Resident Evil (2026)

Critics gave a Resident Evil movie 96% on Rotten Tomatoes, a sentence nobody expected to read, while opening night crowds handed it a B+ CinemaScore. That split tells you what you’re signing up for. Zach Cregger, the Barbarian and Weapons guy, didn’t hand fans a greatest hits package. He started from scratch with a medical courier taking one late run up a snowy mountain road to a hospital in Raccoon City, which is like booking a spa day inside a volcano. The cast is character actors, not action heroes: Austin Abrams, Paul Walter Hauser, Zach Cherry, Kali Reis. That’s a lineup built for dread, not for dodging lasers. It runs 94 minutes, lean for a franchise reboot, and it made $325.97 million worldwide on a reported $75 million, so the gamble paid off. A 7.5 because a director finally treated this name like real horror, even if the folks who wanted the old action circus have a point. $28.59 says you look at the next delivery driver at your door and wonder how their night is going.

What works: Cregger treats the name as a horror story first, with an everyday hero and a tight 94 minute runtime.

What doesn’t: Fans who wanted the big action spectacle of the older films may find this smaller, stranger approach a real letdown.

Who it’s for: Horror fans who liked Barbarian and Weapons, and gamers curious to see the franchise played straight as a scary movie.