Resident Evil Just Broke a 24-Year Box Office Record, and It’s Already Zach Cregger’s Biggest Opening Ever
Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil reboot didn’t just earn the kind of reviews Gamersuniverse covered after its Los Angeles premiere, it’s backing them up at the box office. Early estimates for its opening weekend, September 18 through 20, have the R-rated survival horror film on pace to become the biggest domestic debut Resident Evil has ever had, clearing a record that stood for 16 years.
A Franchise-Best Weekend for Zach Cregger
Deadline is estimating Resident Evil’s three-day domestic opening at $50 million or more, with a worldwide total pushing toward $80 million once international markets are factored in. Those numbers are still moving as final Sunday actuals come in, but even the conservative end of the estimate clears the franchise’s previous opening-weekend record by a wide margin, Resident Evil: Afterlife’s $26.65 million debut back in 2010. The film also set a franchise preview record on its own, pulling in an estimated $8.8 million from Thursday night screenings, then adding to a combined Thursday-Friday total of roughly $24 million across an estimated 3,700 North American theaters.
It’s a career-best opening for director Zach Cregger too. His previous high point, 2025’s Weapons, opened to $43.5 million domestically, and Resident Evil has already cleared that with room to spare. Sony and Constantin Film reportedly built the film on a $75 million budget, meaning it could recoup its production costs from opening weekend alone.
Resident Evil topped its own franchise’s opening-weekend record within its first three days in theaters.
How the Rest of the Franchise Stacks Up
Resident Evil has bounced through seven prior movies since Milla Jovovich first picked up a gun in 2002, and none of them opened anywhere close to this. Domestic opening weekends across the franchise, according to box office tracker The Numbers:
- Resident Evil (2002): $17.7 million
- Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004): $23.0 million
- Resident Evil: Extinction (2007): $23.7 million
- Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010): $26.65 million (previous record)
- Resident Evil: Retribution (2012): $21.1 million
- Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016): $13.6 million
- Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021): $5.3 million
The gap is so wide that this weekend’s opening alone already outgrosses the entire theatrical run of four of those seven films, the 2002 original ($40.1 million total), Retribution ($42.3 million), The Final Chapter ($26.8 million), and Welcome to Raccoon City ($17 million). At its current estimate, it’s essentially neck and neck with the full domestic runs of Apocalypse and Extinction (both around $50.6 to $50.7 million), and could pass both once the final Sunday numbers are locked in.
Critics and Audiences Both Showed Up
The box office run backs up what Gamersuniverse already heard from critics after the film’s Los Angeles premiere. Resident Evil is sitting at 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and 91 percent from audiences, both franchise bests, with the previous audience high sitting at just 67 percent for the 2002 original. PostTrak measured a 4.5 out of 5 average, with 70 percent of exit-polled moviegoers giving it a definite recommend, rising to 75 percent among men over 25. JoBlo’s Chris Bumbray, one of the first critics with a full review posted, wrote that he “might be watching a new classic.”
What Comes Next
Nothing is officially greenlit yet, but Cregger has already said the door isn’t closed. Speaking to ComicBook.com before the film’s release, he admitted that while Resident Evil was designed as a one-off, “I can’t help myself, I already have some thoughts of what could happen going forward.” With a debut like this behind it, Sony and Capcom now have every incentive to say yes. For the full breakdown of the film’s cast, story, and R rating, check out our Resident Evil (2026): Everything You Need to Know guide, and catch up on the reviews that predicted this kind of weekend in our First Reviews Are In coverage.
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Picture Source: Sony Pictures
