Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Reboot Refuses to Slow Down at the Box Office

Horror has quietly become one of Hollywood’s most reliable box office genres this year, and few filmmakers have benefited from that shift more than Zach Cregger. After turning heads with ‘Barbarian’ and then scoring a genuine cultural phenomenon with the Oscar-winning ‘Weapons,’ Cregger has spent the past several years proving he can consistently draw audiences into theaters for original, unsettling stories. His latest project, however, marks a very different kind of challenge: reviving a long-running video game franchise that had struggled to find its footing on the big screen.

That project is ‘Resident Evil,’ Cregger’s reimagining of Capcom’s beloved survival horror series, and its box office trajectory has been nothing short of remarkable. The film opened to an estimated $60 million domestically over its first three-day weekend, easily surpassing Sony’s original $40 million projection and even beating the more optimistic $53 million estimate analysts had floated as the weekend progressed.

That number alone made ‘Resident Evil’ the biggest opening in the franchise’s 24-year history, coming remarkably close to matching the entire domestic lifetime total of the previous record-holder, 2010’s ‘Resident Evil: Afterlife.’ Now, according to industry tracker @GlobalBoxOffice, the film’s momentum is proving even more unusual: after dropping only 62% on Monday, well below the typical decline for a horror opener, ‘Resident Evil’ is now tracking toward a second weekend in the $30 million to $35 million range, which would mark the best non-holiday Monday hold for an opening film so far this century.

Zach Cregger’s RESIDENT EVIL goes INSANE on Monday and scores September’s best non-holiday Monday hold for an opener this century.

After dropping only -62% yesterday, it is now on track for $30M–$35M this weekend, again the #1 film in America. pic.twitter.com/Qpwoh2jH0z

— Global Box Office (@GlobalBoxOffice) September 22, 2026

Much of that staying power appears tied to the film’s reception, which has been strikingly positive compared to earlier entries in the series. ‘Resident Evil’ currently holds a Certified Fresh 96% score on Rotten Tomatoes, by far the highest rating any live-action film in the franchise has ever received, with the previous high sitting at just 37% for 2017’s ‘Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.’ Audiences have responded just as enthusiastically, awarding the film a B+ CinemaScore and skewing notably young and male, with 74% of ticket buyers under the age of 35.

The film reunites Cregger with ‘Weapons’ actor Austin Abrams, who leads the cast as a medical courier caught in a viral outbreak while attempting to deliver an urgent package to a hospital in the fictional Raccoon City. Rather than leaning on established characters from Capcom’s games, Cregger and co-writer Shay Hatten opted to build an entirely original story around the outbreak, a decision that initially left some longtime fans of the franchise uncertain but ultimately did little to slow the film’s momentum at the box office.

This marks the biggest opening weekend of Cregger’s career by a wide margin, topping the $43.5 million debut of ‘Weapons’ in 2025, which went on to gross $270 million globally against a modest $38 million budget. With a $75 million production budget behind ‘Resident Evil,’ the film has already crossed $108.3 million globally within its opening days, putting it on a clear path toward strong profitability even before factoring in its unusually resilient second-weekend hold.

The first trailer for Zach Cregger's ‘RESIDENT EVIL’ has been released.

In theaters on September 18. pic.twitter.com/eeVCAGzy6M

— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) April 30, 2026

That kind of sustained performance matters a great deal in a fall box office landscape that has otherwise leaned on a single dominant release each week, with little counterprogramming from other major studios. Coming off a soft second weekend for Warner Bros.’ ‘Practical Magic 2,’ which fell nearly 60% in its own sophomore frame, ‘Resident Evil’ has effectively become the fall season’s first genuine word-of-mouth success story, the kind of film that keeps pulling in audiences well after opening weekend buzz would typically start to fade.

With horror continuing to outperform expectations throughout the year and ‘Resident Evil’ now positioned to hold the number-one spot at the box office for a second consecutive weekend, Cregger’s transition from acclaimed original horror filmmaker to franchise revivalist looks like it’s paying off in a major way.

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