All ‘Resident Evil’ Animated Movies Ranked by Release Order

The ‘Resident Evil’ franchise built a parallel screen life away from Milla Jovovich’s live action saga, and that other track runs through computer animated features that stay locked to the games’ own canon. Unlike the live-action movies that loosely adapt the games, Resident Evil’s animated films are treated as full canon entries and frequently center on Leon Kennedy.

Four feature length CG movies make up this side of the franchise, released roughly five years apart, each one picking up characters and plot threads from a specific stretch of the games. Below is the complete list of animated ‘Resident Evil’ movies in the order they arrived in theaters and on home video.

‘Resident Evil: Degeneration’

‘Resident Evil: Degeneration’ opened the animated line and remains the franchise’s first full length motion capture feature. It is a 2008 Japanese adult animated biopunk action horror film directed by Makoto Kamiya, made by Capcom in cooperation with Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan. The film made its premiere in Japan on October 11, 2008, at the Tokyo Game Show, and was released nationwide one week later, before arriving on DVD and Blu-ray in North America on December 27, 2008.

The story pulls Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield back together for the first time since their partnership in the second mainline game. The pair must battle a rogue warrior seeking revenge after unleashing the deadly G-Virus, while a mutated monster goes on a rampage. Degeneration is set within the same canon universe as the original video games, taking place roughly seven years after the Raccoon City incident.

Voice work came from Paul Mercier as Leon and Alyson Court as Claire, alongside Laura Bailey and Roger Craig Smith. The film’s box office in Japan came to approximately 43 million yen, or about 403,117 dollars. Its home video performance told a bigger story about the audience appetite for this format. More than 1.6 million home video copies had shipped as of September 2010.

‘Resident Evil: Degeneration’ also functions as connective tissue for the games themselves. The film establishes Tricell as an in-world presence ahead of ‘Resident Evil 5’, giving context to Chris Redfield’s later plight in Africa. It is followed directly by its sequel, ‘Resident Evil: Damnation’.

‘Resident Evil: Damnation’

The sequel arrived four years later with a new protagonist focus and a bigger budget feel. ‘Resident Evil: Damnation’ was directed by Makoto Kamiya, written by Shotaro Suga, and produced by Hiroyuki Kobayashi, released on October 27, 2012. It serves as a sequel to ‘Degeneration’ and acts as a narrative bridge leading into the events of ‘Resident Evil 6’.

This time Leon investigates a civil war rather than a domestic outbreak. U.S. federal agent Leon S. Kennedy is dispatched to investigate rumors of bio organic weapons being used in the conflict, defies orders to withdraw, and delves deeper into the war torn region, uncovering a plot involving Lickers and Tyrants controlled through the Las Plagas parasite. Matthew Mercer took over voicing Leon for this entry, joined by Dave Wittenberg, Wendee Lee, and Courtenay Taylor as Ada Wong.

Commercially, the sequel outperformed its predecessor by a meaningful margin. Damnation was commercially successful, grossing more than two million dollars in Japan and more than three million dollars in home media format in the United States. Production officially began in September 2010, after Capcom and Sony Pictures Entertainment Japan agreed to collaborate again following the first film’s success.

Character design leaned heavily on the games releasing around the same time. The character models were built based on Capcom’s input from ‘Resident Evil 6’, which released shortly before the film, and Leon’s recurring role in the games made him the natural choice as protagonist again. The film’s creature designers also pushed for originality within the constraints of the established universe.

‘Resident Evil: Vendetta’

Five years after ‘Damnation’, the franchise reset its animation studio and shifted its ensemble. ‘Resident Evil: Vendetta’ is a 2017 English language Japanese adult animated biopunk action horror film produced by Marza Animation Planet and Capcom producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi, directed by Takanori Tsujimoto. The film had its Japanese release on May 27, 2017, with an English language release following on June 19, 2017.

The plot brought together three fan favorite characters for the first time in this format. When a fearless enemy out for revenge unleashes a brutal and deadly new virus, BSAA captain Chris Redfield enlists the help of Agent Leon S. Kennedy and Professor Rebecca Chambers to bring down the arms dealer and save New York City. Takashi Shimizu served as executive producer on the project.

Matthew Mercer returned as Leon, joined by Kevin Dorman as Chris Redfield and Erin Cahill as Rebecca Chambers. The film’s box office came to roughly 1.6 million dollars. That modest theatrical haul reflects the film’s limited, event style release pattern rather than a wide rollout.

The film also drew notice for its promotional framing ahead of release. According to Fathom Events CEO John Rubey, Vendetta was pitched as “scarier and more thrill-inducing” than its predecessors during the film’s limited theatrical event run in March 2017. That framing set expectations for a franchise entry aimed squarely at longtime fans of the games.

‘Resident Evil: Death Island’

The fourth and, so far, most recent animated feature reunited the franchise’s five most recognizable protagonists in one story. Eiichiro Hasumi, who had previously directed ‘Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness’, returned to helm ‘Death Island’, while Makoto Fukami, known for anime work on ‘Psycho-Pass’ and ‘Berserk’, wrote the script, with Rei Kondoh composing the score. The film released in Japan on July 7, 2023, with international dates following.

The plot separates its heroes before drawing them together toward a single location. In San Francisco, Jill Valentine is dealing with a zombie outbreak and a new T-Virus, Leon Kennedy is on the trail of a kidnapped DARPA scientist, and Claire Redfield is investigating a monstrous fish that is killing whales in the bay. Joined by Chris Redfield and Rebecca Chambers, they discover the trail of clues from their separate cases all converge on the same location, Alcatraz Island, where a new evil has taken residence and awaits their arrival.

The voice cast folded returning talent in with newcomers to the format. Matthew Mercer, Nicole Tompkins, Kevin Dorman, Stephanie Panisello, Erin Cahill, and Salli Saffioti anchored the principal cast. The film functions as one of the direct narrative follow ups to 2017’s ‘Vendetta’, continuing a pattern of loosely serialized sequels across the animated line.

Home viewing arrived quickly after the theatrical window closed. The film became available on Blu-ray and Digital three weeks after its Japanese release, on July 25, worldwide. Fans hoping for a fifth entry have had to wait, since no new animated feature has followed since ‘Death Island’.

Four movies in, the animated ‘Resident Evil’ line has quietly built its own internal continuity, one that longtime players of the games will recognize even more than casual moviegoers might. Which of these four CG entries do you think handled its source material best, and does Alcatraz Island deserve a direct follow up of its own?