Why Resident Evil (2026) Blew Everyone Away At The Box Office
Zach Cregger's "Resident Evil" is here, and fans of both the director and the horror franchise can finally breathe freely: The movie is tearing through theaters everywhere like they're all located in Raccoon City. Watch Looper's video above to find out precisely why and how "Resident Evil" blew everyone away at the box office.
The "Resident Evil" movie series has consisted mostly of Milla Jovovich-starring films that use some of the same locations and characters as the video games, but skew heavily toward action-adventure material. The 2026 movie ignores all that. Instead, it embraces the video game franchise's frantic survival atmosphere by focusing on poor medical courier Bryan (Austin Abrams) and a relentless horde of mutated horrors that he keeps bumping into.
Written by Cregger and Shay Hatten, the first reactions to "Resident Evil" suggested a gruesome, surprising, yet extremely fun ride. Judging by the movie's box office success, the viewers are very much in agreement with the early birds.
Zach Cregger continues his winning horror form
Of course, the fact that the rising horror luminary Zach Cregger is helming "Resident Evil" must be taken into account. Cregger's surprising and delightful "Barbarian" gave the genre a breath of fresh air when it arrived in 2022. However, even that film couldn't prepare audiences for the unsettling and gruesome 2025 crowdpleaser that was "Weapons."
Great reviews and audience reactions propelled "Weapons" to terrific financial success. The movie made an impressive $270 million at the worldwide box office against a $38 million budget. It also won awards left and right, up to and including a highly deserved supporting actress Academy Award win for Amy Madigan. This is the kind of thing that people notice, especially in the horror genre where such mainstream plaudits can be difficult to attain.
Because of all this, Cregger's name alone likely drew a whole bunch of attention to "Resident Evil." But there's always more to the recipe for success than an individual name, and watching Looper's video above is a good way to find out the whole truth about the box office success of "Resident Evil."