UPDATE 9/16: The premiere crowd still calls it hysterical, and reviews land at 96% on Rotten Tomatoes.
UPDATE 9/15: The last survey before release says Resident Evil opens bigger than Weapons.
Zach Cregger did the thing Hollywood almost never does.
He tested his movie, the audience told him it was too funny, and he cut the jokes.
The Resident Evil director told the story in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“I learned that people really liked the movie, but they thought it was too funny,” Cregger said of the film’s test screenings. “So over the course of my testing, I stripped out as much of the jokes as possible.”
“I then found that not only did the audience enjoy the movie more, but I also liked the movie a lot more,” he continued. “A little bit of humor goes a long way in a horror movie, and there’s not a single joke I took out of this movie that I miss.”
What Dropping The Goofiness Led To
The version of Resident Evil that came out of those test screenings is the one Sony put in front of audiences on September 1.
The studio screened the opening 30 minutes in Los Angeles, New York, and Dallas, and the first reactions called it terrifying and true to the survival horror games. One horror account counted five real jump scares inside the half hour.
The humor Cregger kept still landed. Press at those screenings said the footage was heavy on dread and still genuinely funny, the little bit that goes a long way.
Then the money showed up.
Tickets went on sale that same day, first-day presales came in huge, and Deadline reports the movie is tracking for a $35 million opening, the biggest in franchise history, with $50 million in play.
Seven previous Resident Evil movies made $1.27 billion worldwide. None of them opened to $35 million.
The Quorum has the movie leading all fifteen tracked films at 51 percent awareness and 51 percent interest.
The Audience Has Been Saying This All Year
Back in July, we laid out how Hollywood did the Guardians formula to death and the box office is sending the bill.
Masters of the Universe opened to $54 million worldwide. The Mandalorian and Grogu is the lowest-grossing theatrical Star Wars movie ever. Supergirl opened smaller than Morbius.
And here’s the part worth putting side by side.
Per Deadline, the loudest complaint out of Supergirl‘s early screenings was that fans had zero patience left for the Guardians and Mad Max homages. That movie opened to $37 million domestic.
Cregger got the same kind of note in his test screenings and cut the jokes. His movie is tracking for a franchise record.
Audiences keep giving Hollywood the same answer. Cregger listened, and the presales are the receipt.
Resident Evil opens in theaters and IMAX September 18, directed by Zach Cregger from a script he co-wrote with Shay Hatten, and starring Austin Abrams, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Paul Walter Hauser. Tickets are on sale now.
