It was a big weekend for horror and video game enthusiasts as Zach Cregger has clearly developed a bit of a following. Let’s just say that Spider-Man: Brand New Day is not the only late franchise entry to become the biggest film in the series.
King of the Crop: Resident Evil Scores Biggest Opening for R-Rated Video Game Adaptation
Between the Mario Bros., Sonic the Hedgehog, and Minecraft, any suggestion of video game adaptations as box office poison has quickly dissipated. It certainly helps when you can gear them towards a family audience. Those that have delved into R-rated territory over the years like, Silent Hill and Doom, have not exactly lit up the box office. But while no one would look to the multitude of Resident Evil films as barometers of artistic quality, they have all been successful enough (especially overseas) to continue making them. Resident Evil: Afterlife has remained the highest-grossing R-rated video game film ($60.12 million) on the domestic side for the past 16 years. Until Monday.
By the end of tomorrow (if not earlier with final estimates this weekend), Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil is going to take that crown. His follow up to last year’s Oscar-winning horror film, Weapons, opened its gambit with $8.8 million on Thursday; the ninth-highest preview day of 2026. By the end of the weekend, it had amassed an estimated $60 million and the best reviews of any Resident Evil by a mile. None of the previous live-action films even hit 40% on the Tomatometer, with Resident Evil: The Final Chapter in 2017 getting the franchise high of 37%, as critics must have been at least happy that era was ending. But here we are nine years later with Cregger’s take, and while it may have cheesed off some unsatisfied hardcore gamers, it wasn’t dismissed by critics at all, as evidenced by its Certified Fresh 96% on the Tomatometer. The Final Chapter was also the highest global gross of the franchise. It earned a mere $26.8 million domestically but over $285 million internationally. 2026’s Resident Evil just began with $108 million globally and is hoping the $75 million production (the most expensive of the lot) will challenge Final Chapter’s numbers.
Tales of the Top 10: Practical Magic 2 Drops to Second, Coyote vs. Acme Hangs Around
Warner Bros.’ Practical Magic 2 took quite the dip in its second weekend, falling nearly 60% to $12.1 million. That brings the film’s 10-day total to $50 million. So where does that leave it? Well, certainly not on any path to hit $100 million. Bad word of mouth appears to have caught up with this one pretty quickly, plus the realization that maybe there just weren’t as many fans of the original as we thought. Last year, Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another fell to $11 million in weekend two and had amassed $42.6 million. So a landing somewhere close to $80 million appears to be where PM2 is at. The $75 million production has made over $76 million so far worldwide. After that incredible streak from A Minecraft Movie and The Conjuring: Last Rites last year (seven in a row hitting nine digits), Warner Bros. is now on an 11-film non-$100 million cold streak, with Digger and DC’s Clayface waiting in the wings before The Cat in the Hat and Dune: Part Three finish the year.
The biggest domestic release of all time is still in the top three after eight weeks. Spider-Man: Brand New Day brought in another $6.5 million to bring its total to $944.5 million. Clearly it is not going to break a billion domestically, but every dollar is still its own story going forward as we see how high it ultimately climbs. For a little perspective on how much money this is, Sony has not had a domestic fiscal year make as much as Brand New Day since 2021, the year No Way Home was released. Globally the film sits at $2.478 billion.
Audiences cannot quit Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. After another $4.9 million this weekend, it now moves into 16th place all time, passing Incredibles 2 ($608.58 million), among first-run domestic releases with $609.8 million. Globally the film just moved into 11th place, passing Inside Out 2′s $1.698 billion with $1.721 billion. That may be Odysseus’ final resting place, as Zootopia 2 holds on to a firm 10th-place spot with $1.866 billion, but it is also only $17 million away from passing Star Wars: The Force Awakens on the international side alone and entering the top 10 of all time. This is Universal and Nolan’s highest-grossing film ever, the third-highest non-sequel (technically) ever after Avatar and Titanic, and a film that will continue to be talked about all the way through the Oscars and beyond.
The movie that Warner Bros. couldn’t kill is spending its fourth straight week in the top five. Ketchup Entertainment’s Coyote vs. Acme took in $4.5 million this weekend, bringing it to $54.8 million. That is better than the 24-day totals of Warner Bros.’ They Will Kill You ($10.7 million), The Bride! ($12.6 million), Lee Cronin’s The Mummy ($28.7 million), Evil Dead Burn ($31.5 million), and The End of Oak Street ($50.8 million), and not far behind their Oscar-winning One Battle After Another ($61.7 million), which only had a $3.85 million fourth weekend. The film will land somewhere in the $60-70 million range, and any way you slice it, that is not much less than Supergirl ($72.3 million) and Mortal Kombat II ($79.7 million) this summer.
Angel Studios’ Runner (not to be confused with Amazon Studios’ The Runner with Gal Gadot) made $3.18 million in its sophomore weekend. The 77% critic-approved action comedy with Alan Ritchson and Owen Wilson has now grossed $11.9 million in 10 days. That’s not a huge number but still among the 10 best releases by Angel; the tenth, in fact, to gross at least $10 million in its first 10 days. That may not be great on a $35-45 million budget, but it’s better than what IFC’s Motor City with Ritchson did ($2.71 million) on a $30 million budget. In more traditional faith-based studio news, Pinnacle Peak last year released The Last Supper, which opened to $2.7 million in March and ended up grossing $6.56 million. This weekend they had Daniel and the Fiery Furnace, another faith-based film about the Jewish exile to Babylon starring Aladdin’s Mena Messoud. Its slice of the pie was $3.14 million.
