The chainsaw is back, and this time it's chasing a franchise record. Evil Dead Burn, the sixth film in Sam Raimi's four-decade horror saga, roared into North American theaters on July 10, and early tracking suggests it could pull off something no Evil Dead movie has managed before: the biggest opening weekend the series has ever seen.
Directed and co-written by French filmmaker Sébastien Vaniček, the movie is projected to gross somewhere between $30 million and $40 million domestically across its debut frame. That would comfortably top the previous franchise high-water marks — the 2013 Evil Dead reboot bowed to $25.7 million, and 2023's acclaimed Evil Dead Rise opened to $24.5 million. For a series that started with a scrappy $375,000 cabin-in-the-woods experiment in 1981, a $40 million weekend would be a genuinely wild place to land.
The story keeps things intimate and nasty. Souheila Yacoub stars as Alice, a grieving widow who retreats to her late husband's secluded family home to be with her in-laws. What begins as a somber reunion curdles fast: one by one, the family gets turned into Deadites, and the gathering becomes — in the film's own words — a family reunion from hell. The twist Vaniček leans into is a cruel one: the vows Alice took in life don't stop mattering just because someone's dead.
Why the Numbers Actually Matter
Here's the context that makes a $40 million horror opening more than just a fun stat. 2026 has quietly become one of the strongest years for horror at the box office in recent memory. Audiences have shown up, again and again, for scares — and studios have noticed. Evil Dead Burn isn't sneaking into an empty market; it's the established, brand-name veteran walking into a genre that's suddenly red-hot.
It's also a smart release-date play. Warner Bros. Pictures, which is handling the film domestically, moved Burn up from its original July 24 slot to July 10, planting it in the post-holiday window where counterprogramming against family films like Disney's Moana remake makes a lot of sense. Horror fans and general-audience families rarely want the same Saturday-night ticket, and Warner Bros. is betting the split works in its favor.
Internationally, Sony Pictures is releasing the film across most territories, with France and Italy actually getting it two days early, on July 8. That global rollout matters for a genre that increasingly travels well — horror has become one of the most reliably exportable categories in modern moviemaking.
Critics and Fans Are Losing It
The reviews landed loud. Evil Dead Burn arrived on Rotten Tomatoes with a strongly positive critical reception, keeping the franchise's remarkable streak of well-reviewed entries alive. Critics have been blunt about what kind of movie this is: relentless, gleefully vicious, and, by several accounts, the nastiest entry the series has produced yet.
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Part of the appeal is pedigree. Raimi and longtime collaborator Rob Tapert produced through their Ghost House Pictures banner, with franchise star Bruce Campbell and Evil Dead Rise director Lee Cronin serving as executive producers. Raimi personally handpicked Vaniček after being floored by the director's 2023 debut Infested, and that faith reads clearly on screen: reviewers keep describing Burn as a film made by a genuine fan, packed with the kind of gruesome invention that rewards the faithful.
For a series that's swung between straight terror and the gonzo horror-comedy of the Bruce Campbell era, the consistency is the real headline. Very few horror franchises make it to a sixth installment. Fewer still keep the critics on their side that far in.
What Happens Next
The immediate question is whether the projections hold. If Evil Dead Burn lands in that $30–40 million range, it doesn't just set a franchise record — it strengthens the argument that mid-budget horror remains one of the most dependable bets in an otherwise unpredictable theatrical landscape. Watch the international numbers too: with Sony rolling it out worldwide, the total global haul could tell an even bigger story than the domestic weekend.
The film was shot in New Zealand between July and October of 2025, with cinematographer Philip Lozano lending the secluded family-home setting its claustrophobic dread. And the Evil Dead machine isn't slowing down: another entry is already in development, with Francis Galluppi tapped by Raimi to write and direct. In other words, the Deadites aren't going anywhere.
Closing Thoughts
There's something almost comforting about the Evil Dead series refusing to die — fitting, really, for a franchise built on things that won't stay dead. Forty-five years after Raimi and friends first pointed a camera at a haunted cabin, the brand is not just surviving but potentially peaking commercially, powered by a new director with a distinct voice and a horror audience that's showing up in force.
Whether Evil Dead Burn ultimately claims that franchise-record crown or lands just shy of it, the bigger takeaway is clear: horror is having a moment, and one of the genre's oldest names picked the perfect weekend to remind everyone why it's still standing. Sometimes the classics really do just keep on cutting.
한글 요약
샘 레이미의 대표 호러 시리즈 여섯 번째 작품 이블 데드 번(Evil Dead Burn)이 7월 10일 북미 극장에서 개봉하며 시리즈 역대 최고 오프닝을 노리고 있습니다. 개봉 주말 북미 흥행 예상치는 3,000만~4,000만 달러 수준으로, 2013년 리부트(2,570만 달러)와 2023년 이블 데드 라이즈(2,450만 달러)의 기록을 웃돌 전망입니다. 프랑스 감독 세바스티앵 바니체크가 연출과 각본을 맡았고, 수헤일라 야쿠브가 남편을 잃고 시댁 가족의 외딴 저택을 찾았다가 하나둘 데드아이트로 변해가는 '지옥의 가족 상봉'에 휘말리는 주인공 앨리스를 연기합니다.
이번 개봉이 주목받는 이유는 2026년이 최근 기억 중 손꼽히는 호러 강세의 해로 자리 잡았기 때문입니다. 관객이 반복적으로 공포 장르를 찾으면서 스튜디오들도 이에 반응했고, 이블 데드 번은 뜨거워진 시장에 브랜드 파워를 앞세운 베테랑으로 진입했습니다. 워너 브러더스는 미국 개봉일을 원래 7월 24일에서 7월 10일로 앞당겨 디즈니 모아나 실사판 등 가족 영화와의 관객층 분리를 노렸고, 소니 픽처스가 대부분의 해외 지역을 맡아 프랑스·이탈리아에는 이틀 앞선 7월 8일 선개봉했습니다.
평단 반응도 뜨겁습니다. 로튼 토마토에서 강한 호평으로 출발하며 시리즈 특유의 좋은 평가 흐름을 이어갔고, 비평가들은 이 작품을 시리즈에서 가장 잔혹한 편이라 평했습니다. 레이미와 롭 태퍼트가 고스트 하우스 픽처스를 통해 제작했으며 브루스 캠벨과 이 크로닌이 총괄 프로듀서로 참여했습니다. 뉴질랜드에서 2025년 7~10월 촬영됐고, 프랜시스 갈루피가 차기작 각본·연출자로 낙점되며 시리즈는 계속 이어질 예정입니다.