apocalypse'' went on to earn $129,394,835 worldwide against a budget of $45million, surpassing the earnings of the first film which generated $102,984,862.

Critical response

Audiences surveyed by

CinemaScore CinemaScore is an American market research firm based in Las Vegas. It surveys film audiences to rate their viewing experiences with letter grades, reports the results, and forecasts box office receipts from the data. Background Ed Mintz, who ...

gave the film a grade B on a scale of A to F.

Leonard Maltin Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic, film historian, and author. He is known for his book of film capsule reviews, '' Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'', published from 1969 to 2014. Maltin was the film criti ...

rated the film a "bomb" in his book ''

Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide ''Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide'' was a book-format collection of movie capsule reviews that began in 1969, was updated biannually after 1978, and then annually after 1986. The final edition was published in September 2014. It was originally calle ...

'' and called it a "tiresome" sequel that ended up playing more like a

remake A remake is a film, television series, video game, song or similar form of entertainment that is based upon and retells the story of an earlier production in the same medium—e.g., a "new version of an existing film". A remake tells the same s ...

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

gave the film a score of half a star out of four, calling it "an utterly meaningless waste of time" that lacked any wit or imagination and also failed to provide entertaining violence or special effects. He subsequently named the film the eighth worst film of 2004. Carrie Rickey of ''

The Philadelphia Inquirer ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', often referred to simply as ''The Inquirer'', is a daily newspaper headquartered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Founded on June 1, 1829, ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' is the third-longest continuously operating da ...

'' gave the film one star out of four, concluding that even for people interested in the biological horror genre, ''Apocalypse'' was "pretty generic stuff".

Dave Kehr David Kehr (born 1953) is an American museum curator and film critic. For many years a critic at the ''Chicago Reader'' and the ''Chicago Tribune,'' he later wrote a weekly column for ''The New York Times'' on DVD releases. He later became a c ...

of ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' gave the film a positive review, praising Anderson's screenplay and describing Witt's direction as "fast, funny, smart and highly satisfying in terms of visceral impact". M. E. Russell of ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the West Coast of the United States, U.S. West Coast, founded as a weekly by Tho ...

'' said, "The bad news? The movie is monumentally stupid. The good news? It's a fun kind of stupid". ''

The A.V. Club ''The A.V. Club'' is an online newspaper and entertainment website featuring reviews, interviews, and other articles that examine films, music, television, books, games, and other elements of pop-culture media. ''The A.V. Club'' was created in ...

''s Nathan Rabin said that it progressed too slowly to be considered a good film, "but when Jovovich finally starts kicking zombified ass, it becomes good enough". Ben Kenigsberg of ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' said the film is "not without its moments of elemental dread" though he complained there was too much action and

padding Padding is thin cushioned material sometimes added to clothes. Padding may also be referred to as batting or wadding when used as a layer in lining quilts or as a packaging or stuffing material. When padding is used in clothes, it is often done in ...

and not enough irony. Gregory Kirschling of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'', who gave the film a 'D−' rating, praised Jovovich but felt that "the rest of the cast was strictly

straight-to-DVD Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strateg ...

"; ''

Cinefantastique ''Cinefantastique'' is an American horror, fantasy, and science fiction film magazine. History The magazine originally started as a mimeographed fanzine in 1967, then relaunched as a glossy, offset printed quarterly in 1970 by publisher/ ed ...

'', on the other hand, commented that Jovovich looked bored and that Guillory's portrayal of Jill Valentine was the film's "saving grace".

Legacy

In 2009, ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'' ranked the film as one of the top ten worst video game films. While criticizing all three films released in the ''Resident Evil'' series at the time, they concluded that ''Apocalypse'' deserved their vote "Because, like any sequel, it’s an enabler ... sequels to bad movies just enable further sequels to be considered". In 2016, separate journalists from ''

Bloody Disgusting Bloody Disgusting is an American independent multi-media company, which began as a horror genre-focused news website specializing in information services that covered various horror media. The company expanded into other media including podcast ...

'' ranked it as both the best and worst film in the series. In 2017, Michael Nordine of ''

TheWrap ''TheWrap'' is an American online news organization that covers the business of entertainment and media. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman in 2009 and is based in Los Angeles. The site features original reporting, analysis, and editor ...

