{"id":776078,"date":"2026-09-19T19:28:09","date_gmt":"2026-09-19T19:28:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/776078\/"},"modified":"2026-09-19T19:28:09","modified_gmt":"2026-09-19T19:28:09","slug":"box-office-zach-creggers-resident-evil-scares-up-26-million-on-opening-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/776078\/","title":{"rendered":"Box Office: Zach Cregger’s ‘Resident Evil’ Scares Up $26 Million on Opening Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tWith fall right around the corner, movie theater-goers are ready to be spooked \u2014 and Sony\u2019s zombie horror \u201cResident Evil<\/a>\u201d has arrived at the perfect time.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cResident Evil\u201d earned $26.3 million domestically across 3,684 screens on opening day, making it far and away the No. 1 new release on Friday. By Sunday, Sony\u2019s new take on the horror franchise is expected to make around $55 million, making it the largest debut in \u201cResident Evil\u201d franchise history. (2010\u2019s \u201cResident Evil: Afterlife,\u201d previously the highest-grossing installment, made $26 million at the box office over its opening weekend.)<\/p>\n

\n\tBased on Capcom\u2019s popular horror video games, the film was directed by Zach Cregger \u2014 who last frightened audiences with 2025\u2019s \u201cWeapons\u201d and 2022\u2019s \u201cBarbarian.\u201d (\u201cWeapons\u201d opened to $43 million and ended its box office run with $270 million globally.) Austin Abrams takes the lead in the gory reboot co-written by Cregger and Shay Hatten as a medical courier who must contend with a zombie outbreak while making a delivery to Raccoon City General Hospital.<\/p>\n

\n\tSome die-hard fans were unsure about Cregger\u2019s mission to create a new, original story for the reboot (and thus omit established characters from the \u201cResident Evil\u201d video game universe), though it seems such concerns were for naught as early reviews and word-of-mouth for the film have been strong. While Variety\u2019s Owen Gleiberman referred to the prior \u201cResident Evil\u201d films as \u201chyperviolent, hyperkinetic video-game zombie sludge,\u201d he called Cregger\u2019s take on the IP a \u201csweetly executed piece of escapist trivia\u201d that has \u201ca quirky relatability.\u201d <\/p>\n

\n\tThe Nicole Kidman and Sandra Bullock-led \u201cPractical Magic 2<\/a>\u201d took second place on Friday, bringing in an additional $3.1 million in its second week. Over the weekend, the witchy sequel is expected to earn another $10.4 million, bringing the film\u2019s cumulative total to $48.2 million.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cSpider-Man: Brand New Day<\/a>\u201d and \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d both remained in the Friday top 5. Sony\u2019s comic book sequel landed at No. 2, bringing in another $1.53 million, while Universal\u2019s \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d took in an additional $ 1.36 million for a fourth-place finish. Those additions bring \u201cSpider-Man: Brand New Day\u201d to a staggering $944.15 million domestic gross, and \u201cThe Odyssey\u201d to $609.8 million.<\/p>\n

\n\tVertical\u2019s \u201cThe Weight<\/a>,\u201d another newcomer, pulled in around $1.17 million across 1,504 theaters on Friday, placing it fifth. Per rival estimates, the historical thriller is expected to make $2.3 million through its opening weekend. Director Padraic McKinley\u2019s debut feature stars Ethan Hawke as a battle-scarred veteran hired to smuggle a fortune in gold across 100 miles of impenetrable wilderness. Russell Crowe also stars.<\/p>\n

\n\tFrom GKids, \u201cShaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom\u201d opened to $540,000 across 2,173 theaters on Friday, per competitor numbers. The Steve Cox and Matthew Walker-directed animated flick is expected to bring in roughly $1.4 million through the weekend. Per the logline, the film follows Shaun the Sheep (voiced by Justin Fletcher) on Halloween Eve as \u201cexcitement turns to dismay when the clumsy Farmer ruins the pumpkin patch. Shaun tries fixing it with science experiments, but things go wrong when a wild beast appears in the woods.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"With fall right around the corner, movie theater-goers are ready to be spooked \u2014 and Sony\u2019s zombie horror…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":776079,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[96,59,63849,40898,19799,157846,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-776078","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment","tag-gb","tag-practical-magic-2","tag-resident-evil","tag-spider-man-brand-new-day","tag-the-weight","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776078","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776078"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776078\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776079"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776078"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776078"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776078"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}