Moviegoers pushed Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil to the best preview performance in the franchise, with estimates tonight above $8 million and possibly exceeding $9 million, a figure that immediately recalibrates weekend expectations. The film entered the weekend with a $40 million to $50 million projection, and industry trackers say the picture has a shot to surpass $50 million.
Previews began at 2pm stateside and, even at the lower estimate of $8 million, the early take eclipses the franchise’s previous preview high, 2016’s Resident Evil: Final Chapter, which posted $1 million. The opening-night receipts also outpace recent genre peers: Weapons had $5.75 million in previews, Scream 7 recorded $7.8 million, Mortal Kombat 2 posted $5.2 million, and Sonic the Hedgehog 3 drew $6.5 million.
Critical and audience response has been unusually strong for a Resident Evil entry. Rotten Tomatoes shows a 96% certified fresh critic rating for the film and a 91% audience score, the highest audience rating in the series; the prior best audience score was 67% for the 2002 original. That combination of early positive reviews and enthusiastic ticket buyers helps explain the stronger-than-expected preview turnout.
The film, a net $75 million Constantin/Sony production, is playing in premium large formats and IMAX, with the latter’s 70mm exhibition still running with The Odyssey in about 35 auditoriums. The movie’s horror identity and its status as a different iteration from the Milla Jovovich entries have analysts watching how front-loaded the weekend will be, since horror releases can concentrate grosses early.
Historical franchise patterns provide context but not certainty: previous Resident Evil titles showed mixed Friday-to-Saturday holds, Final Chapter rose 1.4% between those days, the 2002 original rose 1%, while Resident Evil: Afterlife fell 9% and retains the series’ prior domestic opening record of $26.6 million. Distributors supplied tonight’s figures, not the studio, a caveat that leaves room for revisions as studios report final numbers.
For now, the combination of franchise-best previews, high Rotten Tomatoes scores, and PLF and IMAX play suggests Resident Evil will be one of the weekend’s principal box office tests, with final grosses and hold patterns determining whether the film sustains momentum beyond an unusually strong start.
