With just the right configuration, the Alien franchise is back on track. Romulus opens to $41 million at the U.S. box office (August 16-18, 2024). While it's not far from the most recent Alien movie Covenant, it will be a success story due to some important context.
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| Alien Romulus. (C) 20th Century Studios |
First of, Romulus carries an $80 million budget - lower than the last two installments which cost over $100 million each. It has also received a stronger B+ Cinemascore (Covenant got a B). This means it has lower ceiling to hit for break-even and it has the potential to leg out during the month. It also skewed very young with 60% being at the 18-34 demographic. Together with its solid $66 million debut overseas, this should deliver a nice profit for Disney.
Deadpool and Wolverine sees another decent drop this weekend with -46% at $29 million. With $545 million now in the back, it's march towards a $600 million final total still seems like a reachable mission.
No drama can bring down It Ends With Us as the Blake Lively/Justin Baldoni movie brings in a strong $24 million on its second weekend - a number higher than the opening weekend of Where The Crawdads Sing ($17 million). While Alien Romulus may deliver a nice profit, the $25-million It Ends is already delivering buttloads of cash for everybody involved.
The 15th Anniversary release of Coraline flexes the staying power of the film as it opens to $8.3 million for Fathom events. Hindi-language film Stree 2 also cracks in the top 10 with a $2.5 million opening (#9).
August continues to prove it can give box office legs with Twisters (-35%), Despicable Me 4 (-25%), & Inside Out 2 (-34%) all seeing great drops despite already opening big. Trap even doubled its budget now with a $62 million (adds $3.5 million this weekend) global total against a $30 million production cost. Not everyone enjoyed it though as last week's Borderlands tumbled 73% this weekend - only adding $2.35 million.
Overall box office this weekend (est. $135 million) is also up vs. last year ($97 million) when Blue Beetle opened.
