'Resident Evil' Feasting at Box Office as Zach Cregger's Reboot Races Toward $55M Opening

Sony's Resident Evil reboot is on a rampage at the box office.

Director and co-writer Zach Cregger's survival horror film grossed $26.3 million** on Friday in North America, including **$8.8 million in Thursday previews. Sony currently projects a three-day opening between $53 million and $55 million, though strong momentum could push it closer to $60 million**. The film is playing in **3,684** domestic theaters and carries a production budget of approximately **$75 million.

That's well above Sony's initial conservative projection of $40 million, and it will easily set a new franchise record. The previous best opening in the *Resident Evil* series was *Afterlife* in 2010, which debuted to roughly **$26 million**.

Best Reviews in Franchise History

The box office surge is backed by reviews unlike anything the franchise has seen before. The film currently holds a 96% critics score on Rotten Tomatoes across 144 reviews, making it the highest-rated live-action entry in the series by a wide margin. The previous high was The Final Chapter at 39%.

Audiences are equally enthusiastic. The film's Rotten Tomatoes audience score sits at 91%, also a franchise best. Its CinemaScore grade is a solid B+, strong for an R-rated horror film.

Critics have largely praised Cregger for capturing the spirit of the games rather than adapting any specific plot. The film follows Austin Abrams as Bryan, a medical courier dispatched to Raccoon City on a snowy night who finds himself caught in a viral outbreak. IGN called it "a jet-fueled horror experience that captures the spirit—if not the specific plot—of the Resident Evil games, with tension, laughs, and a fantastic Austin Abrams performance."

Cregger and Abrams on a Roll

This marks Cregger's second consecutive box office hit. His previous film, Weapons (2025), opened to $43.5 million** and went on to gross **$270 million worldwide. Resident Evil is on track to surpass that opening.

For star Austin Abrams, who had a supporting role in Weapons, this is his first solo leading turn in a major studio film. The roughly 95-minute runtime is essentially a one-man show, and critics say his performance "strikes a pitch-perfect balance between enraging and endearing."

Resident Evil opened in theaters across North America and internationally on September 18.