Zach Cregger’s Resident Evil film has done something rare in the world of video game adaptations: it has become a critical darling. The movie currently holds a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a score that puts it at the top of the site’s Video Game Movies, Ranked by Tomatometer list. It isn’t particularly close either — the second and third spots belong to Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and Werewolves Within, both stuck at 86%.
That gap tells you everything you need to know about how bad video game movies tend to be. After those first three entries, there are only six video game movies on the list with positive Tomatometer scores. Their titles read like a list of familiar failures: The Angry Birds Movie 2, Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Pokémon Detective Pikachu, Gran Turismo, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Mortal Kombat II. Their scores range from 64% to 72%.
The Tomatometer represents the percentage of critics who gave a movie a favorable review. The Rotten Tomatoes list excludes films that don’t have at least 20 reviews from theatrical releases. That said, the list consists of just a handful of movies. For instance, Exit 8, an adaptation of the game of the same name, has a 91% Rotten Tomatoes score with 176 reviews. Even so, Resident Evil is well ahead of the competition.
What the List Shows
The list is short for a reason. There are only three video game movies with a “Certified Fresh” rating, meaning they are above a certain percentage threshold and have a certain number of reviews. That trio sits at the top of the list, and the rest trail far behind.
The pattern is consistent across the board. Until now, video game adaptations have fared dramatically better on the small screen than in theaters. Great TV shows like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (100% on Rotten Tomatoes), Arcane (100%), Fallout (93%), The Last of Us (96%), Castlevania (94%), and Nier: Automata Ver1.1a have all proven that adapting games for television works better than adapting them for the big screen.
Why the Film Works
Cregger, who previously directed Barbarian and Weapons, made a smart choice with Resident Evil: he prioritized being a good movie over being lore-accurate. The film doesn’t feature familiar characters from the games, and that works in its favor. The protagonist is forced into one terrible situation after another, emulating the games’ appeal perfectly.
The movie also drops in plenty of humorous homages without requiring an encyclopedic knowledge of the lore. That approach means newcomers can watch the film without getting lost in decades of backstory, while longtime fans get Easter eggs without the weight of expectation.
How the Score Stacks Up
The Rotten Tomatoes ranking is based on the percentage of positive reviews, and the list is limited to films with at least 20 reviews from theatrical releases. Here’s how the top of the list breaks down:
- #1: Resident Evil — 96%
- #2: Sonic the Hedgehog 3 — 86%
- #3: Werewolves Within — 86%
Below that trio, the list drops sharply. The remaining six films with positive scores sit at the bottom of the chart, ranging from 64% to 72%. Those are the ones that barely scrape into positive territory.
The Numbers Tell the Story
The numbers are striking because they show just how isolated the success of Resident Evil is. A 96% score is exceptional for any film, and the closest competitor is nearly twenty points behind. The rest of the list is scattered across the mid-sixties.
That isolation is the whole story. Video game movies have struggled for years, and the list proves it. The gap between the top and the rest is so large that it reads as a statement of fact: Resident Evil is the exception, and the rule is everything else.
The General Audience Test
Critics have spoken, and they have spoken loudly. Now the question shifts to the audience itself. Resident Evil officially opens in theaters on Sept. 18, and the general public will finally have a chance to judge for themselves.
The film has already delivered a tightly crafted 90 minutes of gross-out sequences, tense moments, and genuine hilarity. Whether that translates to box office success remains to be seen, but the critical groundwork is done. The movie has earned its position, and it has done so without leaning on the lore that often drags down other adaptations.
The comparison to TV shows is telling. The list shows that video game adaptations have fared dramatically better on the small screen than in theaters, with great TV shows like Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (100% on Rotten Tomatoes), Arcane (100%), Fallout (93%), The Last of Us (96%), Castlevania (94%), and Nier: Automata Ver1.1a all proving the point.
The Bottom Line
Resident Evil is the highest-rated video game adaptation ever, and it isn’t particularly close. The gap between it and the rest of the list is so large that it reads as a statement of fact: the video game adaptation landscape is dominated by failure.
The film succeeds because it respects the games without being enslaved to them. It tells a tight, contained story with humor, tension, and horror all in the same runtime. It is a good movie first, and a video game adaptation second.
That distinction is the key to its success. The rest of the list proves that video game movies tend to be bad. Resident Evil proves that they don’t have to be.
Key Facts Box
- Rotten Tomatoes score: 96%
- Second-place film: Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (86%)
- Third-place film: Werewolves Within (86%)
- Positive-score films below trio: 6
- Release date: Sept. 18
“Having seen Resident Evil, the movie delivers a tightly crafted 90 minutes of gross-out sequences, tense moments, and genuine hilarity.”
See the video the story is built around at Polygon.
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