Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Becomes the Highest-Grossing Film in the Franchise: Can It Keep Climbing?

Video game adaptations have a long, rocky history at the box office, and few franchises have lived that curse as visibly as ‘Resident Evil.’ The series spent years limping between modest hits and outright stumbles, which made a full-scale comeback feel unlikely. This fall, Zach Cregger’s reboot has rewritten the story in a way few people predicted.

The original film series launched in 2002 and followed Milla Jovovich’s Alice through six films. Sony’s last attempt to revive the brand, 2021’s ‘Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City,’ opened to just $5.3 million and finished with $41.9 million worldwide. Cregger arrived after ‘Barbarian’ and ‘Weapons,’ and he brought a new standalone story with Austin Abrams as a medical courier caught in an outbreak.

Now the milestone has been made official. Sony has announced that the film hit $320.2 million worldwide during its fourth weekend in theaters, split between $138.5 million in North America and $181.7 million internationally. That total officially passes the $312.2 million earned by ‘Resident Evil: The Final Chapter,’ making Cregger’s film the highest-grossing movie in the franchise.

The run started with a bang. The film opened to $60 million domestically, the biggest debut in the series, with an additional $48.3 million overseas for a $108.3 million global start. That opening alone beat the original 2002 film’s entire worldwide run.

Critics were just as enthusiastic. The film holds a 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes and a B+ CinemaScore, making it the best-reviewed video game movie on the site. It also became the first film in the franchise to pass $100 million at the domestic box office, and it crossed the $150 million mark, widely seen as its break-even point, after just nine days.

China delivered the final push. The film opened there on October 5 with a $35 million debut, pushing it past $280 million worldwide and making it Cregger’s highest-grossing film ever, ahead of ‘Weapons’ at $270 million. Japan followed on October 9.

Cregger didn’t try to retell a single game. He built a stand-alone reboot with no connection to the Jovovich films or the 2021 reboot, focused on capturing the feeling of playing the games. Analyst Paul Dergarabedian told Variety that putting Cregger in charge helped make “something familiar feel fresh and original again.”

The audience mix helps explain the reach. Reports from the opening weekend found that 37% of the crowd were Cregger fans, alongside 46% who came as franchise fans. That crossover appeal gave the film a wider base than a typical genre reboot.

There are caveats worth noting. The Final Chapter leaned heavily on international markets, earning about $159.5 million in China and $36.5 million in Japan, which together made up nearly $196 million of its total. Ticket prices have also risen since then, and inflation-adjusted numbers place that film around $435 million.

Even so, the new film’s domestic strength is the real story. The Final Chapter earned just $26.8 million in the US, while Cregger’s film has already passed $138 million there. On a reported $75 million budget, the profit picture looks strong.

The first trailer for Zach Cregger’s ‘RESIDENT EVIL’ has been released. In theaters on September 18. https://t.co/eeVCAGzy6M

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) April 30, 2026

A sequel hadn’t been officially greenlit as of recent reports, though the numbers make that decision look easy. Cregger has also expressed interest in adapting games like ‘Resident Evil 7: Biohazard’ and ‘Resident Evil Village.’ For Sony, a franchise that once looked exhausted now looks like a franchise worth building on.

With the film still playing worldwide and more markets contributing, the final total is likely to climb well past this milestone.

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