In 1986, The Transformers: The Movie (actual title) hit theaters in August to capitalize on the Hasbro toy line and become an extension of the animated television series. Before Michael Bay’s films became a global phenomenon, the legacy of this film resided in two key elements. One was the revival of the twice-played song “The Touch” by Stan Bush that Paul Thomas Anderson attributed to Dirk Diggler’s attempt at a music career in Boogie Nights. The other was the unintended trauma that some kids faced as a result of some key characters facing actual fatality — hence the 40th Anniversary re-release being labeled “The Apology Tour.” Over the weekend it grossed $3.10 million and has made $4.16 million since Fathom Entertainment opened it on Thursday.
One of the best films to premiere at this year’s Sundance was Padraic McKinley’s The Weight. Don’t take my word for it. Just look at its Certified Fresh 93% with critics. The film stars Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe in an old-school adventure about prisoners transporting gold through the wilderness during the Great Depression. The film was ultimately picked up, not by A24, Neon, or even IFC, but instead by Vertical Entertainment. They broke their opening weekend record twice this year alone with We Bury the Dead in January ($2.50 million) and then a month later with Luc Besson’s Dracula ($4.40 million). They couldn’t do it again this weekend, as The Weight opened to $2.3 million in 1,504 theaters for a lower per-theater average ($1,662) than either of those record-breakers this yea. It’s a real disappointment that the film did not have a stronger release strategy, skipping all American festivals since Sundance and opening cold in September.
Like The Invite this summer, Casper Kelly’s Buddy continues to climb the chart among Sundance premieres. An additional $1.93 million brings its total to $24.83 million, just outside of the top 25, along with Our Idiot Brother ($24.81 million); sex, lies & videotape ($24.7 million); Don Jon ($24.4 million); and The Usual Suspects ($23.3 million). Olivia Wilde’s The Invite currently ranks 24th with $25.6 million, ahead of Boyhood ($25.3 million) and The Witch ($25.1 million). Buddy will join the ranks sometime this week. Jordan Peele’s Get Out was a “surprise” screening at the 2017 edition and not part of the official Sundance program, so technically you could move everyone up a spot on the list. The Invite and Buddy are the highest-grossing Sundance premieres since Ari Aster’s Hereditary in 2018.
Beyond the Top 10: Shaun the Sheep Just Misses Out
The last time Shaun the Sheep was in U.S. theaters was back in 2015 with Shaun the Sheep Movie. The Lionsgate release opened to $4.03 million and finished with $19.1 million. GKids’ release this weekend of Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom just missed the top 10 with $1.90 million. That is their best opening since last December’s Jujutsu Kaisen: Execution opened to $10 million.
Insidious: Out of the Further was knocked off the chart with $1.85 million this weekend, which brings its total to $63.7 million. It may only be the fourth-highest domestic grossing film of the franchise (Insidious: The Last Key is third with $67.7 million), but globally it is also now far behind The Last Key’s $167.8 million, which is the second highest of the lot. Out of the Further just crossed $160 million and will soon pass Insidious: Chapter 2’s $161.9 million for third on that list.
There were big drops this week including Paul Greengrass’ The Uprising with Andrew Garfield falling nearly 64% to $1.2 million. The $20 million production has made $5.7 million in 10 days. Mark Wahlberg punching racism in By Any Means fell nearly 72% in its third weekend to $700,000. It has made just $15.2 million. Na Hong-jin’s Hope fell 69% to $996,875 for a total of $7.2 million. It is the second highest-grossing foreign language film of the year after Dhurandhar: The Revenge ($28.1 million); a list rounded out by The Furious ($6.52 million), Exit 8 ($3.73 million), and I Was a Stranger ($2.008 million).
On the documentary side, John Wilson’s The History of Concrete was put into one theater by Magnolia, where it grossed $90,000. Finally, Greenwich released the great documentary (wait for it!) You Had to Be There: How the Toronto Godspell Ignited the Comedy Revolution, Spread Love & Overalls, and Created a Community That Changed the World (in a Canadian Kind of Way) in a single theater and it grossed $20,000. It expands next week.
On The Vine: Forgotten Island, Heart of the Beast, and a Lot More
It is a virtual cornucopia of releases next week. Families are likely to make the most out of the animated Forgotten Island from DreamWorks Animation and Universal. Brad Pitt is lost in the wilderness with his dog in David Ayer’s Heart of the Beast from Paramount. Robert Pattinson is the host of To Catch a Predator in Primetime from A24. Also look for Mahershala Ali as a hitman in the acclaimed Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother, as well as Jay Baruchel as Ken Carter in The Stunt Driver. From Sundance this year, Domhnall Gleeson goes Local Hero trying to displace a brother and sister living on an island in The Incomer, and Rinko Kikuchi learns to dance in Ha-Chan, Shake Your Booty! And Magnolia Pictures has the horror film Never After Dark. Finally, Disney and Marvel are giving everyone a chance to warmup for Avengers: Doomsday with the re-release of Avengers: Endgame. See all the upcoming releases here.
Full List of Box Office Results: September 18-20
- Resident Evil – $60.0 million ($60.0 million total)
- Practical Magic 2 – $12.1 million ($50.0 million total)
- Spider-Man: Brand New Day – $6.5 million ($944.5 million total)
- The Odyssey – $4.9 million ($609.8 million total)
- Coyote vs. Acme – $4.5 million ($54.8 million total)
- Runner – $3.18 million ($11.9 million total)
- Daniel and the Fiery Furnace – $3.14 million ($3.14 million total)
- The Transformers: The Movie (40th Anniversary re-release) – $3.10 million ($4.16 million total)
- The Weight – $2.3 million ($2.3 million total)
- Buddy – $1.93 million ($24.8 million total)
Erik Childress can be heard each week evaluating box office on Business First AM with Angela Miles and his Movie Madness Podcast. [box office figures via Box Office Mojo]
Thumbnail image by ©Warner Bros.
