After 7 years, a new installment in the Alien franchise finally premiered last week with Alien: Romulus. Many fans were looking forward to a new sci-fi horror film, and the box office numbers prove it, as the film even managed to dethrone the big Marvel hit.
How successful is Alien: Romulus? Looking at the numbers from Box Office Mojo for last weekend in the USA, Alien: Romulus had a pretty good start. It grossed nearly 42 million dollars (around 37.7 million euros). Many were especially excited for the horror element in Alien: Romulus and apparently went to the cinema as a result.
Thus, Alien: Romulus topped the box office charts in the USA. It dethroned Deadpool & Wolverine, which only grossed just under 30 million dollars (about 27 million euros) last weekend. It should be noted, however, that the Marvel film has been almost continuously at number 1 for a month and has already grossed over 1.1 billion dollars (about 900 million euros).
Even outside the USA, things are looking good for Alien: Romulus. Industry expert Dan Murrell shows this on his YouTube channel. Internationally, the new sci-fi film grossed almost 67 million dollars (about 60 million euros). Alien: Romulus was also number 1 internationally over the weekend. Number 2 was It Ends With Us, and Deadpool was back at number 3.
Interestingly, a different film is number 1 in Germany. You can read about it with our colleagues at Filmstarts: Box Office: “Deadpool & Wolverine” was dethroned from number 1 – but not by “Alien: Romulus”!
A good start for the series
How does the film compare to other Alien films? As Dan Murrell highlights in his video, Alien: Romulus has the second-best opening of the franchise. Only Prometheus in 2012 did better with nearly 51 million dollars (about 46 million euros). However, these figures are not adjusted for inflation. If adjusted, Alien: Romulus falls to 5th place.
How well Alien: Romulus will perform in the coming weeks remains to be seen this weekend. With an estimated budget of 80 million dollars, the worldwide total of nearly 120 million dollars is a good sign for the franchise.
What does MeinMMO editor Nikolas Hernes think of the film? I love horror films and I love the Alien franchise, so I was really looking forward to the movie. The film is a great homage to the entire franchise and not just to the earlier parts of the series. The horror worked, the aliens have never been as disgusting as they are here, and the actors are really good. Especially Cailee Spaney and David Jonsson are truly great. How the new film ranks in a personal ranking can be seen here: All Alien films ranked.
