鈥淎lien: Romulus,鈥� 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, 鈥淎lien: Romulus鈥� 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鈥檚 鈥� Deadpool & Wolverine 鈥� now in its fourth weekend, taking second place with $29 million. The company has been responsible for an estimated 42% of the industry鈥檚 summer box office haul, including hits 鈥淚nside Out 2鈥� and 鈥淜ingdom of the Planet of the Apes.鈥�
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 鈥淒eadpool & Wolverine鈥� and 鈥淚t Ends With Us鈥� helped build a momentum that put this late August weekend over 30% ahead of the same weekend last year. It鈥檚 also up over 10% from August 2019.
鈥淭he summer started off pretty gloomy, but it鈥檚 winding up really strong,鈥� said Paul Dergarabedian, the senior media analyst for Comscore. 鈥淲e thought we were going to coast through August, but now we鈥檙e powering through August towards a much better overall summer number than we expected for the box office.鈥�
Fede 脕lvarez directed 鈥淎lien: Romulus,鈥� set around the time of 鈥淎lien鈥� and 鈥淎liens,鈥� 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 脕lvarez鈥檚 propensity for all things horror, as he is known for 鈥淓vil Dead鈥� and 鈥淒on鈥檛 Breathe,鈥� and embraces the franchise鈥檚 horror roots.
Reviews have been a little mixed, but mostly positive, with an 81% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences gave it a B+ CinemaScore.
The romantic drama 鈥� It Ends With Us 鈥� landed in third place with $24 million, down just 52% from its triumphant opening. The Sony movie starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, who also directed, has made $97.8 million to date. It cost only $25 million to produce.
The film was adapted from the bestselling Colleen Hoover novel of the same name that follows Lively as Lily Bloom, a woman at a crossroads when a past love upends her current relationship with Baldoni鈥檚 Ryle Kincaid.
Rumors of behind-the-scenes drama on the film also continues to dominate social media discourse and tabloid headlines 鈥� but 鈥淒on鈥檛 Worry Darling鈥� also taught us that gossip and chatter don鈥檛 always translate to box office returns.
鈥淭wisters鈥� placed fourth in its fifth weekend with $9.8 million from 3,483 theaters. The Universal release has made over $238.4 million domestically.
Rounding out the top five was a re-release: 鈥淐oraline,鈥� which Fathom Events put on over 1,500 screens for its 15th anniversary where it made $11.3 million in four days and $8.6 million from Friday through Sunday. The stop-motion animated film was an adaptation of a Neil Gaiman novella, written and directed by Henry Selick and marked the first-ever release for Laika. It鈥檒l be in theaters until Aug. 22.
鈥淏orderlands,鈥� the video game adaptation starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart and Jamie Lee Curtis, brought in $2.4 million in its second weekend bringing its total box office earnings to $13.5 million compared to its reported $120 million budget.
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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.
1. 鈥淎lien: Romulus,鈥� $41.5 million.
2. 鈥淒eadpool & Wolverine,鈥� $29 million.
3. 鈥淚t Ends With Us,鈥� $24 million.
4. 鈥淭wisters,鈥� $9.8 million.
5. 鈥淐oraline,鈥� $8.6 million.
6. 鈥淒espicable Me 4,鈥� $6 million.
7. 鈥淭rap,鈥� $3.4 million.
8. 鈥淚nside Out 2,鈥� $3.2 million.
9. 鈥淏orderlands,鈥� $2.4 million.
10. 鈥淪tree 2,鈥� $2.2 million.
Lindsey Bahr And Kaitlyn Huamani, The Associated Press
