Evil Dead Rise Box Office Off to Strong Start in Previews

Evil Dead Rise opened last night, and it's already the best-reviewed movie of the entire franchise. ComicBook.com's Kofi Outlaw gave the movie a 3.5 out of 5 and said it "carves out a promising new future for the franchise." The movie also had a good preview night, earning $2.5 million on Thursday at the domestic box office. According to Variety, Evil Dead Rise's preview night is strong for a horror movie being released in April, but the new film isn't expected to overtake The Super Mario Bros. Movie, which has been crushing it at the box office.

Evil Dead Rise is expected to earn between $15 million and $25 million during its opening weekend. It's the fifth movie in the Evil Dead franchise, which began in 1981 with Sam Raimi's original film that starred Bruce Campbell as Ash Williams. Raimi and Campbell went on to make Evil Dead 2 in 1987 and Army of Darkness in 1992. The last Evil Dead film, Evil Dead (2013), was a reimagining of the original that scored $97.5 million at the box with a $17 million budget, and it looks like Evil Dead Rise could be a similar success. 

Is Bruce Campbell in Evil Dead Rise? 

Evil Dead Rise doesn't star franchise staple Bruce Campbell nor was it directed by original trilogy helmer Sam Raimi, but both Evil Dead legends serve as producers on the project, alongside original producer Rob Tapert. Evil Dead Rise was directed by Lee Cronin who previously directed The Hole in the Ground. Evil Dead Rise won't directly be connected to the previous films in the franchise, but Cronin confirmed that there is a reference to Campbell in the film. However, you might not catch the subtle easter egg on your first watch. In fact, the director previously said he would send a cash prize to anyone who discovered it and reached out to him on Twitter. 

"It felt like in order to move the franchise somewhere new and to unlock the potential of the universe to tell more stories, it needed to break free [of Campbell's Ash Williams]," Cronin explained to Empire Magazine. "But Bruce is hidden in the movie somewhere. Bruce has a small presence in the movie. The first person to figure it out and send me a tweet, I'll give them 50 bucks."

Evil Dead Rise is now playing in theaters. Will you be seeing it this weekend? Tell us in the comments!