'Alien: Romulus' Takes In $41.5 Million To Lead The Box Office Charts
The latest movie in the 45-year-old franchise, “Alien: Romulus,” debuted first at the North American box office.
The 20th Century Studios release grossed an estimated $41.5 million in its opening weekend, playing at 3,885 sites across the United States and Canada.
“Alien: Romulus” made $108.2 million in its global launch, including $66.7 million from international showings in 49 markets. The Walt Disney Company, which owns 20th Century Studios, won the top two spots on the rankings, with Marvel’s “Deadpool & Wolverine,” currently in its fourth weekend, coming in second with $29 million.
The business is responsible for an estimated 42% of the industry’s summer box office take, which includes hits like “Inside Out 2” and “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes.”
August is sometimes a sluggish month for the film industry, or, to put it mildly, a dumping ground. While 2024 has trailed overall in the movie market, a succession of recent hits such as “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “It Ends With Us” helped build momentum, putting this late August weekend over 30% ahead of the same weekend the previous year. It’s also up more than 10% since August 2019.
“The summer started off pretty gloomy, but it’s winding up really strong,” said Paul Dergarabedian, Comscore’s senior media analyst. “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 during the time of “Alien” and “Aliens,” with a cast of up-and-coming 20-somethings including Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, and Isabela Merced. The sci-fi film capitalizes on Álvarez’s experience with horror films like “Evil Dead” and “Don’t Breathe” and pays homage to the franchise’s roots.
Reviews have been divided, but mainly good, with an 81% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. The audience scored it a B+ CinemaScore.
