Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil Officially Smashes $1.5B Franchise’s Biggest Box Office Record
Brennan Klein (he/him) is a senior news writer at Screen Rant, host of the Attack of the Queerwolf podcast, and contributor at Alternate Ending and Horror Press. He has been writing and podcasting about pop culture (especially horror movies) for over a decade at platforms including Blumhouse, Fangoria, Dread Central, The Backlot, and Arrow in the Head.
Resident Evil has outrun the competition.
The 2026 movie, which was written and directed by Zach Cregger, is the Whitest Kids U' Know comedian's third directorial horror feature after bursting onto the genre scene in 2022 with Barbarian. Taking place in the world of the video game franchise of the same name, it follows medical courier Bryan (Austin Abrams) as he attempts to make an important delivery while stranded in a mutant zombie-infested Raccoon City. The Resident Evil box office has already broken numerous records, earning the biggest debut of the entire franchise and outgrossing all seven previous live-action installments at the domestic box office.
The Ultimate · Horror Quote Challenge Name That Horror Movie “They’re coming to get you, Barbara.”
☠1960s
🔪1970s
👻1980s
💀1990s
🎭2000s
01
Which horror movie features this iconic line?
“I am your number one fan.”
✓ Correct! Annie Wilkes’s obsessive declaration to author Paul Sheldon in Misery — Kathy Bates won the Oscar for this role.
✗ Not quite — it’s Misery (1990). Kathy Bates as Annie Wilkes delivers this line before things get very, very painful for her favorite author.
02
Which horror movie features this iconic line?
“We all go a little mad sometimes.”
✓ Correct! Norman Bates’s unsettling confession in Hitchcock’s Psycho — the film that invented the slasher.
✗ Not quite — it’s Psycho (1960). Norman Bates delivers this chilling line to Marion Crane before the shower scene changes cinema forever.
03
Which horror movie features this iconic line?
“Here’s Johnny!”
✓ Correct! Jack Nicholson’s terrifying ad-lib as he axes through the bathroom door in The Shining.
✗ Not quite — it’s The Shining (1980). Nicholson improvised this line while hacking through the door — Kubrick kept the cameras rolling.
04
Which horror movie features this iconic line?
“They’re all gonna laugh at you!”
✓ Correct! Margaret White’s cruel warning to her daughter before prom night turns deadly in Carrie.
✗ Not quite — it’s Carrie (1976). Piper Laurie as Margaret White torments her telekinetic daughter with this prophetic warning.
05
Which horror movie features this iconic line?
“One, two, Freddy’s coming for you.”
✓ Correct! The eerie children’s jump-rope rhyme that haunts the dreams of Elm Street.
✗ Not quite — it’s A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984). The nursery rhyme warning of Freddy Krueger’s arrival. All five are iconic slashers, but only one invades your dreams.
06
Which horror movie features this iconic line?
“I want to play a game.”
✓ Correct! Jigsaw’s signature greeting, delivered through his puppet Billy in Saw.
✗ Not quite — it’s Saw (2004). The Jigsaw Killer’s chilling invitation before his victims face impossible choices.
07
Which horror movie features this iconic line?
“It was the boogeyman.”
✓ Correct! Laurie Strode’s terrified whisper to Dr. Loomis after surviving Michael Myers in Halloween.
✗ Not quite — it’s Halloween (1978). Laurie Strode whispers this to Dr. Loomis, who replies: “As a matter of fact, it was.”
08
Which horror movie features this iconic line?
“It rubs the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again.”
✓ Correct! Buffalo Bill’s skin-crawling command to his captive in The Silence of the Lambs.
✗ Not quite — it’s The Silence of the Lambs (1991). Buffalo Bill delivers this disturbing line from his basement. All five films feature serial killers, but only one has this scene.
The Body Count Your Survival Score
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Did you survive the horror quiz?
Sony Pictures Entertainment has officially announced that the cumulative global box office total of Resident Evil has hit $320.2 million during the movie's fourth weekend in theaters, comprising $138.5 million in North America and $181.7 million from international markets. This officially sees the movie surpassing the all-time total of Resident Evil: The Final Chapter ($312.2 million) to become the highest-grossing movie in the entire franchise:
Below, see a breakdown of the box office performance of every previous live-action Resident Evil movie (while there are four animated movies in the franchise, two never played in theaters and the other pair grossed less than $200,000 worldwide, having a negligible impact on the $1.5 billion franchise):
|
Title |
Domestic |
Worldwide |
|---|---|---|
|
Resident Evil (2002) |
$40.1 million |
$103 million |
|
Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) |
$51.2 million |
$129.3 million |
|
Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) |
$50.6 million |
$147.7 million |
|
Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) |
$60.1 million |
$300.2 million |
|
Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) |
$42.3 million |
$240.1 million |
|
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016) |
$26.8 million |
$312.2 million |
|
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) |
$17 million |
$41.9 million |
|
Resident Evil (2026) |
$138.5 million (& counting) |
$320.2 million (& counting) |
This total also sees the movie surging past the $270.1 million lifetime total of Weapons to become the highest-grossing Zach Cregger movie of all time (including his 2009 comedy Miss March, which he co-directed with Trevor Moore, which earned $4.6 million worldwide). Weapons had previously broken his record by earning nearly six times the $46.2 million gross of Barbarian.
Under normal circumstances, it would make sense that a director's first franchise movie would outgross all of his previous original films. However, the most recent installment in the Resident Evil franchise, the 2021 reboot Welcome to Raccoon City, came nowhere close to hitting this total, earning just $41.9 million worldwide by the end of its run. Additionally, Weapons was a runaway hit, becoming the 28th highest-grossing horror movie of all time when it premiered (it is currently the 32nd highest grossing, having been surpassed by The Conjuring: Last Rites, Obsession, Backrooms, and now Resident Evil).
While 2026's Resident Evil has so far been outgrossed by the year's runaway horror hits Obsession ($520 million) and Backrooms ($400.6), which are respectively the fifth and 13th highest-grossing horror movies of all time, it has also cemented itself as the highest-grossing franchise horror movie of the year so far.
The most prominent title it has beaten is the slasher sequel Scream 7 ($208 million), which is the highest-grossing movie in the hit franchise, but it has also surpassed movies including Insidious: Out of the Further ($169.5 million), Evil Dead Burn ($72.4 million), 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple ($58.5 million), Ready or Not 2: Here I Come ($43.1 million), and The Strangers: Chapter 3 ($11.1 million). It should be able to maintain this record easily, as there are no other major horror franchise installments set to arrive in theaters before the end of the year.
Resident Evil has also very much become a success on its own terms. The movie reportedly cost $75 million, which is a relatively high price tag for a horror movie that may have placed its estimated break-even point as high as $187.5 million. However, considering the fact that it has already earned nearly $100 million more than that benchmark, it is more than likely that the movie is well into the black after just three full weeks in theaters.
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- Release Date
- September 18, 2026
- Runtime
- 90 Minutes
- Director
- Zach Cregger
- Writers
- Shay Hatten, Zach Cregger
- Producers
- Asad Qizilbash, Carter Swan, Miri Yoon, Robert Kulzer, Roy Lee, Zach Cregger, David Minkowski
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