Zach Cregger's Resident Evil opens in roughly 3,500 theaters on September 18, tracking for a $40–50 million domestic debut and a global start near $80 million, according to industry forecasts. Both figures would represent the largest opening weekend in the franchise's 24-year theatrical history.
The record to beat belongs to Resident Evil: Afterlife, which opened to $26.6 million domestically in 2010. Even the most conservative projections clear it by a significant margin.
The film is produced by Columbia Pictures and Constantin Film, distributed by Sony Pictures. Austin Abrams leads as Bryan, a medical courier who arrives at Raccoon City General Hospital and finds himself inside a T-virus outbreak. Paul Walter Hauser, Kali Reis, and Zach Cherry also star. The screenplay is by Cregger and Shay Hatten.
The film arrives certified fresh at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, the only entry in the franchise to crack 40%. Critics have called it "a tense, 90-minute survival-horror thrill ride that effectively captures the authentic feeling of playing the video games." The production budget was $75 million.
Cregger's track record lends weight to the numbers. Weapons, his previous horror film, opened to $43.5 million domestically and earned $270 million globally on a $38 million budget. Sony and Constantin are betting the same instincts scale to a franchise with far broader international reach. Independent tracking services have placed the domestic figure as high as $50–60 million. The final count arrives Sunday.