"Resident Evil: Afterlife" marks the popular franchise's first foray into 3D, and director Paul W.S. Anderson is promising epic results.

Filmed with the same cameras designed and built for James Cameron's "Avatar," the sequel takes on a global scope as Alice (Milla Jovovich) slays zombies, gathers survivors and brings the fight to the sinister Umbrella Corporation.

Anderson ("Event Horizon") was captivated by the notion of applying today's 3D technology to the "Resident Evil" franchise.

"I have always been a big fan of 3D as an Idea," Anderson said recently during a panel discussion at Comic-Con International. "And I've seen all the 3D movies in the '80s and the '90s, and I always felt that 3D was a great idea, but the technology had never really caught up to fully flesh out the idea."

But bringing the latest 3D technology to bear on the franchise required some new tricks. Anderson was forced to alter his filming techniques.

"Because we shot live 3D images, you could see the 3D right there on set," he explained. "It changed the way I composed shots. It changed the way I moved the camera. It even changes the way we edited the movie, the pacing of the film.

"In my opinion 3D is revolutionizing cinema. I think it is going to be a paradigm shift just as when movies went from silent movies to talkies, or from black and white to color. I do think 3D is going to become the new benchmark. And it really does change the way you make movies, even the way you design sets; you design for more depth.

"It was a huge challenge, but a very exciting one. I kinda felt like I was making my first movie all over again."

After writing and directing the original "Resident Evil," Anderson continued to pen the series, but turned over the directing reins to Alexander Witt for "Apocalypse" and Russell Mulcahy ("Highlander") for "Extinction." What compelled Anderson to take the helm again?

"Making 'Resident Evil' was one of the most fun experiences of my film directing career," he explained. "And I missed directing the 'Resident Evil' movies, so I wanted to have that experience again.

"I felt that if we were going to make another movie I wanted the franchise to : make a conceptual jump. I wanted it to become a bigger and better movie. I wanted to make the best ever 'Resident Evil.' And the 3D is part of that. But I also persuaded the studio to give us more money than ever, so that we could make it a really global trotting movie. : We really made it an epic film."

Along with the conceptual jump, Anderson focused on incorporating elements from the "Resident Evil 5" game.

"I played 'Resident Evil 5' and I just loved the game," he said. "I thought it was fantastic. I loved the creatures in the game, and the imagery from the game. I was just very inspired by it."

"Resident Evil: Afterlife" hits theaters Sept. 10. It also stars Ali Larter, Wentworth Miller, Shawn Roberts.