20th Century Studios/Disney Alien: Romulus is gobbling up tickets worldwide and is expected to gross $100 million worldwide – significantly more than forecasts before the weekend. This is mainly due to the strong box office numbers of the Fede Alvarez-directed sci-fi horror film at the international box office and especially in China.
As Anthony reported, the domestic opening is expected to be between $40 million and $42 million. The Ridley Scott-produced installment in the franchise has grossed $26 million overseas through Friday, giving it an international opening of $60 million, adding up to $100 million worldwide (plus or minus) – a great start and weeks of action ahead. Good news for the industry and for Disney after its mega successes. Inside Out 2 And Deadpool and Wolverine.
Overall international Alien: Romulus is currently 40% ahead of the opening of A quiet place: day one (28% excluding China).
It remains to be seen how frontloaded Alien: Romulus is, but what’s happening overseas this weekend is that China is disproportionately investing compared to forecasts. Originally, hopes were for high single digits (possibly $10 million) for the fickle market and competitive environment. On Friday, the film landed at #2 with $6 million and shot up to #1 today. Gross is nearly $15 million as of midnight local time today, pointing to a $23 million China weekend, which will keep it at #1 in the market.
The social and critical ratings are strong. Maoyan gives it a 9.1 compared to competitors A quiet place: day one (7.1), Alien: Covenant (6.9) and Prometheus (7.6). The Douban score is 7.7 and is therefore higher than AQP: Day oneis 5.6, Alien: Covenant7.4 and Prometheus‘ 7.6.
Elsewhere, Alien: Romulus continues to top the Korean box office charts with $2.8 million, and France is at the top with $2.5 million.
We will have a full update tomorrow.
