Resident Evil Box Office: $60M Franchise Record

The Resident Evil box office has a new franchise high. Zach Cregger’s reboot opened to a reported $60 million in the U.S. and Canada and $108.3 million worldwide, according to the Associated Press. That gave the film the weekend’s No. 1 spot and the biggest domestic opening in the movie series’ history.

Monday reporting still places the weekend at $60 million domestically and $108.3 million globally. The worldwide total includes $48.3 million from international markets, giving Sony and Constantin Film a much stronger launch than any previous Resident Evil movie managed at the domestic box office.

The Resident Evil Box Office Doubled the Old Record

The previous franchise record belonged to Resident Evil: Afterlife, which opened to $26.7 million domestically in 2010. Cregger’s film cleared that mark by $33.3 million and did it from 3,684 theaters. In other words, the new record did not squeak past the old one. It brought a rocket launcher.

The opening is also Cregger’s biggest as a director. His earlier horror films helped turn him into one of the genre’s most closely watched filmmakers, but Resident Evil adds a decades-old video game audience to that following. The result is a rare reboot that sold both the name on the poster and the person behind the camera.

For another measure of the launch, the new movie’s $60 million opening nearly matched Afterlife’s entire $60.1 million domestic run. That does not tell us where the reboot will finish, but it shows how quickly this version reached a level that took the previous domestic champion its full theatrical engagement to achieve.

Audience response was solid, too. Moviegoers gave the film a B+ CinemaScore, while 75% of the opening-weekend audience was under 35. That younger turnout matters for a franchise that began in theaters in 2002 and has already lived through multiple versions, timelines and one impressively durable Umbrella Corporation.

Resident Evil box office record holders Zach Cregger and Austin Abrams at Fantastic Fest — Zach Cregger and Austin Abrams at the Fantastic Fest opening-night screening of *Resident Evil*. Photo by Erika Rich.

Zach Cregger’s Raccoon City Gamble Paid Off

This Resident Evil does not retell one of the games or bring back a familiar protagonist. It follows Austin Abrams as Bryan, a medical courier caught in Raccoon City during one very bad night. Cregger and co-writer Shay Hatten built an original story around the games’ survival-horror rhythm instead of trying to photocopy a campaign.

That approach was the big question throughout the film’s rollout. We first saw 30 minutes of the movie before release, then covered its Fantastic Fest opening-night premiere. The completed film convinced us that the creative gamble worked, and our Resident Evil review explains why.

What We Think

Having watched this one, the Resident Evil box office result makes sense. Cregger’s movie gives longtime players plenty to recognize, but it does not require an inventory screen’s worth of franchise knowledge. It is mean, funny and confident enough to work as a horror movie first.

The Resident Evil box office record does not automatically guarantee a sequel, and neither Sony nor Constantin Film has announced one. It does, however, give the studios a very good reason to keep this version of Raccoon City alive. For now, the numbers are the story: audiences showed up for a reboot that finally treated the games’ survival-horror DNA as more than set dressing.

Resident Evil Is Now Playing in Theaters

Resident Evil is now playing exclusively in theaters. Watch Sony Pictures’ official trailer below, then check out our full review if you want our spoiler-free verdict before heading to Raccoon City.