After three weeks in theaters, Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil has become the highest-grossing film in the franchise, topping 2016’s Final Chapter. It does things differently to its predecessors in every conceivable way, and while it doesn’t stick to the nitty-gritty details of Resident Evil as a setting and story, it certainly delivers an unrelenting and fun experience.
This was confirmed by Global Box Office via X. Resident Evil (2026) has grossed over $320 million. Final Chapter grossed $312 million during its entire run and was the final movie starring Mila Jovovich, ending more than a decade of wildly inconsistent and less-than-stellar film adaptations that took the Resident Evil formula to places that I would’ve never thought possible.
We do have to take into account that the US dollar has… devalued significantly over the last 10 years, thanks mostly to the COVID-19 pandemic and the Fed’s money-printing machine going brrr 24/7. Theater ticket prices in particular have gone through the roof over this period, but raw inflation-adjusted numbers put Final Chapter at $435,461,000 gross, meaning Cregger’s take has a long way to go to actually be the number one.
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But all things considered, I think this is a fantastic start for this new Resident Evil film journey. Final Chapter had a lot of weight behind it, including A-list actors and Mila Jovovich at the peak of her career, and existed in a time when these sort of popcorn horror-action flicks were super popular and released against relatively cheap ticket prices that inspired mass attendance. These days are probably the worst for cinema in a very long time, so the fact that Cregger’s flick generated so much cash remains quite an achievement.
It definitely helps his case as an up-and-coming director to have such a hit under his belt, especially since his other movies, Weapons and Barbarian, were both commercial successes. And what’s more, it proves directors can still get weird and do things artistically and in their own style without compromising vision for commercialization. If a movie is good, people will still show up, and I think Cregger now has a great standing as a theatrical magnet.
Where Resident Evil will go next remains to be seen. It’s absolutely going to get more movies after this, though whether or not Cregger will be the one behind them is unknown, nor are we sure if this “common man” take will stick when Capcom executives realize how many people would come to theaters to watch Leon and Ada.
