Zach Cregger's Resident Evil Is Tracking for the Franchise's Biggest Opening Weekend Ever — And Yes, It's That Bloody

Resident Evil Is Back — and It Might Finally Be the One Fans Have Been Waiting For

Resident Evil has been adapted to the big screen multiple times, but let's be honest — none of the previous live-action films have truly captured the survival horror spirit of Capcom's legendary video game franchise. Enter Zach Cregger, the director behind Barbarian and Weapons, who is about to unleash his take on Raccoon City — and box office tracking suggests it could be the biggest Resident Evil opening ever.

According to Deadline, the new Resident Evil film is projected to earn between $35 million and $50 million during its opening weekend in the United States. That would smash the previous franchise record held by 2016's The Final Chapter, which opened at $26.8 million. If these numbers hold, this will be the first Resident Evil movie to truly break out in a way the series has never seen before.

What Makes This One Different?

The biggest change? No legacy characters. Unlike the Milla Jovovich-era films that followed Alice through increasingly convoluted plots, Cregger's Resident Evil introduces an entirely new protagonist: Bryan, a medical courier played by Austin Abrams (known for Euphoria and Dash & Lily). Bryan unwittingly finds himself trapped in Raccoon City during a catastrophic viral outbreak that turns the population into zombies in a matter of hours.

The film also stars Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Paul Walter Hauser, with Sony Pictures and Constantin Film producing. Set in Raccoon City in 1998, the story doesn't directly adapt any single game but instead weaves together elements from Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 4, and Resident Evil 7. Cregger has said he wanted to capture the scale of RE4 and the character-driven horror of RE7, all within the universe of RE2's iconic Raccoon City setting.

Gore, Practical Effects, and a 95-Minute Runtime

If you've seen the trailers, you already know this movie goes hard. Cregger has called it his "most violent" and "most brutal" film to date — and given that he directed Barbarian, that's saying something. A clip shown at PlayStation's State of Play featured Bryan running through streets while zombies literally rain down from buildings above, a scene so intense that Austin Abrams reportedly almost got crushed by a falling zombie stunt performer during filming.

The movie clocks in at just 95 minutes — and Cregger insists that's by design. He wants the film to follow one character "from Point A to Point B" with relentless momentum, no filler, no fat. Think of it less as an origin story and more as a pure survival horror sprint.

The Resident Evil reboot hits theaters on September 19, 2026. With Cregger's horror pedigree, Abrams' breakout performance potential, and franchise-record box office tracking, this might finally be the Resident Evil adaptation fans have been dreaming about for decades.