Despite how critically maligned they were, the Paul W.S. Anderson era of Resident Evil films was a massive financial success. The original 2002 film grossed over $103 million against a budget of $33 million, and the last installment made over $314 million on a mere $40 million budget. In comparison, the first reboot attempt, 2021’s Welcome to Raccoon City, had a budget of $25 million and made just shy of $42 million, despite being a much closer attempt at bringing the game narrative to life.
It’s an approach that Zach Cregger’s recent Resident Evil film eschewed — instead of trying to give us Jill Valentine and Leon Kennedy, Cregger centered his film on an Average Joe trying to survive one hellish night in Raccoon City. It’s an approach that clearly worked, given its status as the highest-rated Resident Evil film by a wide margin. But it’s not just critics loving the film; general audiences are seeing it in droves, propelling it to a benchmark that stands high above the rest of the franchise’s movies.
