Resident Evil Box Office Officially Breaks Franchise Record

Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil just keeps rewriting the franchise’s history books. The survival horror reboot has now crossed the $100 million mark at the domestic box office, making it the first movie in the series ever to do so. That’s a huge milestone for a franchise that has been around since 2002 and has always leaned on overseas audiences to carry it.

This isn’t the first record the movie has smashed, either. Resident Evil, starring Austin Abrams, opened to a massive $108.3 million worldwide, easily beating the franchise’s previous best global debut of $70.6 million set by Resident Evil: Retribution in 2012 (via Deadline).

In fact, that opening weekend alone was bigger than the entire box office runs of both the original 2002 Resident Evil and the 2021 reboot, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. Not bad for a franchise many fans thought was done for just a few years ago.

Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil Tops Franchise’s Domestic Box Office

According to BoxOfficeReport.com, Resident Evil earned $23.3 million at the domestic box office in its second weekend. That pushes its estimated domestic total to $103.4 million, which is already way ahead of every other movie in the series. Here’s how it ranks among the domestic box office numbers of its fellow franchise movies.

So why is everyone showing up? A big part of it is Zach Cregger himself. After Barbarian and the Oscar-winning Weapons, horror fans trust his name, and he has delivered a lean and scary survival horror story that feels much closer to the spirit of the games.

It helps that critics are loving it too. The film currently sits at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the best-reviewed video game movie ever on the site. For comparison, none of the previous live-action Resident Evil movies even reached 40%.

Resident Evil Is On Track to Become the Franchise’s Biggest Hit

Austin Abrams in Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil | Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing

Resident Evil is doing great overseas as well. According to BoxOfficeReport.com, it earned an estimated $27 million internationally this weekend, taking its international total to $93 million.

That brings its estimated worldwide total to $196.5 million after just two weekends. That already makes it the fourth-highest-grossing Resident Evil movie ever. Only three films are still ahead of it.

• Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2017) – $312,242,626
• Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) – $300,228,084
• Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) – $240,159,255

Passing Retribution looks like a matter of time, and Afterlife should be well within reach as the movie keeps rolling out to more markets, including Japan on October 9. The Final Chapter is the real challenge, but there’s a catch.

Around half of its $312.2 million came from China alone, where it earned roughly $159.5 million. Outside of China, it didn’t do nearly as well. That’s where things get exciting for Cregger’s movie.

It still hasn’t been released in China, and Sony is expected to bring it there at a later date. Even if it doesn’t match The Final Chapter‘s China haul, a decent run there could easily push it past $312 million and make it the biggest Resident Evil movie of all time.

Do you think the movie can beat the franchise box office record? Let us know in the comments below!