The new Resident Evil movie set the record for the best opening weekend in the history of the sagadespite the numerous criticisms it received before its release. The director Zach Cregger he had in fact publicly defended his choices for months, while some fans would have preferred a film closer to Capcom’s video games.
The main point of discussion was the decision to do not directly adapt one of the games and not to continue any of the previous cinematic narrative lines. Cregger instead created one Original story focusing on Bryanplayed by Austin Abramsa medical courier involved in events taking place within the Resident Evil universe. The trailers had received mixed reactions precisely because of this approach.
According to Sony Pictures estimates, Resident Evil grossed over $60 million in 3,684 theaters across the United States and Canada during its opening weekend. To these are added 48.3 million dollars from international marketsfor an estimated worldwide total of 108.3 million. The reported production budget is $75 million, before marketing costs.
A record-breaking debut for this new Resident Evil film
The North American result clearly surpasses the previous record of the saga, held by 2010’s Resident Evil: Afterlife with $26.65 million in its first weekend. The new film therefore grossed more than double compared to the previous record. The comparison is also influenced by 15 years of inflationbut the debut remains particularly significant for a film series with almost 25 years of history.
The figure takes on further importance considering that Resident Evil reached almost the entire North American gross of Afterlife in just a few minutes 72 hours. In fact, the 2026 film stopped at just 129,000 dollars from the 56-day total gross obtained by the 2010 title on the North American market.
The result also represents the best debut of Zach Cregger’s career. Weaponshis previous film released in 2025, opened with $43.5 million in North Americaover 16 million less than the new Resident Evil.
