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The story
Capcom’s hit game franchise gets a full reboot on the big screen: the all-new “Resident Evil” opened across US theaters on September 18 and pulled in roughly $60 million (about ¥9.4 billion) over its opening three days, setting the highest opening ever for the live-action film series across all 8 entries dating back to the first film in 2002. It got off to a hot start even before that, with preview-night earnings of about $8.8 million — also a series record. On 5ch, reactions were split between bewilderment at how boldly the film departs from the source material (the mansion, the puzzle-solving — almost none of it appears to be here), comparisons to the old Milla Jovovich-led series, and hope that “they’re seriously trying to make a horror movie this time.”
September 22, 2026
“Resident Evil” (opening in Japan nationwide on October 9), a complete reboot of Capcom’s smash-hit game franchise, opened in US theaters on September 18 and earned roughly $60 million (about ¥9.4 billion) over its first three days, debuting at No. 1 on the US weekend box office chart. That makes it the biggest opening in the history of the live-action film series — all 8 entries going back to the first film in 2002. These three days alone outgrossed the total domestic US lifetime gross of 6 of the series’ previous 7 films. (Figures per Box Office Mojo and The Numbers; converted at ¥157 to $1.)
Directed by Zach Cregger, who helmed the horror hit “Weapons” (2025), the film had already been generating buzz as a centerpiece of the 2026 horror movie season. Thursday night previews on September 17 alone brought in about $8.8 million (roughly ¥1.38 billion), a series record for preview-night earnings. Opening day, Friday September 18, then pulled in about $26.3 million (roughly ¥4.13 billion) including those previews.
Source: cinematoday.jp / Original article here
What people said
Huh?
Columbia = Sony.
Isn't this just Capcom and Sony teaming up in Japan?
I think it's fine to just write that one off as a dark chapter — I personally stopped watching once Alice started using superpowers.
The mansion doesn't even show up in it.
At that point, is there even a reason to keep borrowing the name?
Do you really want to watch puzzle-solving scenes that badly?
I mean, criticism in any field is really just one person's personal taste.
That's the game you're thinking of.
The legendary one where they shot the cutscene footage on the banks of the Tama River lol
Like that bit in First Mission where someone sings in Japanese lol
Not yet — the newest one, Requiem, just came out, and next year Code: Veronica turns 30.
Stick too close to the source material and people just end up fixating on the parts that don't match.
Apparently the guy playing Wesker turned out to be the nicest one on set.
Meanwhile the actress playing Jill supposedly had a rough time — panicking over all the bugs swarming the riverbank at night.
Back then, "a live-action tie-in for a video game!?" felt like such a wild gimmick.
Of course, looking back now… yeah, it looks pretty cheap lol
That commercial came at it from a completely unexpected angle lol
Has to be better than the old series, which basically turned into a photoshoot for the director's beloved wife (Jovovich).
Though it's a little concerning that critics loved it but scores dropped once it opened to the general public.
Also sounds like there's a comedic streak running through it despite being a horror movie
— kind of an Evil Dead II vibe?
American movies love a good corpse-comedy bit — comedy woven into horror is just business as usual over there.
Apparently there was a lot more comedy mixed in at the test screenings, but it didn't go over well, so they cut most of it.
Nemesis: dodges rocket launchers, strong and even more relentless.
Whether it actually feels like Resident Evil is a separate question, though
— doesn't look like game characters like Leon are even showing up.
Wasn't there that thing with Interstellar? Rotten Tomatoes had it around 70%, but once it opened to the public, everyone rated it way higher than the Tomatometer suggested.
Is this one going for a horror route like RE7?
— just an ordinary, unremarkable person.
What happened, Square Enix…
Guess there's no choice but to split the company after all.
Those wimpy Walking Dead zombies could be wiped out easily if anyone actually tried.
They were running in the very first trailer lol. There's a shot from the second-floor window of an empty house
— the guy just hit a woman with his car and goes inside to borrow a phone.
Thought to myself, you don't see a scene like that very often lol
Background and Key Points on This Story
This new film is a complete reboot made by a different creative team from the live-action series that’s run since 2002, directed by Zach Cregger, known for films like “Weapons.” The earlier live-action series starred Milla Jovovich across 6 films, and counting 2021’s “Welcome to Raccoon City,” that’s 7 films total — making this new one the 8th entry overall. The “best in franchise history” being discussed here refers specifically to the opening weekend’s three-day box office haul, not to lifetime gross surpassing earlier films — an easy point to misread. In the thread, opinions split between confusion at how little of the source game survives (the mansion, the puzzle-solving, the characters) and hope built by trailers suggesting the filmmakers are “seriously trying to make something scary.” There was also talk about a gap between critic scores and general test-screening reactions, but that’s based on posters’ personal impressions — official figures for that weren’t included in the original source article.
*This article is excerpted and summarized from the 5ch (Geinou/Sports News+) thread “All-New ‘Resident Evil’ Scores the Franchise’s Best-Ever US Opening, Tops $100 Million Worldwide.”
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