Maybe these residents aren’t so bad.
Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil has successfully pushed through pre-release backlash to collect an estimated $108.3 million globally in its opening weekend at the box office, marking a major milestone for the historic video game franchise and establishing a new personal best for its director.
The horror-comedy hybrid pulled in a strong $60 million domestically alongside an impressive $48.3 million from international territories. This global haul easily outpaces even the most optimistic industry projections, which had anticipated a domestic opening in the range of $40 million to $50 million.
Starring Austin Abrams as an original character named Bryan who is thrust into the darkest, most terrifying depths of a suffering Raccoon City, the film’s robust opening performance also secures its place as Cregger’s biggest cinematic debut to date. The filmmaker’s previous breakout horror hit, Barbarian, earned $10 million in its opening weekend, while his subsequent feature, Weapons, pulled in a still-formidable $70 million. Alongside Abrams, the new Resident Evil features a talented ensemble cast that includes Zach Cherry (Severance), Kali Reis (True Detective: Night Country), and Paul Walter Hauser (The Fantastic Four: First Steps).
Overcoming Fan Skepticism and Charting a New Course
Several distinct factors have contributed to the triumphant theatrical launch shared by Sony, Cregger, and the Resident Evil property. While the Abrams-led film aimed to deliver a narrative directly inspired by the atmospheric tension of survival horror gameplay, the previous long-running film franchise starring Milla Jovovich often strayed far from the specific elements that gamers loved about Capcom’s intellectual property.
Furthermore, fan consensus largely agreed that 2021’s Welcome to Raccoon City, despite coming equipped with a heavy layer of direct video game references, ultimately failed to effectively pay homage to the beloved franchise. Beyond Cregger’s heavy-hitting directorial resume, horror and gaming enthusiasts have spent decades eagerly waiting for a cinematic Resident Evil project that not only showed genuine reverence for the source material, but also successfully translated the unique experience of actually playing the survival horror games onto the big screen.
Despite carrying both Cregger’s rising auteur reputation and the heavy weight of the Resident Evil brand into theaters, the journey to opening weekend was somewhat of an uphill battle. Ever since the first official trailers debuted earlier this year, a vocal segment of the fanbase expressed difficulty accepting an adaptation that deliberately left behind familiar iconography like Leon S. Kennedy and the infamous T-Virus.
While purists were initially concerned about creative deviations from the established lore—which included a contemporary setting and an uncharacteristically snowy Raccoon City—early promotional footage left other viewers anxious that Cregger might stumble in his follow-up to his previous horror successes. Director Zach Cregger even candidly admitted in interviews leading up to the release that he had been naive to assume fans would immediately approve of him avoiding a direct, beat-for-beat adaptation of the classic games.
Record-Breaking Critical Acclaim and Box Office Domination
Following its first full weekend in theaters, however, Resident Evil has firmly silenced its doubters and defied early box office expectations. Adding to its growing list of unprecedented milestones, the film has mutated its way past Sonic the Hedgehog 3 to claim the crown as the highest-rated video game movie of all time on Rotten Tomatoes. Critical reception has been similarly enthusiastic, with IGN awarding the film an 8/10 review and praising it as "a simple and exciting survival horror story that benefits greatly from director Zach Cregger’s sensibilities."
The domestic box office charts reflect the film’s dominant arrival. Resident Evil easily captured the number one spot for the weekend, followed by Practical Magic in second place, Spider-Man: Brand New Day in third, The Odyssey in fourth, and Coyote vs. Acme rounding out the top five. Meanwhile, major box office juggernauts continue to pull in staggering cumulative figures, with Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey having surpassed $1.72 billion globally, and Spider-Man: Brand New Day reaching a massive $2.47 billion worldwide.
According to reports from Variety, Sony invested approximately $75 million in the production budget for Resident Evil. While the exact total for marketing expenditures remains undisclosed, the film’s explosive global debut represents an extraordinarily strong start for the studio’s revitalization of the franchise in theaters. For audiences eager to dive deeper into the film’s release, discussions continue regarding Cregger’s creative choices, why the director believes his film will make longtime fans "feel seen," and where the feature ranks among the best-reviewed horror movies of the year.
