After three consecutive weekends led by DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE, a new box office champion was crowned this weekend when ALIEN: ROMULUS burst into first. The latest chapter in the 45-year-old alien monster series earned $41.5M in its first three days, lifting the total weekend box office to $135.7M. This compares to $97.4M last year on this same weekend when DC’s BLUE BEETLE led all films with $25M in its opening.
ALIEN: ROMULUS continues a 4-week streak of R-rated films in the top spot. It has also contributed to a late summer surge in movie ticket sales, with the domestic box office for the last 24 days coming in at $1.038B. That is 14% higher than last summer’s corresponding 24-day period.
ALIEN: ROMULUS is the seventh feature film in the iconic sci-fi series which began with the original ALIEN in 1979, directed by then 41-year-old Ridley Scott. The six ALIEN movies to date have grossed $1.1B worldwide, with PROMETHEUS from 2012 being the top-grossing movie in the series, generating $51.1M in its opening weekend and a total of $126.5M domestic and $403.4M worldwide. Based on this weekend’s results, ALIEN: ROMULUS has now taken over second place. Here is a look at the box office of all the ALIEN movies.
ALIEN FRANCHISE HISTORY
- ALIEN (8/25/1979) – Opening Domestic $3.5M, Total Domestic $84.2M, Total Worldwide, $108.6M, Budget $11M, RT Critics/Audience 93%/94%
- ALIENS (7/18/1986) – Opening Domestic $10.1M, Total Domestic $85.2M, Total Worldwide, $131.1M, Budget $18.5M, RT Critics/Audience 94%/94%
- ALIEN 3 (8/22/1992) – Opening Domestic $19.4M, Total Domestic $55.5M, Total Worldwide, $104.3M, Budget $50M, RT Critics/Audience 44%/46%
- ALIEN RESURRECTION (11/26/1997) – Opening Domestic $16.5M, Total Domestic $47.8M, Total Worldwide, $161.4M, Budget $75M, RT Critics/Audience 55%/39%
- PROMETHEUS (8/8/2012) – Opening Domestic $51.1M, Total Domestic $126.5M, Total Worldwide, $403.4M, Budget $130M, RT Critics/Audience 73%/68%
- ALIEN: COVENANT (8/19/2017) – Opening Domestic $36.2M, Total Domestic $74.3M, Total Worldwide, $240.9M, Budget $97M, RT Critics/Audience 65%/55%
- ALIEN: ROMULUS (8/16/2024) – Opening Domestic $41.5M, Budget $80M, RT Critics/Audience 81%/86%
ALIEN: ROMULUS was written and directed by Fede Alvarez (DON’T BREATHE, EVIL DEAD). The events in the movie take place between those of the original ALIEN (1979) and its first sequel ALIENS (1986).
The cast is led by Cailee Spaeny, coming off her critically acclaimed performance as Priscilla Presley in PRISCILLA. The story follows a group of young space colonists who, while scavenging a derelict space station, come face to face with the Alien xenomorph.
If you are wondering what a xenomorph is, you can look it up here. It is the name of the multi-talented predator species that animates the ALIEN franchise. While both critics and audiences loved the first two ALIEN films, directed by Ridley Scott and James Cameron, the last four have struggled to resonate. ALIEN: ROMULUS seems to have brought back some of the cache of the early films, with solid Rotten Tomatoes scores of 81% from critics and 86% from audiences.
With a $83M production budget, lower than PROMETHEUS’ $130M and ALIEN: COVENANT’s $97M, ALIEN: ROMULUS will need to gross $200M worldwide to turn a profit. After a strong opening and positive audience response, it seems to be well on its way. Another Alien movie could appear in theatres in 2029, just in time to celebrate the fiftieth anniversary of the original.
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE finished in second place by bringing in $29M, a decline of 46% from last weekend. The film’s 24-day total stands at $545.8M domestic and $1.187B worldwide. D&W has become the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, surpassing the $1.064B worldwide total that JOKER earned in 2019.
