Cregger's Resident Evil set to pass Weapons at box office
Zach Cregger's Resident Evil is about to become the biggest hit of his directing career.
The Sony/Constantin release has grossed US$247.6 million worldwide, and is expected to pass the US$270 million earned by his horror film Weapons by the end of this week or sooner, according to projections reported by Deadline and GameSpot. The film stars Austin Abrams and is a reboot of the long-running series based on Capcom's survival-horror video games.
China is driving the final push. The film debuted in China on 5 October and collected US$20 million through Monday and Tuesday of its opening week. It is expected to earn US$35 million in its first week in the market, which would lift its global total past US$280 million this week. Through its third weekend as of Sunday, it had grossed US$245.4 million worldwide.
That is a steep climb from where Cregger started. His 2022 film Barbarian grossed US$46 million worldwide on a budget under US$5 million, while his earlier comedy Miss March earned US$4.6 million worldwide. Weapons, released by New Line and made for a net production cost of US$38 million, opened to US$43.5 million in the United States and reached US$151.5 million domestically. Resident Evil topped that start with a US$60 million opening, the biggest opening of Cregger's career, and a US$108 million worldwide global opening.
What makes this stand out is how much ground the new film still has to cover inside its own franchise. The highest-grossing Resident Evil film ever is 2016's Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, starring Milla Jovovich, with US$312.2 million worldwide. China accounted for US$159.5 million of that total, or 51%, after a US$94.3 million opening in the market. The second-highest entry is 2010's Resident Evil: Afterlife with US$300.2 million worldwide.
Early signs in China are strong. The film holds a 7.2 score on Douban, the Chinese ratings and reviews site, and has outpaced recent horror openings in the market. Obsession opened to US$4.8 million and Backrooms opened to US$5.2 million, while Alien: Romulus opened to US$26.1 million in China in 2024. For comparison among video-game adaptations, 2018's Tomb Raider grossed US$274.6 million worldwide.
Cregger already has his next projects lined up. His next film is titled The Flood, a deep-space science-fiction film starring Jennifer Lawrence, set up at Skydance-owned Warner Bros. and dated for 11 August 2028 release. The Weapons prequel Gladys is dated for 8 September 2028 release through New Line and is in rewrites before going out to directors.
