Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus is scaring up strong business in its box office debut as it sets out to revive the classic franchise.
The 20th Century and Disney movie topped Friday’s domestic chart with $18 million, including $6.5 million in previews, for an opening weekend in the $40 million to $42 million range. (Romulus also gets bragging rights to being the film that finally toppled Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine from the top spot.)
The best news for filmmakers: Romulus is succeeding in appealing to younger males in addition to older males who grew up on the franchise. It’s also another win for the Disney film empire and the summer box office overall. The movie sports a fresh 82 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, and received a near-franchise best B+ CinemaScore.
Romulus is also doing well overseas with a projected $100 million-plus global opening.
The eighth installment in the long-running Alien franchise is set between the events of Ridley Scott’s 1979 Alien and James Cameron’s 1986 sequel, Aliens. (Scott is a producer on Romulus.) The R-rated movie tells the story of young colonists who come across a derelict space station and encounter the horror of the alien creature that is the enduring star of the franchise. The film stars Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced and Spike Fearn.
Romulus was originally slated to go straight to streaming and debut on the Disney-owned Hulu, but the studio shifted to theatrical at the start of principal photography.
Deadpool & Wolverine is falling to No. 2 after ruling the roost for three consecutive weekends, but there’s no reason to feel sorry for the irreverent Marvel and Disney pic, which has shattered numerous records on its way to now ranking as the top-grossing R-rated film of all time at the global box office, not adjusted for inflation.
Directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, Deadpool & Wolverine achieved its latest milestone on Aug. 15 after passing up Joker and finishing the day with a global tally of $1.086 billion.
The threequel is on course to earn another $27 million to $28 million this weekend, which would put its domestic tally around $545 million.
Coming in No. 3 in its sophomore outing is Sony and Wayfarer Studios’ film adaptation of Colleen Hoover‘s best-selling novel It Ends With Us. The Blake Lively starrer is expected to earn anywhere from $24 million to $26 million this weekend for a domestic total of nearly $100 million through Sunday.
In its first seven days, the female-fueled film earned $73.7 million, the best showing of the year so far for a non-sequel. The movie is reporting strong repeat business despite an ongoing social media storm regarding a rift between Lively and co-star/director Justin Baldoni, who has hired a veteran PR crisis manager.
Universal’s Twisters is slated to come in No. 4 — it’s also now available on premium VOD — followed by the 15th anniversary release of Focus Features’ stop-motion classic Coraline. Fathom Events is handling the re-release, which earned $5.8 million on Thursday and Friday alone.
Numbers will be updated Sunday morning.