Resident Evil Is Set to Become Zach Cregger's Biggest Hit, Passing Weapons

Zach Cregger's run of box office success is about to get a new top entry. According to Deadline, Resident Evil is expected to overtake Weapons, his previous biggest release at $270 million worldwide, by the end of this week or possibly sooner. As of the latest reports, the film had reached $247.6 million globally.

The push is coming largely from China, where the movie opened on October 5. Projections put its first-week haul there at around $35 million. If that holds, the global total should clear $280 million this week, which would also put it ahead of Tomb Raider's $274.6 million. Even with that jump, Resident Evil would still rank only 17th among all video game movies.

China has long been a strong market for this franchise. Paul W.S. Anderson's 2016 entry, The Final Chapter, took in $159.5 million there, more than half of its $312.2 million worldwide gross, and it remains the highest-grossing Resident Evil film. Cregger's version has a lot of ground left to cover before it matches that number.

His earlier work provides some context for the jump. Barbarian made $46 million worldwide in 2022, and Miss March earned $4.6 million. Resident Evil is a much bigger commercial result than either, and it has also earned solid reviews from critics.

That success naturally raises the question of a sequel. Cregger has said he is finished with franchise filmmaking, though he still has story ideas he would like to explore. His next film is The Flood, a deep-space science fiction movie starring Jennifer Lawrence. Despite the name, it has no connection to Halo.