Nobody expected the biggest Resident Evil opening in history to come from the guy who made Barbarian. And yet here we are: Zach Cregger's Resident Evil pulled in $108.3 million worldwide in its first weekend.
The official figures for the Sony Pictures release are in, and they’re bigger than anyone predicted. Domestic opening: $60 million. International: $48.3 million. Both, combined, make this the largest theatrical debut the franchise has ever seen.
That $60 million matters more than it looks. Analysts had the film pegged for a US opening somewhere between $53 and $55 million, and it blew past that range.
The old record didn’t stand a chance
For context, the previous best opening belonged to Milla Jovovich’s Resident Evil: Afterlife, which took in $26 million at the US box office. Cregger’s film more than doubled it in one weekend.
The budget, as a reminder, was approximately $75 million. On a weekend this size, that number starts looking modest fast.
Cregger, who also directed Weapons, has now made a horror franchise entry that outperforms every one that came before it on its opening. (Not bad for a series that spent years being the punchline of video game adaptations.)
A delivery driver in the wrong city
The setup is simple. Austin Abrams plays a delivery driver who arrives in Raccoon City for a high-stakes drop-off and ends up facing dangerous creatures instead.
That’s the pitch, and it’s clearly working with audiences. But the critics are on board too, which is the part that’s harder to believe.
The best-reviewed live-action Resident Evil ever
The film is sitting at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s the highest rating any Resident Evil live-action production has ever managed.
Put those two facts next to each other and you get something rare for this franchise: a film that’s both a hit and a critical favorite in the same weekend.
Resident Evil is now playing in all theaters.
