Zach Cregger's Resident Evil Reboot Eyes Record Box Office Opening For The Franchise

Zach Cregger has made himself a superstar director in relatively short order. Beginning in 2022 when, of all movies, Cregger's "Barbarian" brought Disney back atop the box office after a several month drought, he quickly became a commodity in Hollywood. Then "Weapons" happened last year, becoming an Oscar-winning smash hit. Now? Cregger is diving into the realm of franchise filmmaking with a "Resident Evil" movie reboot. And while it's early, it very much looks like Cregger has worked his magic once again.

As of this writing, Cregger's new cinematic take on the Capcom video game property is eyeing an opening between $45 and $60 million domestically when it arrives next weekend, per Box Office Theory. Those numbers are up compared to already bullish earlier tracking, which had the Sony Pictures release doing between $35 and $50 million (via Deadline). Even on the low end, we're looking at a record.

The "Resident Evil" film series is one of only six horror movie franchises to make over $1 billion at the box office, but that's with seven live-action theatrical releases across roughly 20 years. These films have never been particularly huge draws in North America, with the biggest opening weekend belonging to 2010's "Resident Evil: Afterlife" ($26.6 million opening/$300.2 million worldwide). So, even on the very low end of current estimates, Cregger's take on this universe is going to far exceed the previous entries in the property.

Cregger's "Resident Evil" centers on Bryan (Austin Abrams), a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in an action-packed, non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos. Zach Cherry ("Severance"), Kali Reis ("True Detective: Night Country"), and Paul Walter Hauser ("The Naked Gun") also star.

Zach Cregger's "Resident Evil" movie is set in the universe of the games, but it isn't directly adapting any of them. That seems to be a sticking point for certain fans, but, as we can see from the numbers, it certainly doesn't appear to be harming interest from the general public one bit.

Several things are working in favor of Cregger's film. For one, this franchise has a huge global audience. Case in point, 2017's "Resident Evil: The Final Chapter" made just $26.8 million domestically in total, yet it managed to pull in $314.1 million worldwide. That's on the extreme end, and much has changed over the last nine years in the global theatrical marketplace. Still, it helps demonstrate that this movie won't be relying on an outsized domestic turnout like many other horror films do.

2002's "Resident Evil" beat the video game movie curse, although the Milla Jovovich-fronted film and its sequels weren't exactly critical darlings. What Cregger can bring to the table is a more modern sensibility, delivering a movie that's both profitable and well-received critically. After all, Hollywood has only relatively recently managed to deliver video game adaptations that aren't roundly panned. And let's not forget: 2021's "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City" bombed with just $41.9 million globally.

Cregger is coming off of "Weapons" killing it at the box office, taking in $270 million worldwide on a reported $40 million budget. So, as a filmmaker, he's done the hard thing and turned original ideas into theatrical successes. Can he now work his magic on an IP that's past its prime financially? If these estimates hold, the answer is going to be a resounding yes.

"Resident Evil" hits theaters on September 18, 2026.