Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Reboot Is Officially a Box Office Monster, and It’s Not Done Yet
For more than 2 decades, Hollywood has tried to make the zombie-infested halls of Raccoon City work on the big screen. The results were mixed, with the series grossing over $1.2 billion collectively despite mostly negative reviews from critics. Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ box office run is now rewriting that story.
The last attempt to restart the franchise went badly. Sony’s 2021 reboot, ‘Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City‘, opened to just $5.3 million and finished with $41.9 million worldwide. That set a low bar for what came next, and the new film has cleared it easily.
The latest milestone arrived on September 29. ‘Resident Evil’ has passed $200 million worldwide, and that it is now tracking to become Zach Cregger’s highest-grossing film ever. Reports from earlier in the week had the total at about $196.4 million, so the $200 million mark was just days away.
The run began with a bang. The film opened to $60 million domestically and $48.3 million overseas for a $108.3 million global start, far above the $40 million to $50 million that had been projected. That was the largest debut in the franchise’s history, and it came close to matching the entire $60.1 million domestic run of ‘Resident Evil: Afterlife’.
The reviews helped. The film has a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a B+ CinemaScore, and it is the highest-rated entry in the franchise. Austin Abrams stars as a medical courier making a delivery to Raccoon City General Hospital in the middle of a zombie outbreak, in a story that skips the game’s established characters.
The second weekend held up well. The film added $27 million internationally across 65 markets, a 45% drop, which brought its overseas total to $93 million. It also became the first film in the franchise to pass $100 million at the domestic box office.
The math is good for Sony too. The film cost $75 million to produce, and a common rule of thumb puts the break-even point at around $150 million once marketing is included. The film passed that mark on September 26, after just 9 days in theaters.
Cregger has a habit of beating box office logic. His breakout ‘Barbarian’ earned $46.2 million on a $4.5 million budget, and ‘Weapons’ made $270 million globally against a $38 million budget. ‘Weapons’ also won an Oscar for Amy Madigan.
That reputation is part of the appeal. Box office analyst Paul Dergarabedian told the Associated Press that “Zach Cregger plus big franchise equals big bucks.” Audiences seem to agree, as 37% of the opening-weekend crowd were cinephile Cregger fans, alongside 46% franchise fans.
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
The film still has room to grow. To become Cregger’s biggest hit, it needs to pass the $270 million earned by ‘Weapons’. To become the highest-grossing film in the franchise, it needs to beat the $312.2 million made by ‘Resident Evil: The Final Chapter’.
Two big markets are still waiting. China opens on October 5, followed by Japan on October 9. Those markets delivered nearly $196 million of the $312.2 million that ‘The Final Chapter’ earned, thanks to about $159.5 million in China and $36.5 million in Japan. That does not guarantee the reboot will repeat those numbers, but it shows how much potential is left.
A sequel has not been officially greenlit yet. If the box office keeps climbing, though, that decision may become the easy part.
How far do you think Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil reboot will go at the box office?
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