The numbers are in, andĀ Alien: RomulusĀ is off to scary big start.
Per Deadline, the sci-fi horror flick went above box office projections and opened at $108.2 million worldwide, at time of writing. Its international haul came to $66.7 million, and its overperformance can be owed to China. There, it started at $25.7 million, making it the second-best opening for a Hollywood movie this year. Domestically, itās made $41.5 million, double the projected high-$20 million range. It also makes for the second-best opening for the entire AlienĀ franchise (behind 2012ās Prometheus, said the Hollywood Reporter), and is the film that finally knocked Deadpool & WolverineĀ off its number one spot. Not that it matters, since the studio has already done plenty well in theaters this summer with these two movies andĀ Inside Out 2.
RomulusĀ was initially meant for Hulu before Disney decided to bump it to a full theatrical release, and that gamble clearly paid off. People love them someĀ Alien,Ā and it helps that itās been long enough sinceĀ Alien: CovenantĀ slithered to theaters in 2017 that people had enough time to miss the series. (Ahead of the new movie, I saw several people on social media rewatching the prior films to get ready for this one.) Add on the fact that trailers for it have been attached to pretty much every big film in the last few months and strong word of mouth, and itās no wonder the movieās gone beyond initial expectations.
With two weeks left in August,Ā RomulusĀ has some genre competition in the form of the long-gestating remake ofĀ The Crow, Strange Darling, andĀ Blink TwiceĀ next week on August 23. On August 30, thereās the AI tech thriller Afraid starring John Cho and Katherine Waterson,Ā and the Casey Affleck and Laurence Fishburne-led Slingshot.