Box Office: ‘Resident Evil’ tops box office with franchise best debut of $60 million

Sony Pictures' "Resident Evil" made a strong debut in its first weekend at the North American box office, grossing $60 million from 3,684 locations in the U.S. and Canada, according to studio estimates. This marks the franchise's best opening weekend and the highest for any of the seven prior films in the series, which began in 2002.

The film also outperformed most of its predecessors in domestic runs, with the sole exception being "Resident Evil: Afterlife" in 2010, which earned $60.1 million. The movie, directed by Zach Cregger, stars Austin Abrams as a medical courier battling infected creatures in Raccoon City. Reviews have been overwhelmingly positive, with the film holding a 95% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

The audience was primarily male (66%) and under the age of 35 (75%), according to PostTrak exit polls. Cregger's previous films, "Barbarian" and "Weapons," have also defied box office norms, often performing well despite being in the horror genre.