“ Alien: Romulus,” the latest installment in the 45-year-old franchise, opened in first place at the North American box office.
The 20th Century Studios release earned an estimated $41.5 million in its first weekend, where it was playing in 3,885 locations in the U.S. and Canada.
Including $66.7 million from international showings in 49 markets, “Alien: Romulus” boasted a $108.2 million global debut. The Walt Disney Co., which owns 20th Century Studios, claimed the top two spots on the charts, with Marvel’s “ Deadpool & Wolverine ” now in its fourth weekend, taking second place with $29 million. The company has been responsible for an estimated 42% of the industry’s summer box office haul, including hits “Inside Out 2” and “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.”
August can often be slow for the movie business, or, less charitably, a dumping ground. But while 2024 has lagged overall for the movie business, a string of recent hits including “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “ It Ends With Us ” helped build a momentum that put this late August weekend over 30% ahead of the same weekend last year. It’s also up over 10% from August 2019.
“The summer started off pretty gloomy, but it’s winding up really strong,” said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. “We thought we were going to coast through August, but now we’re powering through August towards a much better overall summer number than we expected for the box office.”
Fede Álvarez directed “Alien: Romulus, ” set around the time of “Alien” and “Aliens,” and recruited a cast of up-and-coming 20-somethings to lead the cast including Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson and Isabela Merced. The sci-fi film leans into Álvarez’s propensity for all things horror, as he is known for “Evil Dead” and “Don’t Breathe,” and embraces the franchise’s horror roots.
Reviews have been a little mixed, but mostly positive, with an 81% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences gave it a B+ CinemaScore.