Sony's "Resident Evil" is on pace to become Zach Cregger's highest-grossing film ever, passing $280 million worldwide this week on the strength of a roughly $35 million China debut, per Deadline.
The math is a relay race. The Austin Abrams zombie reboot stands at $245.4 million worldwide after three weekends. China opened it Monday, and the film has already collected $20 million in two days, on pace for a $35 million first week there. Add that in and Cregger passes his own "Weapons" ($270 million worldwide) for the biggest film of his career. The record was set by a movie. It is being broken by a movie that needed a second market.
China is not a small second market. "Resident Evil: The Final Chapter" made $159.5 million there in 2017, 51 percent of its $312 million worldwide total, and it is still the biggest money-maker in the franchise. The new one sits at a 7.2 on Douban and has beaten this year's horror openings in the market, including "Obsession" ($4.8 million) and "Backrooms" ($5.2 million), and even the reported $26.1 million opening of "Alien: Romulus" back in 2024. A zombie reboot is outgrossing the year's horror in the largest box office on earth, and the franchise's third-best film is the newest one.
The pipeline explains why the number matters. Cregger's next movie, "Flood" with Jennifer Lawrence, is at Warner Bros., a studio born yesterday that is still digesting a $110 billion merger. The "Weapons" prequel "Gladys" is in rewrites while a director search runs. A director whose career record is being made overseas, sitting on a deal at a company that has not finished its introduction.
YOUR TURN: When half a record comes from one market, is "highest-grossing worldwide" a compliment or a shipping label?
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