'Resident Evil' Passes $400 Million Worldwide

Zach Cregger's "Resident Evil" reboot has reached $400 million in global ticket sales, according to Variety. That makes it the highest-grossing film in the 24-year-old Resident Evil horror franchise. The previous record holder, 2016's "Resident Evil: The Final Chapter," took $312 million worldwide.

The film has earned $157.4 million in North America, which means the United States and Canada, and $242.6 million overseas. China is the biggest overseas market so far, with $71.4 million. The United Kingdom has brought in $19.4 million and Mexico $12.7 million.

The film opened in September, and the early numbers were strong from the start. It took $8.8 million in previews, a franchise record, as Deadline reported. Its opening weekend brought in $60 million domestically and $108 million globally. The earlier domestic opening record for the series was $26 million, set by 2010's "Resident Evil: Afterlife." That figure is not adjusted for inflation.

For Cregger, the film is now his biggest so far. His earlier horror hits "Barbarian" and "Weapons" took $46 million and $270 million worldwide, respectively. Cregger is best known for writing and directing those titles, and this is his first film to pass the quarter-billion mark by a wide margin.

Sony produced the reboot for $75 million, according to Variety. That is a useful yardstick for the result. The franchise's previous reboot, 2021's "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City," earned $42 million worldwide against a $25 million budget. The new film has now passed that total many times over.

The story follows Austin Abrams as a medical courier who fights his way through a viral outbreak in Raccoon City. The setting will be familiar to fans of the games that started the series in 1996. Horror films have often done well with audiences willing to go out for a scare, and this run shows the appetite for the franchise is still there.

Sony and Cregger have not yet said what comes next for the series.