Resident Evil Reboot Scares Up Franchise-Best $60 Million Debut

Zach Cregger's "Resident Evil" delivered a jolt to the North American box office in its opening weekend, earning an estimated $60 million from 3,684 locations across the United States and Canada.

The Sony Pictures release marks the strongest debut yet for the video-game-inspired franchise, which has produced seven previous films since 2002, and the biggest opening of Cregger's directing career. The figure also surpasses the entire domestic runs of most earlier entries in the series. Only "Resident Evil: Afterlife," released in 2010, came close, finishing its domestic run at $60.1 million in unadjusted terms.

Cregger's take stars Austin Abrams, who also appeared in the director's earlier film "Weapons," as a medical courier whose final assignment of the night pits him against infected creatures in Raccoon City. Critics have responded warmly, with the film currently holding a 95% score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Exit polling by PostTrak found the opening-weekend audience was 66% male and 75% under the age of 35, and the film received a B+ CinemaScore.

The director's recent track record has upended conventional expectations for horror, a genre whose earnings typically taper sharply after a strong first weekend. "Barbarian" grossed more than $46 million on a budget under $5 million, while "Weapons" earned $270 million against a $38 million budget.

"Zach Cregger is a household name in the world of horror," said Paul Dergarabedian, head of marketplace trends at Rentrak. "There are certain directors who become the star of the movie." He added that pairing the filmmaker with a major franchise amounted to "big bucks," and that Cregger had made the property "feel fresh and new."

"Resident Evil" carried a reported production cost of $75 million, excluding marketing and promotion. Overseas, it added $48.3 million, lifting its global launch to $108.3 million.

Horror has been a reliable performer this year, with releases including "Obsession" and "Backrooms" pushing the genre past $1.1 billion in domestic ticket sales, according to Rentrak.

"Practical Magic 2" took second place with $12.2 million from 4,163 North American theaters, a decline of about 59% from its soft opening. A further $7 million from international markets brought its global running total to $76.8 million.

"Spider-Man: Brand New Day" placed third with $6.5 million in its eighth weekend, raising its domestic haul to $944.5 million. "The Odyssey" followed in fourth with $4.9 million in its tenth weekend, and "Coyote vs. Acme" completed the top five with $4.5 million.

Among limited releases, John Wilson's documentary "The History of Concrete" earned $90,000 from a single screen, the IFC Center in New York. Only "Parasite" has taken more in a weekend at that venue, with $119,407.

The weekend's rankings, based on estimated Friday-to-Sunday ticket sales, were rounded out by "Runner" ($3.2 million), "Daniel and the Fiery Furnace" ($3.1 million), a 40th-anniversary re-release of "Transformers: The Movie" ($3.1 million), "The Weight" ($2.3 million) and "Buddy" ($1.9 million). Final domestic figures are due Monday.