“Alien: Romulus” made a strong debut at the domestic box office with $41.5 million, marking the second-highest opening in the “Alien” franchise’s history. This impressive start allowed the film to end the three-week dominance of “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which recently surpassed “Joker” as the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever with $1.14 billion.
These milestones cap off a successful summer for Disney, which began with “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” (the highest-grossing film of May, earning $397 million) and continued with “Inside Out 2” (June’s top film with $1.597 billion) and “Deadpool & Wolverine” (July’s leader with $1.14 billion).
Earlier this month, Disney became the first studio in 2024 to surpass $3 billion in global ticket sales, a figure expected to grow with upcoming releases like “Moana 2” (Nov. 27) and “Mufasa: The Lion King” (Dec. 20).
This turnaround is notable given Disney’s 2023, which saw several commercial disappointments including “The Marvels,” “Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny,” “The Haunted Mansion” remake, and the animated “Wish.”
Globally, “Alien: Romulus” earned $66.7 million at the international box office, bringing its worldwide total to $108.2 million. The R-rated film has been well received, holding an 82% “fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a “B+” grade on CinemaScore, suggesting a positive outlook for its theatrical run.
David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research praised the film’s opening, noting, “This is an excellent start for a film this deep into its series. The original film in 1979 brought up the creature filmmaking, and 45 years later, the story still resonates. This is elite and impressive business.”
Directed by Fede Alvarez (“Don’t Breathe”), “Alien: Romulus” is the seventh installment in the franchise that began in 1979 with Ridley Scott’s “Alien.”
The film, which cost $80 million to produce, follows a group of young intergalactic colonists (including Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Madekwe, and Isabela Merced) who encounter a terrifying life form while scavenging a dilapidated space station.
In terms of opening weekend ticket sales, “Alien: Romulus” surpassed the starts of 2017’s “Alien: Covenant” ($36 million) and 2004’s “Alien vs. Predator” ($38.3 million) but fell short of 2012’s “Prometheus” ($51 million).
The film was the only new nationwide release of the weekend, following the removal of Kevin Costner’s “Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 2” from the calendar.
“Chapter 1,” which cost $100 million, underperformed in June with a global total of $32 million, leading to the cancellation of the sequel’s release.
In other box office results, “Deadpool & Wolverine” edged out Sony’s romantic drama “It Ends With Us” to secure second place.
Marvel’s superhero film, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, added $29 million in its fourth weekend, a 46% drop from the previous week. It has grossed $545.8 million in North America and $596.8 million internationally so far.
“It Ends With Us” continued to perform strongly, earning $24 million from 3,739 theaters in its second weekend, a 52% decrease from its $50 million opening.
The film, adapted from Colleen Hoover’s bestseller and starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni (who also directed), is approaching the $100 million mark domestically with $97.7 million and has earned $180 million globally after just ten days of release. The film was co-financed by Sony Pictures and Baldoni’s Wayfarer Studios for $25 million.
Universal’s disaster epic “Twisters” landed in fourth place with $9.8 million from 3,483 locations in its fifth weekend, a 35% drop from the previous week.
The film, featuring Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, and Anthony Ramos as storm chasers in Oklahoma, has grossed $238.4 million in North America and $333.4 million worldwide.
A 15th-anniversary re-release of Laika’s stop-motion fantasy film “Coraline” rounded out the top five with $8.9 million from 1,535 theaters. The film has earned approximately $11.3 million since its return to theaters on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Lionsgate’s video game adaptation “Borderlands” struggled, falling to ninth place with $2.35 million from 3,125 theaters in its second weekend.
The poorly reviewed film, starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, and Ariana Greenblatt, has only made $13 million in North America to date against a $115 million production budget, making it one of the year’s biggest box office disappointments.
