Watch the original ending to Milla Jovovich's Resident Evil, which was wisely scrapped. Director Paul W.S. Anderson found success with his adaptation of the video game Mortal Kombat and later found himself at the helm of Resident Evil. He took a somewhat unusual approach to his movie version because instead of a straight adaptation of any prior games, he opted to tell an original story that pulled in creatures and settings from the series instead. This would upset some fans, but the film was not only a hit - and proved there was life in the then-ailing zombie genre - but it kicked off a very lucrative franchise.
Resident Evil 2002 focuses on Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, with the series' collective tally coming in at $1.2 billion worldwide.
One complaint leveled at the original Resident Evil movie is that it's more of a sci-fi action movie than straight horror, though it does have some great sequences. Resident Evil's laser hallway is easily the highlight, though the ending - where Alice stalks the abandoned streets of a devastated Raccoon City - also leaves an impression. This was the finale Anderson had always planned, though it was deemed too expensive during production. Anderson instead filmed another finale, where Alice, who is searching for the movie's other survivor Matt, heads into Umbrella's HQ and fires on security with a grenade launcher. Watch the alternate Resident Evil ending below.
Anderson also comments on this alternate ending to Resident Evil, itting it didn't feel right compared to the rest of the movie. It's also clearly aping The Matrix with Jovovich's Alice wearing a stylish leather coat, and it was supposed to include a bullet-time shot of her grenade exploring into small, guided missiles. This alternate ending was released on a deluxe edition of Resident Evil - with the franchise being rebooted with 2021's Welcome To Raccoon City - and while it's interesting to watch, it's also fairly bad. It was clearly filmed cheaply and quickly, and as Anderson points out, it implies a big action scene is about to start before it abruptly ends.
Wisely, it was decided to drop this alternate Resident Evil ending, and to go back and shoot the originally planned finale instead. The aforementioned grenade shot eventually made its way in the fifth outing Resident Evil: Retribution, with Michelle Rodriguez's Rain firing the launcher instead.
