Level 1 — Absolute Beginner
A new movie called Resident Evil comes out this weekend. It is based on a famous video game.
The movie makes a lot of money. It earns about 60 million dollars in the United States alone. This is the most money any Resident Evil movie has ever made in one weekend.
The director is Zach Cregger. The main actor is Austin Abrams. He plays a man who must deliver a package in a dangerous city.
Critics like the movie very much. Many people say it is the best Resident Evil movie ever made.
- movie
- A film that people watch, often at a theater.
- video game
- A game played on a screen using a computer or console.
- weekend
- Saturday and Sunday, the end of the week.
- director
- The person who leads how a movie is made.
- actor
- A person who plays a character in a movie or show.
- deliver
- To bring something to a person or place.
- dangerous
- Able to cause harm or injury.
- critic
- A person whose job is to give opinions about movies, books, or art.
Level 2 — Elementary
The new Resident Evil movie, directed by Zach Cregger, opened this weekend to an estimated $60 million at the domestic box office. That is the biggest opening weekend the 24 year old video game franchise has ever had, far above the $40 million that had been predicted.
Worldwide, the film earned about $108.3 million in its first weekend, another franchise record. It is also the best opening of Cregger's career, beating his previous horror hit, Weapons, which opened to $43.5 million domestically.
The film stars Austin Abrams as Bryan, a medical courier who takes a job delivering a package to Raccoon City without realizing the town has already been overrun by a dangerous virus. The cast also includes Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Paul Walter Hauser.
Reviewers have responded warmly. The film holds a 96 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes, making it the only movie in the Resident Evil franchise ever to score above 40 percent. It played in about 3,684 theaters across North America, on a production budget of roughly $75 million.
- domestic box office
- The total ticket sales a movie earns within its home country, usually the United States.
- franchise
- A series of related movies, games, or products sharing the same characters or world.
- estimated
- Roughly calculated, though not yet an exact final number.
- courier
- A person whose job is to deliver messages or packages.
- overrun
- Spread over and taken control of a place, often used for something harmful.
- virus
- A tiny germ that can cause disease and spread from one living thing to another.
- reviewer
- A person who watches or reads something and writes an opinion about its quality.
- production budget
- The total amount of money spent to make a movie.
Level 3 — Intermediate
Zach Cregger's reboot of Resident Evil stormed into theaters this weekend with an estimated $60 million domestic opening, comfortably eclipsing studio projections of roughly $40 million and setting a new benchmark for the 24 year old video game franchise's biggest debut.
The film's worldwide haul of $108.3 million similarly outpaces every prior Resident Evil release, and it edges past Cregger's own previous best, the horror hit Weapons, which opened domestically to $43.5 million and $70 million globally. For a director still relatively early in his career, back to back records of this magnitude are unusual.
Adapted loosely from Capcom's long running survival horror games, the film follows Bryan Hodukavich, played by Austin Abrams, a financially strapped medical courier who accepts a delivery job in Raccoon City to avoid an awkward conversation with his pregnant girlfriend about his responsibilities, only to discover the town has already succumbed to a mutagenic viral outbreak. Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Paul Walter Hauser round out the principal cast.
Critical reception has been unusually strong for a franchise long associated with mixed reviews: the film holds a 96 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the only entry in the series ever to clear 40 percent. Audiences, who skewed younger and male, awarded the film a solid CinemaScore, and it opened across roughly 3,684 North American theaters on a comparatively modest $75 million production budget.
- reboot
- A new version of an existing film or franchise that restarts its story.
- eclipse
- Here, to surpass or exceed something significantly.
- benchmark
- A standard or point of reference used to measure something.
- haul
- Here, the total amount of money earned.
- survival horror
- A video game or film genre focused on characters trying to survive frightening threats with limited resources.
- mutagenic
- Capable of causing genetic mutations, often used to describe substances or viruses.
- principal cast
- The main actors who play the central characters in a production.
- approval rating
- A percentage score showing how favorably something, such as a film, was reviewed.
Level 4 — Advanced
Zach Cregger's Resident Evil reboot detonated at the domestic box office this weekend, opening to an estimated $60 million against studio projections of roughly $40 million and establishing the single biggest debut in the 24 year old franchise's history, a run that has otherwise been defined by critical indifference and commercial inconsistency.
The film's $108.3 million global haul likewise outstrips every prior installment in Capcom's survival horror adaptation lineage, and it surpasses Cregger's own previous benchmark, set by Weapons, which had opened to $43.5 million domestically and $70 million worldwide. Consecutive records of this scale, achieved within the same calendar year by a filmmaker still consolidating his reputation, place Cregger among a small cohort of directors whose name alone now functions as a marketable draw independent of underlying material.
Loosely tethered to its source games, the narrative follows Bryan Hodukavich, portrayed by Austin Abrams, a financially precarious medical courier who accepts an ill-advised delivery assignment in Raccoon City largely to sidestep a reckoning with his pregnant girlfriend over impending fatherhood, only to find the town already consumed by a mutagenic outbreak. The ensemble, rounded out by Zach Cherry, Kali Reis, and Paul Walter Hauser, anchors a film that trades primarily in tension and body horror rather than the campier tone that had long characterized the series on screen.
What distinguishes this installment most sharply from its predecessors is critical consensus: a 96 percent Rotten Tomatoes approval rating renders it the only Resident Evil film ever to clear even 40 percent, a gulf wide enough to suggest a genuine tonal and structural departure rather than incremental improvement. Audiences, skewing younger and male, corroborated that reception with a solid CinemaScore, and the film's comparatively restrained $75 million production budget, set against its opening haul, points to a return on investment that studios will likely scrutinize closely when weighing future video game adaptations.
- indifference
- A lack of interest, concern, or enthusiasm.
- cohort
- A group of people sharing a common characteristic.
- precarious
- Not securely held or in a financially unstable position.
- reckoning
- A time when a person must face the consequences of their actions or decisions.
- ensemble
- A group of performers or actors working together in a production.
- consensus
- A general agreement among a group of people.
- corroborate
- To confirm or support a statement or finding with additional evidence.
- scrutinize
- To examine something closely and critically.
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