'Resident Evil' reboot smashes franchise box-office record with $26.3m opening day
Zach Cregger's 'Resident Evil' reboot earned $26.3 million on its opening day — a franchise record — with Sony projecting a $53–55 million domestic opening weekend that would more than double the series' previous best.
Zach Cregger’s reboot of Resident Evil has set a new franchise box-office record, earning $26.3 million on its opening day from 3,684 locations, according to TheWrap.
The Friday total includes $8.8 million from Thursday night previews — itself a series record, and the third-biggest Thursday preview ever for a video game film, Bloody Disgusting reports. Sony Pictures is projecting a $53–55 million domestic opening weekend, while some industry estimates put it as high as $60 million. Either figure would more than double the franchise’s previous opening-weekend record of $26.6 million, set by Resident Evil: Afterlife in 2010.
The eighth live-action instalment in the 24-year-old series is also the best-reviewed: it holds 96% with critics and 91% with audiences on Rotten Tomatoes, alongside a B+ CinemaScore, TheWrap reports. The film, which stars Austin Abrams as a medical courier fighting through a monster outbreak in Raccoon City, carries a $75 million budget.
It is the second breakout hit in a row for Cregger, whose low-budget horror Weapons became a major success last year.
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