[Update] Resident Evil: Begins [not]unveiled as a prequel

[Update: It was an April Fools joke after all. Well played BD/DP]

Bloody Disgusting’s Dead Pixels guys revealed that the new Resident Evil movie is a prequel/reboot called Resident Evil: Begins. This story has been picked up by a lot of movie sites since, but the thing is: the source article was posted yesterday. On April 1st.

However, the lovely people at our sister-site Flixist have looked into it, and apparently this is a real thing that is happening. Here is what Dead Pixels said about the supposed prequel, and a number of reasons why it sounds dumb (moreso than a new Resident Evil movie).

According to Dead Pixels — the videogame fellows at Bloody Disgusting — Sony Pictures subsidiary Screen Gems is planning Resident Evil: Begins as a prequel that will simultaneously reboot the Resident Evil movie series. A reboot with Jill Valentine as its protagonist, whose actress Sienna Guillory previously tweeted that she was training for “RE:5.”

Resident Evil: Begins supposedly takes us back to 1998, before the events of the first Resident Evil movie that centered on the Mansion events. So, before the Raccoon City outbreak actually happened. Milla Jovovich is said to return as Alice, again before the Mansion events. But instead of Alice taking the lead again, Begins will focus on Jill Valentine during the outbreak of the T-virus instead.

Yes, the same outbreak that didn’t happen until after the first movie. While that may sound stupid to fans, it makes perfect sense within the Resident Evil movie ‘canon’ because it’s so stupid that there’s no reason to doubt they wouldn’t do something like this.

Even sillier is the announcement of the possibility of a Resident Evil: Begins videogame tie-in. This proposed game would follow Jill and Alice before the T-virus outbreak, with Jill trying to slow down the virus’ spreading — before there was an outbreak — and Alice trying to reveal Umbrella for their role in the outbreak and the work they do in the Hive facility.

As a reboot, it wouldn’t really reboot the series as much as create a prequel that just goes back and messes with the storyline of the Resident Evil movie universe — in which Alice only meets Jill for the first time in Resident Evil: Apocalypse — which in turn has already laid waste to the videogame canon. Of course, we don’t know for sure if Alice and Jill will actually meet in Begins.

But do you doubt they wouldn’t do something like this? The movies made plenty of money after all, and these days ‘Resident Evil canon’ doesn’t really seem to mean much anymore. Also, the testes of a million horny teenage boys would probably explode if Guillory and Jovovich were to end up in some kind of semi-nude decontamiation sequence for the hell of it.

If you’ve seen Resident Evil: Afterlife (SPOILER ALERT for a movie from last year!) you’ll know that Jill Valentine is wearing the mind control device in the surprise plot twist at the end of that movie. Perhaps the ‘reboot’ will focus on some sort of parallel timeline of events that will eventually lead up to a sequel to Afterlife? Or maybe it will be Milla’s last one to make room for future movies without Alice?

While I was a bit wary of this when I saw it posted on April 1st (although it was posted at 10:24pm), some notable movie sites like Latino Review — who have broken their share of stories before — have since reposted it as well. After Flixist’s Alex Katz looked into it and told us it looks like really is happening, that laid those suspicions of a prank to rest.

Resident Evil: Begins will be in 3D, because of course it will be. Just like while there’s no mention of Paul W.S. Anderson being confirmed as the director, because of course he will direct it. Expect it sometime in 2012 after you’re done with Revelations. Can’t we just get a sequel to Resident Evil: Degeneration instead?

Please?

EXCLUSIVE: Fifth Resident Evil Film Officially Unveiled, Might Get A Game Adaptation [Bloody Disgusting]