‘Resident Evil: Afterlife’ expected to gross $200 million internationally

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

‘Resident Evil’ has found a new life overseas with ‘Afterlife.’

The fourth movie based on the horror video game series, ‘Resident Evil: Afterlife’ has sold $103.2 million worth of tickets to foreign audiences in 10 days. That’s more than any of the previous three ‘Resident Evil’ pictures generated overseas in total.

Sony Pictures, the film’s distributor, is now projecting that ‘Afterlife’ will take in more than $200 million internationally. The previous foreign high for the series was the last entry, 2007’s ‘Resident Evil: Extinction,’ which collected $97.1 million.

The 3-D technology being used for the first time in a ‘Resident Evil’ movie appears to be a major reason for the film’s international performance. Several other recent 3-D pictures, including ‘Shrek Forever After,’ ‘Clash of the Titans’ and ‘Avatar,’ have done far better overseas than domestically.

Receipts for ‘Afterlife’ are bigger than ‘Extinction’ in nearly every country, with particularly strong results in Japan, where the games are made, as well as Russia, Germany, Mexico, South Korea and Brazil.

Domestically, ‘Afterlife’ is performing about the same as ‘Extinction’ did accounting for ticket price inflation and 3-D ticket surcharges. It is on track to end up with about $60 million in the U.S. and Canada, compared with $51 million for ‘Extinction.’

Constantin Films spent nearly $60 million to make ‘Afterlife’ and sold distribution rights in most markets, except Germany and German-speaking territories, to Sony for $52 million.

-- Ben Fritz