“Alien: Romulus” topped 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 latest chapter in Disney and the 20th century’s sci-fi horror saga, ending the three-week reign of “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which just overtook “Joker” as the highest-grossing film with a R-rated in history. with $1.14 billion.
These achievements cap Disney’s stellar summer slate, which began with ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ (May’s highest-grossing film with $397 million), ‘Inside Out 2’ (June’s highest-grossing film with $1.597 billion) and continued until “ Deadpool & Wolverine” (July’s highest-grossing film with $1.03 billion). The studio earlier this month became the first of 2024 to surpass $3 billion in worldwide ticket sales and should continue padding that total with “Moana 2” (Nov. 27) and “Mufasa: The Lion King” (Dec. 20) on the calendar until the end of the year. It’s an encouraging turnaround after Disney’s 2023 consisted of commercial disappointments like “The Marvels,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” “The Haunted Mansion” remake and the animated “Wish.”
“Alien: Romulus” took in $66.7 million at the international box office, for a worldwide start of $108.2 million. The film has been well received by critics (it has an 82% ‘fresh’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes) and audiences (who gave the film a ‘B+’ grade on CinemaScore), which bodes well for the cinema screening of ‘Alien: Romulus’. .”
“This is an excellent opening for one […] film so deep into the series,” said David A. Gross, who heads the film consultancy Franchise Entertainment Research. In 1979, the first film elevated the quality of creature filmmaking. 45 years later, the story still resonates. This is an elite and impressive undertaking.”
Fede Alvarez (“Don’t Breathe”) directed the seventh installment in the gruesome, alien franchise, which kicked off in 1979 with Ridley Scott’s “Alien.” The $80 million film follows a group of young intergalactic colonists (including Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux and Isabela Merced) who come face to face with a terrifying life form while clearing out a derelict space station. In terms of initial ticket sales, “Alien: Romulus” improved from the start of 2017’s “Alien: Covenant” ($36 million), but lagged behind 2012’s “Prometheus” (a series best of $51 million).
“Alien: Romulus” was the weekend’s only new national release since Kevin Costner’s “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2” (originally dated August 16) was pulled from the calendar. “Chapter 1,” which cost $100 million, failed in June with a dismal $32 million worldwide, prompting supporters to halt plans for the sequel’s release. Otherwise, the remaining titles rounded out the domestic box office charts.
Although it was a close race, “Deadpool & Wolverine” edged out 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 whopping $29 million in its fourth outing, down 46% from last weekend. It has grossed a massive $545.8 million in North America and $596.8 million internationally to date.
“It Ends With Us” also scored another big weekend with $24 million from 3,739 theaters in its second year, down 52% from its massive $50 million debut. The literary adaptation, starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni (who also directed), is nearing the $100 million mark domestically with $97.7 million to date.
Universal’s disaster epic “Twisters” landed in fourth place with $9.8 million from 3,483 locations during its fifth weekend in theaters, down just 35% from its previous release. Notably, the film is also available for rental via premium video-on-demand this weekend, which didn’t seem to cut into ticket sales. “Twisters,” led by Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos as storm chasers in central Oklahoma, has generated an impressive $238.4 million in North America and $333.4 million worldwide.
A 15th anniversary re-release of “Coraline,” the beloved stop-motion animation fantasy film, rounded out the top five with $8.9 million from 1,535 locations. The film has grossed about $11.3 million since returning to theaters on Thursday.
Elsewhere, Lionsgate’s video game adaptation ‘Borderlands’ continued to tank at the box office. The dismally reviewed film, starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart and Ariana Greenblatt, plummeted to ninth place in its second weekend of release with $2.35 million from 3,125 theaters. To date, “Borderlands” has tragically raised $13 million in North America. The production cost $115 million (part of which was covered by international sales, according to the studio) and ranks as one of the biggest theatrical failures of the year.
