Resident Evil Crosses $200M Worldwide, Becomes First Franchise Film to Hit $100M Domestic

The outbreak keeps spreading — at the box office, anyway. DiscussingFilm reported on September 29 that Zach Cregger's Resident Evil has passed $200 million worldwide, cementing one of the most remarkable horror success stories of the year.

Before crossing the milestone, the film had earned $103.4 million domestically and $93 million internationally for a $196.4 million total, per box office reporting. That domestic figure carries its own historic weight: Resident Evil is the first film in the franchise to hit $100 million in the United States.

A Record-Shattering Opening

The foundation for this run was laid on opening weekend. The film opened September 18 to $60 million domestic — a franchise record that more than doubled the previous record of $26.6 million held by Resident Evil: Afterlife.

To put that in perspective, the film's opening weekend alone matched the entire domestic run of Resident Evil: Afterlife ($60.1 million), which had been the franchise's domestic high-water mark. Cregger's reboot equaled the best the series had ever done in North America in just three days — and then kept going.

It is now tracking to become Zach Cregger's highest-grossing film ever, according to DiscussingFilm, which would cap a meteoric rise for a filmmaker who was a sketch-comedy name just a few years ago.

Rewriting Franchise History

The comparisons to the series' past are almost unfair. The highest-grossing film in the franchise remains 2016's Resident Evil: The Final Chapter at $312.2 million globally — a number that is suddenly looking reachable. And the reboot has more than quadrupled the $41.9 million worldwide total of 2021's Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, the previous attempt at a fresh start that audiences rejected.

Made for $75 million, the film stars Austin Abrams as Bryan, a medical courier navigating a viral outbreak in Raccoon City. That lean budget means the $200 million milestone is not just a bragging right — it is an enormously profitable one, with sequels now a question of when, not if.

Cregger's Unstoppable Run

Step back and look at the arc: Barbarian in 2022 announced a major new horror voice. Weapons grossed $270 million worldwide on a $38 million budget and earned its star awards-season glory. Now Resident Evil has crossed $200 million and counting.

Three films, three hits, each bigger than the last. Whatever Zach Cregger makes next — and we now know exactly what that is — the industry will be watching.