Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Reboot Is Tracking for a Franchise-Record Opening

Horror reboots carry a particular kind of pressure, especially when they’re following a franchise with as much box office history as this one. Studios rarely bet big on reviving dormant IP unless the numbers already look promising well before opening weekend arrives.

That’s exactly the situation unfolding as one of the genre’s most anticipated late-summer releases heads toward theaters. With Labor Day now in the rearview mirror, the fall box office season is kicking off with a horror title that’s generating buzz far beyond typical pre-release expectations.

Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil‘ is currently tracking for an opening weekend around $35 million when it debuts in theaters on September 18, according to Deadline. Early first-day sales reports have come in strong enough that the outlet suggests the final number could climb even higher, potentially reaching as much as $50 million.

Even at the lower end of that projection, a $35 million debut would mark the biggest domestic opening in the history of the Constantin/Columbia Pictures franchise, easily surpassing the previous record of $26.6 million set by 2010’s ‘Resident Evil: Afterlife.’ That earlier record benefited heavily from the post-‘Avatar’ 3D boom that was sweeping theaters at the time, making this new benchmark all the more notable given today’s more competitive theatrical landscape.

Much of the film’s early buzz appears tied directly to Cregger’s recent track record in the horror space. His previous film, ‘Weapons,’ opened to $43.5 million domestically and went on to gross $270 million worldwide, cementing his reputation as one of the genre’s most reliable directors following his earlier breakout with ‘Barbarian.’

Current tracking shows ‘Resident Evil’ performing particularly well with men under 25 as its first-choice audience, followed closely by men over 25. That interest level currently puts the film ahead of several recent horror comparisons, including ‘Weapons,’ ‘Alien: Romulus,’ which opened to $42 million, and ’28 Years Later,’ which debuted at $30 million.

The film isn’t without competition in its tracking comparisons, however. Despite its strong early numbers, ‘Resident Evil’ currently sits roughly 23 percent behind the first-choice interest levels seen by this past summer’s ‘Mortal Kombat II,’ another video game adaptation that performed well during its own theatrical run.

Unlike previous entries in the series, this new ‘Resident Evil’ tells an original story within the established universe rather than adapting a specific game plot directly. The film follows Bryan, a medical courier played by Austin Abrams, who finds himself fighting for survival after an outbreak strikes during a delivery to Raccoon City General Hospital.

The cast also includes Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Paul Walter Hauser as Umbrella scientists caught up in the chaos. Cregger both wrote and directed the film, working from a screenplay he co-authored with Shay Hatten, with production having taken place in Prague starting back in October of last year.

‘Resident Evil’ arrives alongside Warner Bros.’ ‘Practical Magic 2’ as one of the biggest openers of the post-Labor Day frame, giving the fall box office season a notably strong kickoff. With early sales data pointing toward record-breaking numbers for the franchise, Sony and Constantin Film appear to have found a winning formula in pairing a beloved gaming IP with one of horror’s hottest current directors.

Should the film ultimately land closer to that upper $50 million estimate, it would represent an even more decisive statement about audience appetite for reimagined video game adaptations heading into the fall movie season.

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