It already claimed the box office record for an R-rated movie in the domestic market by passing the $370.8M earned by THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST in 2004. The movie’s box office has easily exceeded that of the two earlier movies in the DEADPOOL franchise.
DEADPOOL FRANCHISE BOX OFFICE RESULTS
- DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE (7/26/2024) – Opening Domestic $211.4M, 24-Day Total $545.8M, 4th Weekend Drop 46%, Budget $200M, RT Critics/Audience 78%/95%
- DEADPOOL (2/12/2016) – Opening Domestic $132.4M, 24-Day Total $311.5M, 4th Weekend Drop 46%, Total Domestic $363.1M, Budget $58M, RT Critics/Audience 85%/90%
- DEADPOOL 2 (5/18/2018) – Opening Domestic $125.5M, 24-Day Total $279.2M, 4th Weekend Drop 39%, Total Domestic $324.6M, Budget $110M, RT Critics/Audience 84%/86%
With many more weeks to go before its theatrical run is over, we project that DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE will wind up earning approximately $585M domestically and $1.219M worldwide.
Sony’s IT ENDS WITH US finished in third place with $24M, a drop of 52% from its surprisingly strong opening weekend. After 10 days, the romantic drama has brought in $97.8M domestic and $134M worldwide.
It will most likely wind up as Blake Lively’s second highest-grossing movie, trailing GREEN LANTERN which earned $237.2M in 2011, where Lively starred alongside Ryan Reynolds. Some are comparing IT ENDS WITH US to another recent romantic drama, WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING from 2022. Here is a side-by-side comparison of the box office for those two films.
- IT ENDS WITH US (8/9/2024) – Opening Domestic $50.0M, Weekend #2 Domestic $24.0M (-52%), Budget $30M, RT Critics/Audience 56%/34%
- WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING (7/10/2022) – Opening Domestic $17.3M, Weekend #2 Domestic $10.4M (-40%), Total Domestic $90.2M, Total Worldwide $144.4M, Budget $24M, RT Critics/Audience 92%/96%
While both films will be successful, IT ENDS WITH US has outgrossed WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING by 2 ½ times in its first 10 days in theatres. A strength for CRAWDADS was its ability to hold onto its audience in subsequent weeks, with a modest drop of only 40% in its second weekend.
IT ENDS WITH US opened with a much higher number, though its second-weekend drop was steeper at 52%. In the end, IT ENDS WITH US will wind up earning more than CRAWDADS’ $90.2M domestic total. Both movies show that a feature appealing to an adult female audience with a controlled budget can be a winner.
Universal’s TWISTERS finished in fourth place, adding $9.8M and dropping 35% from last weekend. Its totals after 31 days are $238.4M domestic and $329.3M worldwide. We expect the action thriller to finish with $250M domestic and $345M worldwide.
As a reminder, the original TWISTER sold $242M domestically and $495M worldwide back in 1996. After adjusting those amounts to account for inflation over the past 28 years, TWISTER would have sold $485M domestically and $992M worldwide in current dollars.
Fathom’s 15th-anniversary re-release of CORALINE finished in fifth place with a weekend box office of $8.6M. The re-issue opened on Thursday and has sold $11.8M over the past four days. The original movie from Focus Features opened on February 6, 2009, and took in $16.8M in its debut, going on to earn $85.5M domestically and $134.9M worldwide.
The story follows the 11-year-old girl Coraline, who moves with her family to a seemingly boring new town. While exploring her new house, she discovers a hidden door through which she experiences a strangely idealized version of her life. Fathom is to be congratulated for finding some theatrical juice left in this 15-year-old kids’ animated classic.
Where Are We as of 8/15/24
After 32 weeks, the 2024 year-to-date box office is 83% of 2023 totals and 72% of 2019 totals at this same point in the year.