Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus scared up strong business in its box office debut as it sets out to revive the classic franchise.
The 20th Century and Disney movie topped the domestic weekend chart with $45.1 million, well ahead of a projected debut in the high-$20 million range and the second-best opening of the franchise, not adjusted for inflation. (Romulus also gets bragging rights for being the film that finally toppled Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine from the top spot.)
The best news for filmmakers: Romulus is succeeding in appealing to younger males in addition to older males who grew up on the franchise. It’s also another win for the Disney film empire — which accounts for the 42 percent of summer box office revenue — and the summer box office overall. The movie sports a fresh 82 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, and received a near-franchise best B+ CinemaScore.
Overseas, Romulus opened to a better-than-expected $66.7 million for worldwide start of $108.2 million.
The eighth installment in the long-running Alien franchise is set between the events of Ridley Scott’s 1979 Alien and James Cameron’s 1986 sequel, Aliens. (Scott is a producer on Romulus.) The R-rated movie tells the story of young colonists who come across a derelict space station and encounter the horror of the alien creature that is the enduring star of the franchise. The film stars Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced and Spike Fearn.
Romulus was originally slated to go straight to streaming and debut on the Disney-owned Hulu, but the studio shifted to theatrical at the start of principal photography.
Deadpool & Wolverine is falling to No. 2 after ruling the roost for three consecutive weekends, but there’s no reason to feel sorry for the irreverent Marvel and Disney pic, which has shattered numerous records on its way to now ranking as the top-grossing R-rated film of all time at the global box office, not adjusted for inflation.
Directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, Deadpool & Wolverine achieved its latest milestone on Aug. 15 after passing up Joker and finishing the day with a global tally of $1.086 billion.
The threequel earned a stellar $29 million in its fourth outing for a domestic tally of $545.9 million. Its foreign tally is $596.8 million for a worldwide cume of $1.142 billion, making it the No. 9 MCU movie of all time.
Coming in No. 3 in its sophomore outing is Sony and Wayfarer Studios’ film adaptation of Colleen Hoover‘s best-selling novel It Ends With Us. The Blake Lively starrer declined a respectable 52 percent to $24 million for a domestic total of nearly $100 million through Sunday.
In its first seven days, the female-fueled film earned $73.7 million, the best showing of the year so far for a non-sequel. The movie is reporting strong repeat business despite an ongoing social media storm regarding a rift between Lively and co-star/director Justin Baldoni, who has hired a veteran PR crisis manager.
Amblin Entertainment and Universal’s Twisters is placed No. 4 despite now being available on premium VOD. The natural disaster pic grossed $9.8 million for a domestic tally of $238.4 million and $333.4 million globally. (Warner Bros. is handling the film overseas.)
The 15th anniversary release of Focus Features’ stop-motion classic Coraline also made headlines. Fathom Events is handling the rerelease, which set a new record in earning $8.9 million for the weekend and $11.3 million since opening on Thursday. It’s the highest gross ever for a Fathom Classics title.
Overall, weekend domestic revenue came in at around $139 million, up a whopping 37 percent over the same frame in 2023 and up 14 percent over 2019. The summer started off sluggish, when year-to-date revenue was down an alarming 38 percent over 2023. Now, that deficit has been shaved to 15 percent.
Disney’s Inside Out 2 remains the biggest hero of summer, with a global tally of $1.626 billion, the best showing ever for an animated pic. Over the weekend, it also became the top-grossing animated film at the international box office.
More to come.
Aug. 18, 8:02 a.m. Updated with revised estimates.
This story was originally published Aug. 17 at 9:22 a.m.
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