The Resident Evil movie from Weapons and Barbarian director Zach Cregger officially releases today, September 18, but like many big movies, it actually debuted the night prior. The movie made $9 million or more in the US for its Thursday previews, according to Deadline, and that’s a record for the series.
Experts predict the movie will make between $40 million and $50 million for its first weekend in the US, and now it could go higher, the report said.
The previous record for a first-weekend Thursday-night haul in the Resident Evil series was $1 million for 2016’s Resident Evil: The Final Chapter. No other entry in the series eclipsed $1 million for Thursday previews.
Resident Evil’s Thursday previews are pacing well ahead of Cregger’s last movie, Weapons, which made $5.75 million in previews and went on to earn $43.5 million for its first weekend in the US.
According to Deadline, the Resident Evil movie had a budget of $75 million, but that does not count marketing expenses. Also worth mentioning is that the Thursday numbers for Resident Evil are based on Deadline’s “distribution sources,” and not official numbers from the studio.
The Resident Evil movie is getting rave reviews, including an 8/10 from GameSpot. In fact, Resident Evil is now the highest-rated video game adaptation ever.
Cregger has said he has ideas for more Resident Evil movies, but he’s also mentioned how he’s done with franchise films. He has said he did not fully appreciate how much hardcore fans of the Resident Evil games would reject his idea for his movie, which does not feature any characters or stories from the games.