Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil collected $8.8 million from Thursday night previews across 3,166 theaters. The R-rated Sony and Constantin Film adaptation of the Capcom video game series posted the strongest preview haul in franchise history. Early ticket sales already dwarf the previous series high set by Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.
Deadline tracked the Thursday preview figure as the largest ever for any Resident Evil movie. The previous preview high belonged to 2016’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter, which managed only about $1 million. Previews began at 2 p.m. stateside for the Sony release.
Cregger previously directed Weapons, which opened to $43.5 million after $5.75 million in previews. Resident Evil already sits well ahead of that preview benchmark and also tops Scream 7 and Mortal Kombat 2 on the same metric. The $75 million production stars Austin Abrams as a medical courier caught in the outbreak.
The outlook going into the weekend was $40 million to $50 million. Industry tracking now sees a chance the film could push past the upper end of that range. A debut in that neighborhood would easily break the franchise’s domestic opening record of $26.6 million set by Resident Evil: Afterlife.
Resident Evil holds a 96% certified fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes. It also carries the best audience score in the series at 91%. The original 2002 Resident Evil previously led audience scores with 67%.
Resident Evil (2026) – 91% audience score
Resident Evil (2002) – 67% audience score
Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021) – 65% audience score
Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004) – 60% audience score
Resident Evil: Extinction (2007) – 58% audience score
Resident Evil: Retribution (2012) – 51% audience score
Resident Evil: Afterlife (2010) – 48% audience score
Resident Evil: The Final Chapter (2016) – 47% audience score
The 24-point jump from the 2002 original is the widest gap on the list and leaves every later entry clustered well below. Welcome to Raccoon City almost matches the first film yet still sits 26 points behind the new release, while the six Milla Jovovich titles form a tight band between 47% and 60% that never approached the current mark. That spread shows how far the 2026 film has pulled away from both the early Paul W.S. Anderson run and the 2021 reboot on the same audience metric.
The movie runs 95 minutes and carries an R rating for strong bloody violence, gore, and language throughout. It is not a continuation of the earlier Jovovich films. Cregger framed the project as a leaner, more authentic take on the games.
Sony is rolling the film out wide on Friday after the Thursday previews. Premium formats including IMAX are part of the mix, though 70mm IMAX screens remain limited due to The Odyssey. International dates began a day or two earlier in several markets.
Constantin Film co-produced the picture with Sony. The story follows Abrams’ character through a single chaotic night in Raccoon City after a delivery goes wrong. Supporting players include Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Paul Walter Hauser.
Constantin Film co-produced the picture with Sony. The story follows Abrams’ character through a single chaotic night in Raccoon City after a delivery goes wrong. Supporting players include Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Paul Walter Hauser.
