Resident Evil
2026 · 94 min
Directed by Zach Cregger. Written by Shay Hatten, Zach Cregger. Photographed by Dariusz Wolski. Starring Austin Abrams, Paul Walter Hauser, Kali Reis, Zach Cherry.
Described as a revamp that will return to the franchise's horror roots and be more faithful to the initial games.
Critics 96% · audiences 90% · $160 million in the US and Canada on its first run · $250 million elsewhere · about 14 million tickets sold, 4.1% of the country
What they said about Resident Evil
- 2026
a particularly fresh point-of-view character for a zombie/monster movie
— Jesse Hassenger, The Guardian
How it got made
Johannes Roberts, the director of the previous film in the Resident Evil film series, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City (2021), expressed interest in directing a sequel. In April 2023, Raccoon HG Productions, which financed Welcome to Raccoon City, received a grant of million from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation for a film titled Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles. Greater Sudbury was picked as the principal location.
In January 2025, it was announced Cregger would co-write and direct a Resident Evil film reboot. The rights holder, Constantin Film, co-financed and produced, alongside PlayStation Productions and Vertigo Entertainment. A bidding war between four major studios ensued for the distribution rights, including Warner Bros. Pictures and Netflix. In March 2025, it was revealed that Sony Pictures, which had co-produced the previous live-action films under their Screen Gems division, won the bidding war, and would have Columbia Pictures overseeing the production.
Cregger, a Resident Evil fan, described the film as a "love letter to the games". He chose not to feature any characters from the games, saying: "I'm not going to tell Leon's story, because Leon's story is told in the games. [Fans] already have that." He said the film would resemble Evil Dead II (1987) rather than his previous films Barbarian (2022) and Weapons (2025), and that it was a story he wanted to write whether he could use the Resident Evil IP or not. Cregger had not seen any of the previous Resident Evil films, and said his would be more closely based on the games, particularly Resident Evil 2 (1998), Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (1999), and Resident Evil 4 (2005). The story takes place concurrently with the events of the Raccoon City outbreak in Resident Evil 2, in an alternative timeline.
At the box office
, Resident Evil has grossed $159.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $250 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $409.7 million.
In the United States and Canada, Resident Evil made $8.8 million in Thursday previews, and earned $60 million there on its opening weekend along with $48.3 million from other territories, generating a total of $108.3 million debut at the global box office. It set the opening records for both the franchise (surpassing Resident Evil: Retribution and Resident Evil: The Final Chapter) and Cregger's career (surpassing Weapons). It fell 61% in its second weekend to $23.3 million, finishing second. In its third weekend, it made $8.3 million.