Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil Movie On Track to Have Biggest Opening Weekend for Any RE Film

Resident Evil: Apocalypse and Resident Evil: Extinction both earned around $23 million during their opening weekends. The original RE movie, released in 2002, scored $17.7 million for its opening weekend, with the lowest amount going to 2021’s Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City. (That’s not too surprising; the film was widely panned by fans and critics alike, with IGN giving it a 6 out of 10 at the time.)

Enthusiasm for Cregger’s take on the series is at an all-time high, even though the famous filmmaker has publicly eschewed the idea of creating a 1:1 adaptation of the games. Rather than trying to live up to what fans have already played, Cregger follows an average Joe who gets caught up in the Racoon City Incident — and so far, it’s looking pretty solid.

Cregger has included more than a few cheeky references to the games (the main character scrambling for ammo, Heavy Field shotgun shells from Resident Evil 4, first-person action sequences, a typewriter and the mention of Umbrella), and considering his impressive resume of highly-lauded horror films (Barbarian, Weapons), this fresh take on the beloved video game franchise experiencing a good about of hype.

Speaking with IGN at San Diego Comic Con, Cregger explained why he chose to pursue a different approach than most fans likely expected, admitting that he “took liberties” with the source material.

“I am not trying to adapt a video game,” he told us. I’m not using the characters from the games. I’m not telling a story that the games tell because I’m not going to be able to do it better than the games. The games are so well executed, and to me, Leon and Claire and these characters, they exist so perfectly in the games that anyone I cast and any difference that I do with them would be, probably, to the detriment of what I was trying to do.”

Cregger’s Resident Evil has been described as an “all gas, no brakes” thrill ride and the “Fury Road of horror.” At one hour and 35 minutes long, we’d expect nothing less, and we’re keen to see if box office predictions line up when September 18 finally rolls around.

Image credit: CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images

Virginia (she/her) is IGN’s News Editor. With ten years of experience reporting on games and entertainment, she’s got a storied background in the fighting game community, influencer news, and viral online trends. Find her on Twitter at @TheeMissGlaze.