Zach Cregger's Resident Evil is tracking to open far bigger than any …

Zach Cregger's Resident Evil movie has been (unfairly) divisive for its creative deviations from Resident Evil canon, and for telling a Resident Evil story without fan-favorite characters like Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield. Nevertheless, it's set to open huge later this month, and could potentially double the opening weekend box office takings of the biggest Resident Evil movie to date.

Early tracking (h/t IGN) has put Resident Evil's opening weekend figure at some $40-50 million in the US. Even at the lower end of predictions, that's far higher than any movie in the Milla Jovovich-starring series, the biggest of which, Resident Evil: Afterlife, opened to $26.6 million in 2010. The most recent Resident Evil movie, Welcome to Raccoon City, opened to just over $5 million in November 2021. Even factoring in that more faithful adaptation's pandemic-era handicap, this is a big improvement.

Cregger's Resident Evil movie seems to be resonating for a few reasons. The fact that it's telling an original story that anyone can jump into is certainly one. Cregger himself is becoming something of an event filmmaker after his original horror-thriller Weapons opened to a massive $43 million last summer. And the self-proclaimed Resident Evil superfan seems to have learnt all the right lessons about video game adaptations, in that he's staying true to the "spirit and tone" of the games (and even the power progression) rather than simply re-telling one of the games' stories on screen.

Even a bumper box office is unlikely to result in more Resident Evil movies from Cregger, however, as the writer-director is set to helm original sci-fi The Flood next. He's also penning Weapons prequel, Gladys, centred on that movie's twiggy witch, and he's reportedly scripting a Siren Head movie for director Brian Duffield. So Cregger is booked for years to come. But given how lucrative adaptations of the Resident Evil series have proven to be over the years (some seven live-action movies and an ill-fated Netflix TV show have been made to date), it's unlikely to be the last.

Resident Evil stars Austin Abrams as a medical courier tasked with transporting biological materials across a zombie-infected Raccoon City. Late last year, we visited the Resident Evil set in Prague, where Cregger, Abrams and the team took us through their full-throttle vision for the movie.

Resident Evil opens on September 18. For more scares, check out our guide to upcoming horror movies and our list of all the new video game adaptations on the way in 2026 and beyond.

Xbox users have discovered that the new disc-to-digital feature allows players to access games that have been delisted from digital stores, but not all of them.

Microsoft announced its rumored disc-to-digital initiative last week, which will allow you to turn your physical game collections into digital licenses, which Xbox describes as part of its "commitment to game preservation." This has naturally been seen as a good win for Xbox off the back of PS5's total focus on abandoning preservation by killing physical games, leaving fans with a license that can be revoked at any time. But there were some caveats with Microsoft's initiative, notably that "most" games will be supported at launch, which led to fears it will not be all-encompassing and could be tied to licensing restrictions.

However, users who have access to the feature through the Xbox Insider Program have found that it isn't as cut-and-dried as fears have made it seem. As Twitter user Flaass points out, Activision's 2014 Deadpool game, which has long been delisted from digital stores, still grants a digital license for physical owners. And in the same thread, they note that Platinum Games' Transformers: Devastation and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutants in Manhattan, Ghostbusters, Lego Dimensions, Rock Band 4, and many more still grant licenses.

Unfortunately, it's not the case for every game; they note that Transformers: Rise of the Dark Spark and The Amazing Spider-Man 2 currently do not work. However, there's still a chance these could be added down the line, given the claim that "most" games will be supported at launch, hopefully meaning we eventually get every Xbox One and Xbox Series X physical game. And as someone who has a box full of Xbox 360 games taking up space in my office, I would very much appreciate support for older consoles.

13 years after famous Microsoft dunk, ex-PlayStation boss Shuhei Yoshida says Xbox disc-to-digital feature is "a great move"