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Anderson: Most game movie directors don’t know the source material "from a hole in the head"

Paul WS Anderson believes his Resident Evil films have succeeded where other game to movie adaptions haven't because of the deep love he holds for the Capcom franchise.

Speaking in an interview with MCV, Anderson figures the all the work and love he puts into each Resident Evil movie is one of the reasons why each new release outdoes the previous one at the box office.

“Despite what a lot of haters on the internet might say, I love the Resident Evil games," he said. "And these movies are made with a huge knowledge and real passion for the games.

“A lot of video game movies are made by directors who don’t know the video games they are based on from a hole in the head. They don’t do justice to the games, they don’t immerse themselves in the games, they don’t understand what people liked from the games. And that is the wrong approach and clearly those movies don’t work.

“You can fool people once, you know. I was excited to see the Tomb Raider movie the first time it came out. I saw it, it wasn’t very good, I wasn’t very excited to go and see the second film. I think with Resident Evil it is very telling that each movie has done better than the one before.”

However, Anderson said keeping the films a bit separate from the game franchise helps, as it is can be difficult to get both genres to work together.

“You are also dealing with substantially different timelines,” he said. “You can make a good movie in a year. You can’t make a good video game in a year. So it is very difficult for movie and game companies to really work together, especially when you can’t even guarantee that the game is going to come out when you say it is going to.”

Anderson's next film in the franchise, is currently in the pre-production phase, and according to a Bloody Disgusting report, it will feature RE staples Leon Kennedy and Barry Burton. The report also stated that Sienna Guillory would not be reprising her role as Jill Valentine, but IMDB still has her attached on the film's entry.

The film is the fifth in the movie series, and to date have generated £676m at the box office. Retribution is slated for a September 2012 release.

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Stephany Nunneley-Jackson

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Stephany is VG247’s News Editor, with 22 years experience (with 15 of them at VG247). With a brain that lacks adhesive ducks, the ill-tempered, chaotic neutral fembot does her best to bring you the most interesting gaming news. She is also unofficially the site’s Lord of the Rings/Elder Scrolls Editor.

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