Zach Cregger’s "Resident Evil", which opened in theatres last weekend, has quickly become the biggest financial success of his directing career. The 2026 reboot is performing on a much larger scale than his earlier horror films, "Barbarian" and "Weapons", and has already set several major box-office milestones.
The film marks Cregger’s first move into large-scale studio franchise filmmaking. His previous movies were smaller, original horror projects that became successful largely because of strong word of mouth, audience interest and impressive profits compared with their production costs.
"Resident Evil" opened worldwide with $108.3 million and was made on a reported budget of $75 million. Its theatrical run is still continuing, but its opening has already become Cregger’s biggest global debut.
The growth is especially striking when compared with "Barbarian", Cregger’s 2022 directorial debut. That film opened to about $10 million worldwide and eventually earned $46.2 million globally from a tiny $4.5 million budget. Despite its modest box-office numbers, "Barbarian" became a major sleeper hit and helped establish Cregger as a filmmaker to watch.
His next film, "Weapons", released in 2025, was considerably bigger. It opened with $70 million worldwide and finished with $142 million against a $20 million budget. "Resident Evil", however, has already moved beyond those numbers, earning $118.77 million worldwide as of September 24, 2026.
In North America, the film has earned $72.36 million, while international markets have contributed another $46.41 million. Several major markets have yet to contribute fully, with Thailand releasing on September 24 and Japan and China scheduled for later.
In India, the film has made a strong start. After six days, "Resident Evil" has collected ₹13.70 crore in net earnings and ₹16.32 crore in gross collections. Its sixth-day Wednesday collection is estimated at between ₹1.18 crore and ₹1.45 crore. The movie is currently expected to finish its first week in India with around ₹18 crore net. It also ranks as the fifth-biggest Hollywood opening day in India in 2026.
The reboot has already passed the lifetime global grosses of both the original 2002 "Resident Evil", which earned $103.7 million, and 2021’s "Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City", which made $41.9 million.
For Cregger, the numbers represent a dramatic rise from low-budget independent horror to major franchise filmmaking.
