‘Resident Evil’ Scores a Record-Breaking Start at the Global Box Office
Video game adaptations have a spotty track record at the box office, and the ‘Resident Evil’ movies have never quite broken through with American audiences. The earlier films tended to make most of their money overseas. That history made expectations for Zach Cregger’s reboot fairly modest.
Tracking suggested an opening in the neighborhood of $40 million to $50 million domestically and roughly $80 million worldwide. The film arrived in theaters on Sep 18 with Austin Abrams, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis and Paul Walter Hauser in the cast. It runs a lean 95 minutes and was made for a reported $75 million.
The weekend numbers blew past all of that. Deadline reports that ‘Resident Evil’ rang up $108.3 million worldwide, not only the best start the franchise has ever seen but also Cregger’s biggest start as a filmmaker. It surpassed the $70 million worldwide opening reported for last year’s ‘Weapons.’
The breakdown is just as striking. The film earned $60 million domestically from 3,684 theaters and $48.3 million overseas. Audiences gave it a B+ CinemaScore. Then come the franchise comparisons. The worldwide opening alone tops the final global gross of the original 2002 movie, which finished at about $102.9 million. It also easily beats the failed reboot ‘Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City,’ which ended its run at $41.9 million.
The domestic number is the real eye-opener. The previous best opening in the series was ‘Resident Evil: Afterlife,’ which debuted with $26.6 million in 2010. That film is also the franchise’s highest domestic grosser overall at about $60.1 million, so Cregger’s movie matched that in a single weekend.
The first trailer for Zach Cregger's ‘RESIDENT EVIL’ has been released.
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) April 30, 2026
In theaters on September 18. pic.twitter.com/eeVCAGzy6M
Horror fans will note where it lands among this year’s scary movies. It has the second-best worldwide horror opening of 2026, behind only ‘Backrooms’ at $118 million, and it topped ‘Scream 7.’ Overseas, its $48.3 million beat the $36.6 million that ‘Backrooms’ earned in those markets.
International audiences showed up in force. The UK was the top territory at $5.8 million, followed by Mexico at $5.6 million. Deadline noted that the movie expanded the franchise’s audience beyond the fans of the Milla Jovovich films.
Cregger’s run has now become one of the most impressive in modern horror. ‘Barbarian’ earned $46.2 million on a $4.5 million budget, while ‘Weapons’ grossed $270 million on a $38 million budget and won an Oscar for Amy Madigan. A prequel to ‘Weapons’ is reportedly in the works.
The franchise’s all-time high is the next number to watch. ‘Resident Evil: The Final Chapter’ grossed about $312 million worldwide in 2016, roughly half of it from China, which is widely seen as an anomaly. Cregger’s film will need strong legs to catch it, though its opening gives it a big head start.
Sony has plenty of reason to celebrate. A $75 million reported budget against a $108.3 million global debut is a strong start, and the studio now has a franchise that just proved it can succeed on American screens. What Cregger does with it next is the question every horror fan will be asking.
What do you think is behind the huge success of Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil?
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