Why the New Resident Evil Just Landed a CinemaScore B+

Who expected a franchise that’s bounced around for two decades to suddenly post its strongest CinemaScore? Not many. Yet Zack Kriger’s latest reboot of Resident Evil opened with a B+ from opening-night audiences, the highest CinemaScore any film in the series has earned to date.

That single letter grade tells a compact story. CinemaScore polls moviegoers on opening night, capturing immediate reactions rather than long-term fandom. It’s a snapshot. It’s loud. And for a series that has often divided viewers, a B+ feels like a small but meaningful victory.

Context matters. The original 2002 Resident Evil and its early sequels held steady around a B. Later entries slipped: Extinction and Afterlife landed at B-, Retribution sunk to C+, and the 2021 Welcome to Raccoon City also earned a C+. The new film’s B+ breaks through that glass ceiling, suggesting this reboot resonated differently with the crowd that turned up on night one.

So what’s different? For starters, Kriger isn’t reconnecting to the Milla Jovovich continuity. This version introduces a fresh protagonist: Bryan, a medical courier who stumbles into a single chaotic, deadly night and must fight to survive. Austin Abrams leads the cast, joined by Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, Jannu Wilson and Paul Walter Hauser. Kriger co-wrote the screenplay with Shay Hatten — a pairing that leans into tense, compact storytelling rather than franchise nostalgia.

Critical early signals have been encouraging as well. At the time of reporting, Rotten Tomatoes showed strong early numbers — critics and audience scores sitting high — though, as always, those percentages may shift as more reviews and viewer ratings pour in.

And then there’s the money. Preliminary box-office figures point to a healthy start: roughly $8.8 million from Thursday night previews in the U.S. and Canada, followed by optimistic weekend estimates. That kind of opening weekend trajectory could help this version of Resident Evil carve a new path for the franchise, commercially and creatively.

The B+ is more than a grade; it’s a signal that a reboot can reset expectations for a long-running property.

Of course, CinemaScore reflects only those early attendees who respond to the poll — not the entire fanbase. Still, when a franchise repeatedly lands in the B range or lower, nudging that average upward is noteworthy. Will word-of-mouth hold? Can this momentum translate into a sustained revival for a series that’s cycled through styles and tones? Time — and the weekend box office — will tell.

For fans and casual viewers alike, the new Resident Evil promises a night of sharp, survival-driven horror, and for a franchise used to reinvention, a B+ might be the beginning of its next chapter.