Sony's "Resident Evil" reboot collected $26.3 million on its opening Friday across 3,684 domestic screens, positioning the franchise for its biggest debut ever with a projected $55 million weekend. The figure more than doubles the previous franchise high, 2010's "Resident Evil: Afterlife" opened to $26 million over its full three-day frame.
Franchise history rewritten
The Zach Cregger-directed film, starring Austin Abrams as a medical courier navigating a zombie outbreak at Raccoon City General Hospital, dispenses with established game characters in favor of an original story. Early skepticism from die-hard fans appears not to have materialized into box-office drag; Variety's Owen Gleiberman called the prior installments "hyperviolent, hyperkinetic video-game zombie sludge" and described Cregger's version as "a sweetly executed piece of escapist trivia" with "a quirky relatability."
Cregger's track record
Cregger's previous horror outing, 2025's "Weapons," opened to $43 million and finished with $270 million globally. "Barbarian" (2022) established his commercial credibility. The "Resident Evil" Friday result sits between those two launches, suggesting a reliable if not explosive horror brand.
The rest of the chart
Warner Bros.' "Practical Magic 2" added $3.1 million in its second Friday for a $48.2 million cumulative total, with a $10.4 million weekend projected. Sony's "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" took $1.53 million on Friday, pushing its domestic haul to $944.15 million. Universal's "The Odyssey" contributed $1.36 million for a $609.8 million running total. Vertical's "The Weight," Padraic McKinley's debut feature starring Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe, opened to $1.17 million across 1,504 theaters with a $2.3 million weekend estimate. GKids' "Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom" debuted to $540,000 on 2,173 screens, eyeing $1.4 million through Sunday.