Resident Evil smashes franchise records

Zach Cregger's reboot of Resident Evil has stormed the global box office, taking $60 million in its North American opening weekend and setting a franchise record for the 24-year-old horror series.

The Sony/Constantin Film release, distributed through Columbia Pictures, comfortably outstripped forecasts. The studio had initially projected around $40 million, later revising expectations to the mid-$50 millions. The debut nearly matched the entire $60.1 million domestic lifetime gross of the previous record-holder, 2010's Resident Evil: Afterlife.

Overseas, the film added $48.3 million from 62 markets, led by the United Kingdom on $5.8 million and Mexico on $5.6 million, for a worldwide opening of $108.3 million against a reported $75 million production budget.

Written and directed by Cregger, the survival-horror adaptation stars Austin Abrams as Bryan, a medical courier fighting through a viral outbreak in Raccoon City. It is the eighth instalment overall and the first to win over critics, holding a 96 per cent rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a B+ CinemaScore. Audiences skewed young and male, with roughly two-thirds men and about 74 per cent under 35.

The result marks Cregger's biggest opening yet, surpassing the $43.5 million bow of last year's Oscar-winning Weapons. Analyst Paul Dergarabedian said putting Cregger in charge "made something familiar feel fresh and original again", crediting Gen Z's appetite for horror.

Practical Magic 2 slipped to second with $12 million, while Spider-Man: Brand New Day took third on $6.5 million.