I feel the new Resident Evil movie by Zach Cregger is being misrepresented and misunderstood by so many people because this is how Cregger has described it. - The film is set in 2026 rather than 1998, with modern details such as smartphones, and Cregger has called it an alternate timeline version of the Raccoon City outbreak that runs in parallel with the events of Resident Evil 2. - He has said the story happens “on the periphery” of that night, another person on another mission across town while keeping the same basic outbreak and T-virus chaos, but without the original characters or the 1990s setting. - The snow and contemporary look were deliberate visual and storytelling choices he openly admits taking liberties with, rather than a hidden change. It is presented as a “what if this happened now” take, not a secret remake of the 1998 game. Cregger has been consistent and pretty explicit about this. A lot of the backlash treats the movie like a stealth remake of Resident Evil 2 that "got the year and weather wrong," when he has repeatedly said the opposite. He described it as a story that lives in the Resident Evil world and sits on the periphery of Resident Evil 2: Raccoon City is having its big outbreak night, the T-virus is doing its thing, but this is another person on another mission across town. Parallel events, same chaos, none of the original game characters. He also said outright that it is not set in 1998. It takes place in 2026, which is why Bryan has a smartphone. The snow was a deliberate visual and storytelling choice because he thought a horror movie in the snow looked cool and served the film he wanted to make. He has used the phrase "I took liberties" multiple times and has acknowledged the differences instead of pretending they don't exist. In short: it's framed as a "what if this outbreak happened now" version running alongside the events of RE2, not a hidden 1:1 port of the 1998 game. The modern setting and snow aren't oversights or secret changes they're the point of his take. The misunderstanding usually comes from people seeing "Raccoon City + T-virus + outbreak night" and assuming it has to be a period-accurate Leon/Claire story. Cregger has said he didn't want to retell a story the games already tell well, and that he'd rather capture the feeling of playing those games with an original everyman character. That's the version he's been describing since at least the spring interviews.