Sony Pictures’ strong third quarter at the box office will continue with the release of “Resident Evil,” which is set to earn a strong $60 million opening from 3,684 locations to set new records for the horror video game franchise and the film’s director, Zach Cregger.
For Cregger, this tops the $43.5 million opening of his 2025 hit “Weapons,” while “Resident Evil” stands with the highest opening for a film to bear the name of Capcom’s survival horror game series even after inflation adjustment. The record previously belonged to Paul W.S. Anderson’s “Resident Evil: Afterlife” with $26.6 million or $40.9 million after adjustment.
Whether among gamers or general horror fans, “Resident Evil” should leg out well into October even with competition from Blumhouse’s “Other Mommy” and DC’s “Clayface” coming out closer to Halloween. Reception for Cregger’s gory and darkly humorous take on Raccoon City’s zombie outbreak has been very positive with a B+ on CinemaScore to go with a 95% critics and 91% audience Rotten Tomatoes score.
Prior to the publication of reviews on Wednesday, “Resident Evil” had been tracking for a $40-45 million opening similar to “Weapons.” But exhibitor sources tell TheWrap that the majority of ticket sales for the film at their locations have come from walk-ups, signaling that word-of-mouth is spreading fast on this title, giving it a strong chance to pass the $300 million global total of “Resident Evil: Afterlife” and become a solidly profitable film for Sony against a $75 million budget shared by TriStar Pictures, Constantin Films and Davis Films.
In second place on the charts is Warner Bros./Alcon’s “Practical Magic 2,” which has fallen 59% from its opening weekend to $12.2 million for a total of $50 million domestic and $76.8 million worldwide. While winning over fans of the original “Practical Magic” from 1998, word-of-mouth is not spreading significantly to a wider audience and the movie is looking like it will not turn a theatrical profit against its $75 million budget.
Sony/Marvel’s “Spider-Man: Brand New Day,” which is now the unadjusted all-time domestic record holder, is in third with $6.5 million, bringing its domestic total to $944 million after eight weekends in theaters. Universal’s “The Odyssey” is in fourth with $4.9 million as its total has now reached $609 million domestic and $1.72 billion worldwide, now standing as the third highest grossing Hollywood film in Korea behind the first two “Avatar” films with $91.5 million in that country.
More to come…