Resident Evil Just Beat All 6 Milla Jovovich Movies At The US Box Office

Resident Evil Just Broke A 16-Year-Old Franchise Record, And It Proves The Reboot Made The Right Choice

Published Oct 7, 2026, 8:05 AM EDT

Padraig is a Senior Features Writer and has been part of Screen Rant since 2017. Padraig is a writer, editor and retired Game of Thrones extra who has been writing about movies and TV online for over a decade. He has also written for The Irish Times, Den Of Geek, Little White Lies and many more. It's pronounced Paw-rick, BTW.

Zach Cregger's Resident Evil has smashed a franchise record, proving that no, the director did NOT have to faithfully adapt any of the games. The Resident Evil movie franchise and the game series have always been weirdly at odds with each other. The Milla Jovovich/Alice films are over-the-top sci-fi actioners that borrowed characters and monsters from Capcom's games - and little else.

Where the best Resident Evil games are intense and filled with suspense, the previous movies were rarely scary at all. This infuriated loyal fans who wanted the movies to recapture the feeling of playing the games, but moviegoers didn't care. In fact, Jovovich's six-film run collectively hoovered up over $1.2 billion worldwide.

Naturally, the new Resident Evil being a Zach Cregger movie got devotees excited - until they learned his plan. Instead of adapting a classic game, Cregger sought to emulate the sensation of playing a survival horror game, with all the sweaty anxiety and resource management that entails. The result is one of the best video game movies yet, with Cregger's film netting nearly $250 million at the box office thus far.

Resident Evil 2026 Now Holds US Box Office Record

Image courtesy of Everett Collection

Cregger's Resident Evil also holds the record for the most successful entry at the U.S. box office, with the film currently sitting at $126 million domestically. Cracking up the ledger on the whole saga reveals a surprise fact: none of the previous movies have been particularly overwhelmingly profitable in America.

For contrast, the previous highest-grosser was 2010's Resident Evil: Afterlife, which earned $60 million domestically. That's less than half of what Cregger's film has made, which hasn't even finished its theatrical run. The Milla Jovovich installments did modest business in America, but were always huge overseas. Afterlife, for instance, made almost $300 million, with the films being (unsurprisingly) very popular in Japan.

In addition to the movie franchise, a one-season Resident Evil TV show landed on Netflix in 2022.

The last entry prior to Zach Cregger's reboot was 2021's Welcome to Raccoon City, which only made a paltry $17 million in the U.S. Of course, the new film was helped enormously by its director's growing reputation and its glowing reviews, with Resident Evil 2026 currently sitting at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. The movie was also smart to act as both an introduction to that world for newcomers, whilst also being very faithful to the game experience.

Why Zach Cregger Made The Right Choice

Image credit: Sony Pictures Releasing / Courtesy Everett Collection

In short, Cregger was wise to craft an original Resident Evil story. He captured the dread-inducing atmosphere of the classic titles, and the spikes of panicked adrenaline during a monster attack. He also proved that, no, he didn't need to be word-perfect and do a live-action take on fan favorites like Resident Evil 2 or 2017's Biohazard.

Not only would he never have topped those outings in terms of scares, but he would have followed a blueprint that removed any genuine surprises. Fans would know going in that characters like Leon or Jill would survive to the end, and which creatures would show up and when. Cregger wanted to take viewers on a wild ride where they wouldn't know what's around the next corner, which is how any Resident Evil game experience should be.

Resident Evil is all but certain to receive a sequel, though Cregger's involvement is uncertain. He is set to move on to his sci-fi epic The Flood next, and a direct sequel will likely start introducing video game characters and plotlines. If he was left cold by the notion of working with established characters before crafting his adaptation, it's unlikely Cregger would change his mind for a sequel.

Maybe it's best for Zach Cregger to walk away from Resident Evil as the reigning champion, having nailed his goal of making a splattery, audience-pleasing horror romp. The box office numbers certainly bear that out and suggest the franchise itself has finally crossed over with audiences in the U.S.

Source: The Numbers, Rotten Tomatoes