Resident Evil is tracking for 150 million dollars worldwide, above Alien: Romulus
Resident Evil looks set for a huge global debut that could shove aside the genre’s recent box office heavyweights.
If you thought the box office was already crawling with enough zombies and facehuggers, think again. Zach Cregger's Resident Evil is about to lurch onto the scene, and early numbers suggest it's set to absolutely trounce some of horror's recent heavyweights when it lands in cinemas next week.
Box office analysts at GlobalBoxOffice are projecting a $120M-$150M global opening for Zach Cregger's Resident Evil next week.
Eyeing Up the Competition
Let’s put those numbers into context: Alien: Romulus, for all its hype, managed a perfectly respectable $108.2 million start worldwide in 2024. Scream VI went even quieter by comparison, kicking off with roughly $67 million globally in 2023. If the projections for Resident Evil hold steady, that's Cregger’s brand new take on the Capcom staple leapfrogging both – and by a fair stretch.
The anticipation isn’t just stateside; presales are underway in multiple territories, IMAX and other top-format tickets are shifting well, particularly outside the US. There’s proper international appetite for this one, which is not always a given for horror reboots.
What’s Different This Time?
This isn’t the Paul W.S. Anderson version or that rote 2021 reboot. Instead, Resident Evil 2026 – helmed and co-written by Zach Cregger, with Shay Hatten sharing the script credits – is getting touted by Sony Pictures as a full-on reinvention. It bursts into cinemas on 18 September 2026 with a story that runs alongside the timeline of Resident Evil 2 in the doomed Raccoon City, circa 1998.
The big switch-up? The protagonist, Bryan (played by Austin Abrams), is an original character dropped into the outbreak as a humble medical courier. It’s less heroics with rocket launchers, more scrambling for survival with precious little to hand. Cregger’s cherry-picking bits from Resident Evil 2, but he’s also pulled ideas from RE4 and RE7 – so there’s a blend of fan service and new spins. The film apparently leans heavily into the classic video game anxiety of not having enough ammo or herbs, which should please anyone who still has nightmares about that first licker hallway.
- Austin Abrams stars as Bryan, the unlucky courier.
- Supporting cast: Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, Paul Walter Hauser.
- Cregger wants ‘gameplay-style’ tension: limited ammo, constant danger.
This isn’t just another video game adaptation; it’s Cregger getting to stitch his own mark on what is arguably gaming’s most famous horror series. Whether cinema audiences agree is about to become extremely clear – and, judging by those ticket numbers, plenty are willing to give it a go right out of the gate.
Alien: Romulus managed a $108.2 million worldwide debut in 2024, short of what Resident Evil is projected to hit in its opening week.