Horror movie ‘Resident Evil’ tops N. American box office

“Resident Evil”, a horror movie based on a video game franchise, swept the North American box office with a US$60 million opening weekend, industry estimates showed Sunday.

The Sony-distributed movie is directed by Zach Cregger and stars Austin Abrams, who plays a medical courier battling mutant creatures to deliver a package to a remote hospital.

“Resident Evil” displaced last week’s top performer, Warner Bros’ “Practical Magic 2”, a long-awaited sequel starring Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman, into a distant second place.

The story of the modern-day witches, who face a curse that sees any man they fall in love with doomed to an early death, took US$12.2 million after last weekend knocking Sony’s “Spider-Man” from its weeks-long perch at the top.

Spidey took another US$6.5 million this weekend, bringing its total take in the United States and Canada to US$944.5 million. It was followed by another of 2026’s strongest performers, “The Odyssey”, which took US$4.9 million.

For the second consecutive weekend, “Coyote vs Acme” took fifth place, with Will Forte and an animated Wile E. Coyote snaring another US$4.5 million for Falling Forward Films.