Resident Evil took over the box office, opening in first place with $60 million and giving the franchise its biggest domestic opening ever. That is a particularly impressive result for a series that has spent years away from the top of the box office, and it shows just how much interest there was in seeing the property return to theatres with a fresh creative direction.
Resident Evil Takes Over the Box Office
$60 million is an enormous opening for the franchise and easily makes this the biggest domestic debut in Resident Evil history. The previous record holder was Resident Evil: Afterlife, which opened to approximately $26 million in 2010, meaning this new entry more than doubled the franchise’s previous opening record. The movie also opened to another $48.3 million internationally, giving it a $108.3 million worldwide debut.
So while my $72 million prediction was certainly aggressive, the reasoning behind it was not completely out of nowhere. The Resident Evil name has a massive built-in audience, while director Zach Cregger was coming off the success of Barbarian and Weapons. The new movie also received a strong response from critics and audiences, giving it something that the franchise has not always had: genuine excitement around what comes next. The $60 million opening is also exactly where the upper end of tracking had it, which makes this a very strong result regardless of whether it reached my admittedly ridiculous prediction.
The big question now is how well Resident Evil holds. A $60 million opening gives it plenty of room to become one of the year’s biggest horror releases, but the second weekend will tell us whether the franchise has brought back casual audiences as well as longtime fans. Either way, Resident Evil has officially returned to the box office in a very big way.
Practical Magic 2 Drops to Second
After taking the number one spot last weekend, Practical Magic 2 fell 59% to $12.2 million in its second weekend. That gives the movie $50 million domestically after two weeks, which is a decent result for a movie that opened below some of the more optimistic tracking.
The bigger issue is that Resident Evil arrived with a massive amount of momentum and immediately took most of the attention away from the witches. Still, Practical Magic 2 has Halloween approaching and a very specific audience that could keep it playing throughout October. It may not dominate the box office the way it did last weekend, but there is still plenty of time for it to build on its $50 million domestic total.
Spider-Man Keeps Going
Another $6.5 million brings the movie’s domestic total to approximately $944.5 million, putting it within striking distance of the $1 billion mark. After eight weeks in theatres, the fact that Spider-Man: Brand New Day is still sitting comfortably in the top three is remarkable.
Of course, Resident Evil was never going to have much trouble taking the top spot from a movie this deep into its theatrical run. The real story now is whether Brand New Day can cross the billion-dollar domestic milestone before its theatrical run winds down. At this point, it is less about where the movie finishes for the weekend and more about just how long it can continue hanging around the chart.
The Odyssey Continues Its Run
Christopher Nolan’s epic added another $4.9 million in its tenth weekend, bringing its domestic total to roughly $609.8 million. The movie has now been in theaters for more than two months and is still comfortably sitting inside the top five.
There is not much left to say about The Odyssey at this point other than the movie simply refuses to leave. It has already had an enormous theatrical run, and even with a major new release taking over the box office, Nolan’s latest is still pulling in millions every weekend. At some point, The Odyssey is going to have to leave theaters. It clearly has not received that memo yet.
Coyote vs. Acme Stays in the Top Five
Another $4.5 million gives the movie a fifth place finish and brings its domestic total to roughly $54.8 million. It is now in its fourth weekend and has managed to remain remarkably consistent despite the arrival of bigger new releases.
At this point, Coyote vs. Acme has become one of those movies that just keeps showing up. It is not dominating any weekend, but it has found an audience and continues to add a few million dollars at a time. Considering how crowded the fall release calendar is becoming, simply remaining in the top five is not a bad place to be.
Next Weekend’s Predictions
Avengers: Endgame Encore: The return of Avengers: Endgame is currently tracking between $22 million and $27 million, and I think it lands toward the higher end of that range. My prediction is $26 million. This is obviously not a brand new Marvel movie, but the combination of nostalgia, the enormous popularity of Endgame and the added footage tied to the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday should give fans a reason to head back to theatres. Marvel is also marketing this as more than just a standard re-release, which should help turn it into something closer to a theatrical event.
Primetime: The A24 documentary is currently looking at an opening around $10 million to $15 million, and I am going with $13 million. Robert Pattinson gives the movie some recognizable star power, while the A24 brand has built a strong audience for more unusual theatrical releases. The challenge is that Primetime is entering theatres against the much bigger nostalgia play of Avengers: Endgame Encore, so I think it will settle comfortably in the low teens rather than becoming a breakout hit.
As always, we’ll find out next week.
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