'' ranked it as the worst film in the series, saying its only redeeming features were the fact it expanded the series and the "awesomely stupid" fight between Alice and Nemesis.

Accolades

''Resident Evil: Apocalypse'' won Best Sound Editing and the Golden Reel Award at the

25th Genie Awards The 25th Genie Awards were held on March 21, 2005 to honour the best Canadian films released in 2004.Jay Stone, "Big, small get Genie nods". ''Kingston Whig-Standard'', February 9, 2005. The awards took place at the Metro Toronto Convention Centr ...

, and was also nominated for Best Overall Sound. It was nominated for Best Sound Editing in a feature film by the

Directors Guild of Canada The Directors Guild of Canada (DGC; ) is a Canadian labour union representing more than 5,500 professionals from 48 different occupations in the Canadian film and television industry. Founded in 1962, the DGC represents directors, editors, assist ...

, and for Best Make-Up at the 31st Saturn Awards. For composing the film's score, Jeff Danna was awarded the

SOCAN The Society of Composers, Authors and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN) is a Canadian performance rights organization that represents the performing rights of more than 175,000 songwriters, composers and music publishers. The organization collect ...

International Film Music Award in 2007 and 2009.

Home media

The film was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...

and

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

in North America on December 28, 2004. The DVD release included three audio commentaries, 20 deleted scenes, several featurettes and a

blooper A blooper, or gag reel, is short clip from a film, television program or video production, usually a deleted scene, containing a mistake made by a member of the cast or crew. It also refers to an error made during a live radio or TV broadcast or ...

reel.

DVD Talk DVD Talk is a home video news and review website launched in 1999 by Geoffrey Kleinman. History Kleinman founded the site in January 1999 in Beaverton, Oregon. Besides news and reviews, it features information on hidden DVD features known as ...

awarded the film 3½ stars out of five for both video quality and special features. Releases on UMD and

Blu-ray Disc Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of ...

formats followed in 2005 and 2007, respectively. High-Def Digest gave the Blu-ray release three stars out of five for video quality and 3½ stars for special features. Special "Resurrection Editions" of both ''Resident Evil'' (2002) and ''Resident Evil: Apocalypse'' were released in a two-disc set on September 4, 2007. An exclusive scene for the then upcoming sequel ''Resident Evil: Extinction'' (2007) was included, along with several other bonus features. Trilogy sets containing the first three films were released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2008. "The Resident Evil Collection" consisting of the first four films was released in September 2012 on DVD and Blu-ray, a version containing the first five films was released on DVD and Blu-ray in December 2012, and "Resident Evil The Complete Collection" containing all six films was released on Blu-ray in May 2017.

Notes

References

External links

Official website
* *
Resident Evil: Apocalypse Production Notes
' at

MovieWeb Valnet, Inc. is a Canadian media company established in August 2012 by Hassan and Sam Youssef in Montreal, Quebec. It operates primarily in the entertainment media industry, where it has sought to acquire producers of content in this space. In ...

{{Authority control 2004 directorial debut films 2004 science fiction action films 2004 horror films 2004 films 2000s action horror films 2004 science fiction horror films American action horror films American science fiction action films American science fiction horror films American sequel films German science fiction action films German science fiction horror films German action horror films German sequel films French sequel films French science fiction horror films French action horror films British action horror films British science fiction action films British science fiction horror films British sequel films British zombie films Canadian action horror films Canadian science fiction action films Canadian science fiction horror films Canadian sequel films Constantin Film films Summit Entertainment films 2000s English-language films English-language Canadian films English-language German films English-language French films Films about viral outbreaks Films produced by Bernd Eichinger Films produced by Don Carmody Films produced by Jeremy Bolt Films produced by Paul W. S. Anderson Films scored by Jeff Danna Films set in the United States Films shot in Hamilton, Ontario Films shot in Toronto Films with screenplays by Paul W. S. Anderson Girls with guns films

Apocalypse Apocalypse () is a literary genre originating in Judaism in the centuries following the Babylonian exile (597–587 BCE) but persisting in Christianity and Islam. In apocalypse, a supernatural being reveals cosmic mysteries or the future to a ...

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