A fifth Resident Evil was announced immediately after Afterlifetopped the box office on its (admittedly quiet) opening weekend last autumn. Details have been scant since, but Milla Jovovich has been tweeting with her followers, and revealed that the next instalment may be called **Resident Evil: Retribution. Don't take that as gospel though: "I'll have to ask Paul to be sure."
That would, of course, be series honcho Paul WS Anderson, director of parts one and four, and writer of all. It's unclear as yet whether he'll be behind the camera again next time, but he's certainly currently musing the screenplay with the help of his kids. "They're professionals!" says Milla. "All they do is play the games until they master every level and unlock every code. They play the games for weeks and give Paul the footage, so he's literally watching days of the most awesome RE players out there to get inspiration for the next chapter."
Milla has her fingers firmly crossed that shooting will take place in Japan. Those many thousands of you hoping that she'll have to face down an army of Hunters however - the Umbrella Corporation's optimistic splicing of human and reptile DNA with mutated T-Virus - seem set to be disappointed. "Paul doesn't think there's a big, awesome action scene that can be done with big frogs," Milla apologises. "Is it cool to do a kick-ass action scene with lizardy froggy things?"
Alice's next antagonists then, remain a mystery (apart from the zombies, obviously) although we might surmise a few surmises given the end of Afterlife. Whoever she's fighting though, we can rest assured it will be in 3D and slo-mo, and very likely accompanied by the dulcet tones of Maynard James Keenan. And all is right with the world. The release is already set for September 14 next year.