Sony just released the official release date for Resident Evil
It could bomb now at the box office; September vs. January. They know the potential profit from these films is in September. January is untested, but risky waters. But knowing this is the finale, I guess Sony isn't too worried about that since it more than likely won't see a sequel regardless. Wasn't Underworld released in January though?
Looking at statistics for Underworld:
Domestic: $62,321,039 38.9%
+ Foreign: $97,791,632 61.1%
It didn't do that bad domestically. Resident Evil is more known international, so maybe it'll do fine.
On the bright side, this gives Paul Anderson an extra 4 months to make this damn finale good. The past few films seemed rushed to me, start filming in August and released a year later. Plus months to finalize the special effects, etc. Also, this may be in part because of the longer run time. 2 hours and 20 minutes rumored.