Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Reboot Is Already Shaping up to Become the Franchise’s Biggest Box Office Hit Yet, According to First Projections

Horror has had a strange, thrilling resurgence lately, with directors known for original nightmares increasingly being handed the keys to established franchises. Few filmmakers embody that shift better than Zach Cregger, whose leap from cult favorites to mainstream horror sensation has been one of the genre’s most talked-about trajectories.

His path there wasn’t exactly conventional. Cregger built his reputation on ‘Barbarian’ before turning ‘Weapons’ into a genuine box office phenomenon, pulling in $270 million globally off a $43.5 million domestic opening and earning him serious industry credibility heading into his next project.

That next project just so happens to be his first true franchise outing, and early numbers suggest it’s shaping up to be a massive one. Cregger’s reimagining of ‘Resident Evil‘ is now tracking toward a domestic opening between $40 million and $50 million, which would make it the biggest debut in the franchise’s history.

That’s a notable jump. Just days earlier, Box Office Pro’s long-range forecast had pegged the film’s opening weekend in the $30 million to $40 million range, citing Cregger’s growing fanbase and ‘Resident Evil’s’ built-in brand recognition as key factors pushing it above other recent horror releases from acclaimed genre directors.

For context on just how significant that ceiling would be, no ‘Resident Evil’ film has ever cracked $27 million domestically in its opening frame. 2010’s ‘Resident Evil: Afterlife’ currently holds that record with a $26.6 million debut, while the franchise’s original 2002 installment opened to $17.7 million, meaning even the low end of the new tracking would represent a substantial leap for the seven-film series.

The upward trend lines up with broader data circulating in recent weeks. The Quorum’s eight-week tracking chart reportedly showed ‘Resident Evil’ registering 51 percent awareness and 52 percent interest, the highest scores of any film on the board at that point, roughly six weeks ahead of release.

Those figures reportedly outpaced even Christopher Nolan’s ‘The Odyssey’ at a similar point in its own promotional cycle, a comparison that speaks to how effectively Sony’s marketing push, including a Comic-Con panel and trailer drop, appears to be resonating with audiences.

Much of that enthusiasm seems tied directly to Cregger himself. His ability to draw general audiences beyond hardcore horror fans, something the ‘Resident Evil’ franchise has historically struggled to do despite its massive gaming pedigree, is being framed as the key differentiator this time around.

The film follows Bryan, a medical courier played by ‘Weapons’ alum Austin Abrams, whose delivery goes catastrophically wrong. It also stars Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Paul Walter Hauser, and arrives in theaters on September 18.

Whether the finished film can actually deliver on this pre-release buzz remains to be seen, but the numbers alone have already made ‘Resident Evil’ one of the most closely watched horror releases of the year. With tickets recently going on sale and word of mouth still building, Cregger’s gamble on franchise filmmaking looks like it could pay off in a big way.

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