"Alien: Romulus" ripped into the domestic box office with $41.5 million, marking the second-highest start in the long-running "Alien" franchise. Those ticket sales were enough for the newest chapter in Disney and 20th Century's sci-fi horror saga to end the three-week dominance of "Deadpool & Wolverine," which recently surpassed "Joker" as the highest-grossing R-rated movie in history with $1.14 billion.
These achievements are capping off Disney's stellar summer streak, which ignited with "Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes" (May's highest-grossing movie with $397 million) and was followed by "Inside Out 2" (June's highest-grossing movie with $1.597 billion) and "Deadpool & Wolverine" (July's highest-grossing movie with $1.14 billion). The studio earlier this month became the first of 2024 to surpass $3 billion in worldwide ticket sales and should continue to pad that total with "Moana 2" (Nov. 27) and "Mufasa: The Lion King" (Dec. 20) scheduled for release through the year's end. It's an impressive rebound after Disney's 2023 was marked by several commercial failures, such as "The Marvels," "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny," "The Haunted Mansion" remake, and the animated "Wish."
"Alien: Romulus" collected $66.7 million at the international box office for a global start of $108.2 million. The R-rated movie has been well received by critics (it holds an 82% "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes) and viewers (who awarded the film a "B+" grade on CinemaScore), which bodes well for its theatrical run.
"This is an excellent opening for a […] film this deep into its series," says David A. Gross, who runs the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. "In 1979, the first film elevated the quality of creature filmmaking. 45 years later, the story still resonates. This is elite and impressive business."
Fede Alvarez ("Don't Breathe") directed the seventh installment in the gruesome, otherworldly franchise, which kicked off in 1979 with Ridley Scott's "Alien." It cost $80 million and centers on a group of young intergalactic colonists (Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, and Isabela Merced among them) who come face to face with a terrifying life form while they're scavenging a rundown space station. In terms of inaugural ticket sales, "Alien: Romulus" improved upon the start of 2017's "Alien: Covenant" ($36 million) and 2004's "Alien vs. Predator" ($38.3 million) but fell short of 2012's "Prometheus" (a series-best $51 million).
"Alien: Romulus" was the weekend's sole new nationwide release since Kevin Costner's "Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2" (originally dated for Aug. 16) was removed from the release schedule. "Chapter 1," which had a production budget of $100 million, underperformed in June with a dismal $32 million globally, prompting its backers to halt plans for the sequel's release. Otherwise, holdover titles filled out domestic box office charts.
Though it was a close race, "Deadpool & Wolverine" pulled ahead of Sony's romantic drama "It Ends With Us" to land in second place. Marvel's superhero adventure, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, added a mighty $29 million in its fourth outing, a 46% dip from last weekend. It has earned a mammoth $545.8 million in North America and $596.8 million internationally to date.
"It Ends With Us" had another strong weekend with $24 million from 3,739 theaters in its second weekend, declining 52% from its huge $50 million debut. The adaptation of Colleen Hoover's literary sensation, starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni (who also directed), is nearing the $100 million mark domestically with $97.7 million to date. Globally, "It Ends With Us" has earned a remarkable $180 million after only 10 days of release. Sony Pictures and Baldoni's Wayfarer Studios co-financed the film for $25 million.
Universal's disaster epic "Twisters" ranked fourth with $9.8 million from 3,483 locations in its fifth weekend in theaters, a 35% decrease from the previous week. Notably, the film is also available for premium video-on-demand rental this weekend, which didn't appear to cut into ticket sales. "Twisters," led by Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, and Anthony Ramos as storm chasers in central Oklahoma, has earned $238.4 million in North America and $333.4 million worldwide.
A 15th-anniversary re-release of "Coraline," Laika's cherished stop-motion animation fantasy film, rounded out the top five with $8.9 million from 1,535 venues. It has earned roughly $11.3 million since returning to theaters on Thursday.
Elsewhere, Lionsgate's video game adaptation "Borderlands" continued to crater at the box office. The dismally reviewed film, starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, and Ariana Greenblatt, dropped to ninth place with $2.35 million from 3,125 theaters in its second weekend of release. So far, "Borderlands" has collected a tragic $13 million in North America. It cost $115 million to produce (a portion of which was covered by international sales, according to the studio) and stands as one of the biggest theatrical misfires of the year.
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