UPDATE: 2024/08/18 08:19 EST BY BRENNAN KLEIN
Alien: Romulus Lands At The Upper End Of Projections For Its Debut Weekend With $41.5 Million
This article was originally written Saturday AM and has been updated Sunday AM with altered box office projections (in bold), a full chart, and further analysis.
Summary
- Alien: Romulus is projected to have an opening weekend between $40 and $42 million.
- This marks the second-best debut of the franchise behind 2012's Prometheus.
- Romulus has become the first movie to knock the Marvel hit Deadpool & Wolverine from its perch at No. 1.
Alien: Romulus release comes 45 years after the series kicked off with Ridley Scott's original 1979 classic, spawning a multimedia franchise that now includes seven movies, two crossovers with the Predator franchise, an FX television show, and much more.
Per Deadline, as of Sunday morning, Alien: Romulus is projected to earn a three-day debut total of $41.5 million at the domestic box office. The movie is claiming the No. 1 spot on the chart, knocking the Marvel hit Deadpool & Wolverine to No. 2 after three weekends on top. This is still a win for Disney, as the company owns both Marvel Studios and Alien's 20th Century Studios and thus has both the Top 2 movies this weekend. This also marks the second-best opening weekend of the entire Alien franchise, behind the $51 million debut of 2012's Prometheus.
Alien: Romulus Conquers The Domestic Top 5
The Sci-Fi Sequel (And A Surprise Title) Shook Up The Entire Chart
By claiming the No. 1 title for the weekend, Alien: Romulus has caused a chain reaction and pushed the previous weekend's Top 3 titles one spot down the chart apiece. The Deadpool & Wolverine release is now No. 2, still putting up fierce competition for silver with a hearty $29 million gross. Meanwhile, the runaway romance hit It Ends with Us, starring Blake Lively, has fallen to No. 3 in its second weekend while the holdover smash Twisters continues its slow descent down the chart by falling to No. 4. Check out the full domestic Top 5 chart below:
# |
Title |
3-Day Total |
Cumulative (Domestic) |
|---|---|---|---|
1 |
Alien: Romulus |
$41.5 million |
$41.5 million (weekend 1) |
2 |
Deadpool & Wolverine |
$29 million |
$545.8 million (weekend 4) |
3 |
It Ends with Us |
$24 million |
$97.7 million (weekend 2) |
4 |
Twisters |
$9.8 million |
$238.4 million (weekend 5) |
5 |
Coraline |
$8.37 million |
~$81 million (weekend 1/re-release) |
The one huge surprise on the chart is the Fathom Events 15th anniversary re-release of the Laika stop-motion classic Coraline landing at No. 5 with a 3-day haul of $8.37 million. While the movie, which has a Certified Fresh score of 91% on Rotten Tomatoes, is a generally well-regarded title, re-releases typically perform more in the $1 to $3 million range, so the title has vastly overperformed and shaken up the chart, landing ahead of the holdover animated hits Despicable Me 4 and Inside Out 2, the latter of which recently became the highest-grossing animated movie of all time.
The Coraline re-release included 3D showings, which increases ticket prices and may for some of its box office boost.
With one new title and one older title charting this weekend, two of last weekend's Top 5 have departed the chart. This includes Despicable Me 4, which fell from No. 5 to No. 6, knocked out by its stop-motion competition. While that movie may return to the Top 5, the Borderlands release continues to struggle to connect with audiences, following its disappointing $8.6 million opening with a $2.35 million second weekend, falling from No. 4 all the way down to No. 9. It seems unlikely to appear in the Top 10 in its third weekend, let alone the Top 5.
How Alien: Romulus Compares To The Franchise Overall
The New Alien Movie Could Become A Huge Hit
Having the second-best debut behind Prometheus could also mean that Romulus will have the second-best overall worldwide performance behind the 2012 prequel, which is to date the highest-performing movie in the franchise, earning $403.3 million worldwide. This could be a huge boon, because the new movie cost $50 million less to produce than the Ridley Scott title, meaning it could be even more profitable overall. Below, see a breakdown of how the movie's budget and opening weekend compare to the performance of the previous Alien movies, not adjusted for inflation:
Title |
Budget |
Opening Weekend |
Worldwide Box Office |
|---|---|---|---|
Alien (1979) |
$11 million |
$3.5 million |
$184.7 million |
Aliens (1986) |
$18.5 million |
$10 million |
$183.3 million |
Alien 3 (1992) |
~$60 million |
$19.4 million |
$159.8 million |
Alien Resurrection (1997) |
$70 million |
$16.5 million |
$161.4 million |
Alien vs. Predator (2004) |
~$70 million |
$38.3 million |
$177.4 million |
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem (2007) |
$40 million |
$10 million |
$130.3 million |
Prometheus (2012) |
~$130 million |
$51 million |
$403.3 million |
Alien: Covenant (2017) |
~$100 million |
$36.2 million |
$240.9 million |
Alien: Romulus (2024) |
$80 million |
$41.5 million |
TBD |
In general, a movie needs to earn somewhere between two and two-and-a-half times its budget to turn a profit, which could place the break-even point for Romulus somewhere around $200 million. While this is still a tall order when compared to the performance of previous movies in the Alien franchise, the fact that it is projected to open higher than Covenant, which earned $240.9 million by the end of its run, should show that it is on track to turn a tidy profit by the time it leaves theaters, with the potential to grow.
While it may never be able to catch up with the box office total of Prometheus, it can potentially close the gap between its current standing and the overall total of the 2012 record-breaking movie.
The fact that Alien: Romulus is performing well critically, earning a Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score of 81% alongside an 86% audience score at the time of writing, could also help it build steam as its theatrical run continues. While it may never be able to catch up with the box office total of Prometheus, it can potentially close the gap between its current standing and the overall total of the 2012 record-breaking movie. As it stands, unless it craters catastrophically in its second weekend, it should become the highest-performing movie in the franchise that isn't in the prequel timeline.
Source: Deadline
Alien: Romulus
- Release Date
- August 16, 2024
- Runtime
- 119 Minutes
- Director
- Fede Alvarez
Cast
Rain
Andy
WHERE TO WATCH
Alien: Romulus is the seventh film in the Alien franchise. The movie is directed by Fede Álvarez and will focus on a new young group of characters who come face to face with the terrifying Xenomorphs. Alien: Romulus is a stand-alone film and takes place in a time not yet explored in the Alien franchise.
Your comment has not been saved