Horror fans, put down your controllers: the "Resident Evil" reboot isn't just good; it's record-breaking. Director Zach Cregger, fresh off "Barbarian" and the Oscar-winning "Weapons," has delivered a franchise reinvention that critics are calling the finest video game adaptation in the genre's history — and audiences agree, in dollars and screams alike.
A Fresh Take, No Familiar Faces
Cregger's "Resident Evil" skips the established game canon entirely. There's no Jill Valentine, no Leon Kennedy, no Wesker. Instead, the story follows Bryan (Austin Abrams), an ordinary medical courier who stumbles into an outbreak of mutated horrors while delivering to a remote hospital in Raccoon County. Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, and Kali Reis round out the cast as Umbrella Corporation scientists and enforcers caught in the chaos.
Cregger has been candid about the risk of that choice. He told USA Today he took a "gameplay first" approach, prioritizing the visceral feeling of playing the games over faithfully recreating specific storylines or characters, and admitted he feared being "eviscerated" online for straying from canon. It turns out he had nothing to worry about.
Critics Are Calling It a Genre Milestone
The reviews have been extraordinary. As of this week, "Resident Evil" holds a 96–97% score on Rotten Tomatoes from more than 70 critics and a "Universal Acclaim" 79–81 on Metacritic, making it officially the highest-rated video game movie ever made, surpassing even fan favorites like "Resident Evil: Damnation".
Deadline's review praised Cregger for bringing "style, humor, and a game Austin Abrams" to what could have been a forgettable cash-grab. IndieWire graded it a B+, calling it "the future of video game movies, even when too goofy for its own good". Meanwhile, Variety's Jordan Moreau didn't hold back on social media, calling it "one of the best video game adaptations ever made, and one of the best horror movies in recent memory," while praising Abrams' performance as "hilarious to watch stumble around killing zombies" .
Not every outlet is uncritical, though. Tom's Guide gave it 4 out of 5 stars but noted the film leans more comedic than purists might expect, writing that it may be "Zach Cregger's worst" film even as it's "officially the best video game movie of all time" — a fascinating contradiction that seems to capture the tone of this whole reboot.
Box Office: A Franchise Record, Fast
The numbers back up the buzz. "Resident Evil" opened Thursday night with $8.8 million in previews, then exploded to $26.3 million on Friday alone across 3,684 North American screens. By Sunday, Sony projected a three-day domestic weekend total of $60 million, more than double the previous franchise record of $26 million set by 2010's "Resident Evil: Afterlife".
Globally, the film added another $48.3 million internationally, pushing its worldwide opening weekend past $108 million. That single weekend haul nearly matches the $60.1 million lifetime domestic total of the entire "Afterlife" run, and it's also the biggest opening of Cregger's career, topping "Weapons," which debuted to $43.5 million.
Why This Reboot Works
What makes this "Resident Evil" click isn't nostalgia; it's craft. Cregger built a genuinely tense, funny, gory survival-horror experience without leaning on 24 years of game lore, and both critics and ticket buyers rewarded that gamble.
For a franchise that's spent two decades chasing diminishing returns, that's not just a comeback story; it's a blueprint for how video game movies should be made going forward.
If you're catching it this weekend, go in without expectations tied to Capcom's canon. Judging by the reactions pouring in from Fantastic Fest to opening night, that's exactly how Cregger wants you to experience it.
Discussion