Space horror Alien: Romulus has nudged Deadpool & Wolverine off the top spot at the box office, and made $108m globally on its opening weekend.
Buoyed by strong reviews and a insistent marketing campaign by Disney, Alien: Romulus has managed to knock Deadpool & Wolverine off the top spot at the US box office, making an unexpectedly strong $41.5m – the best opening for the franchise since 2012’s Prometheus.
There’s more good news for director Fede Alvarez’s space horror overseas; Alien: Romulus made $66.7m internationally – a number boosted in no small part by the film’s reception in China, where it made $25.7m. According to Variety’s number crunching, it’s the second best opening weekend for a Hollywood film in the region this year. In the UK, ticket sales amounted to $4.8m, while the takings added up to $3.8m in France.
Given that Alien: Romulus’s budget was $80m – relatively modest for a sci-fi film such as this – and that its destination was originally Disney’s streaming service, these numbers may coax Disney into putting more of its output in cinemas.
Read more: Alien: Romulus spoiler-free review | A bloody, chaotic tribute to the series’ best films
Prey, the Predator spin-off film from director Dan Trachtenberg, went straight to Disney+ in 2022, which was disappointing given that its tense action could have worked brilliantly with an appreciative cinema audience. Trachtenberg is currently working on his latest Predator spin-off, Badlands; perhaps that one will see the inside of a multiplex following Alien: Romulus’s success.
It remains to be seen how Romulus will fare on its second weekend, once the initial rush from long-term fans has subsided. Here, too, there might be some positive signs for the movie: according to The Hollywood Reporter, the sequel/prequel/sidequel is appealing to younger male cinema-goers as well as the older set. The exit polls from people who’ve seen it are also promising, with it getting a B+ CinemaScore – slightly better than Alien: Covenant and Prometheus, which both scored a B.
All of which means that, if Alvarez fancied making another Alien movie – he sounded cautiously open to the idea in June – then Disney would probably let him if the current numbers are anything to go by.
If you’re unsure whether to stump up some cash for a ticket to see Alien: Romulus, then by all means have a read of our spoiler-free verdict (we rather liked it, albeit with some caveats). If you have seen Alien: Romulus, then there’s always our spoiler-filled exploration of its murky plot developments.
