In the months leading up to the release of Zach Cregger’s new Resident Evil film, there was a lot of discussion and discourse surrounding it, most of which was tainted by this obnoxiously loud segment of the franchise’s fan base who were insistent on decrying the film as a fraud. This was always a bit funny, given that it had been well-documented that the only reason this new take on Resident Evil even existed was because Cregger was so passionate about the project that he pitched it in the immediate aftermath of two failed reboot attempts (Welcome to Raccoon City and the cancelled live-action Netflix series).
Nonsensical fanatics are going to be complaining about nonsensical things, but what was shocking was the sheer extent to which this conversation seemed to permeate all of the press and marketing materials. Poor Cregger was out there making the rounds for months essentially having to fend off accusations about the film, something he would later admit was like being on an “apology tour.” As it turns out, though, Cregger had nothing to apologize for, because general audiences clearly couldn’t have cared less about the discourse. Cregger’s Resident Evil made over $60 million in its opening domestic weekend alone, breaking records for all parties involved in exceedingly positive ways.
Last year, Cregger set high expectations for his career moving forward, both artistically and commercially, when Weapons debuted to $42 million in its opening domestic box office. So not only does this make Resident Evil Cregger’s biggest debut to-date (Barabarian made $10 million opening weekend in 2022, the much maligned Miss March made $2 million opening weekend in 2009), but it also makes it the highest debut of the Resident Evil franchise.
And I don’t mean just by a few million; I mean that Cregger’s film practically grossed more in its opening weekend at the domestic box office than any prior Resident Evil film has ever grossed domestically for the sum total of their whole run. There are a few ones to carry and decimals to pinpoint in the coming hours before officially making that call, but that’s what the current figures indicate, which is insane.
The prior Resident Evil films often did well enough at the box office to warrant further installments (there were six of them, for Christ sake), but a huge contributor to all of that was often their international totals. The sixth installment, Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, for instance, grossed only $26.8 million in total domestically but made $285.4 million in total internationally. To put that a different way, Cregger’s new Resident Evil doubled the entire domestic gross of that Paul W.S. Anderson-directed installment in its opening weekend alone.
Clearly, audiences were drawn to this new Resident Evil for the spectacle of seeing a filmmaker they like (i.e., Cregger) get to play in a sandbox they’re somewhat familiar with (i.e., Resident Evil). The discourse about this film not being faithful to the games not only didn’t actually effect the box office viability of the film at all but was also proven to be flat-out wrong. It’s a really faithful cinematic interpretation of the experience of playing these games, and it’s a blast. This infectiously joyful word of mouth, strong marketing, and glowing reviews clearly brought people out to check this new Resident Evil out, and it would seem the overwhelming majority of people love what they saw, so expect this film to continue to overperform commercially in the weeks to come.
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