Romulus Tops Box Office With $40-42 Million Debut

Fede Alvarez Alien: Romulus is doing well in its box office debut as it strives to revive the classic franchise.

The 20th Century-Disney film topped Friday’s domestic chart with $18 million, including $6.5 million in previews, for an opening weekend between $40 million and $42 million.Romulus also gets bragging rights as the film that finally toppled Marvel Studios Deadpool and Wolverine from the first place.)

The best news for filmmakers: Romulus The film succeeds in appealing to both young men and older men who grew up with the franchise. It’s also another victory for the Disney movie empire and the summer box office as a whole. The film has an 82% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes and received a CinemaScore of B+, the highest score in the franchise.

Romulus is also doing well overseas with a projected worldwide opening of over $100 million.

The eighth installment in the long-running series Stranger The franchise takes place between the events of Ridley Scott’s 1979 film Stranger and James Cameron’s 1986 sequel, Aliens. (Scott is a producer on Romulus.) This R-rated film tells the story of young colonists who discover an abandoned space station and encounter the horror of the alien creature that is the undisputed star of the franchise. The film stars Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced and Spike Fearn.

Romulus Originally slated to be released directly to streaming and debut on Disney-owned Hulu, the studio switched to theatrical as principal photography began.

Deadpool and Wolverine falls to second place after reigning supreme for three consecutive weekends, but there’s no reason to feel sorry for Marvel and Disney’s irreverent film, which has broken numerous records to now rank as the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time at the global box office, excluding inflation.

Directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, Deadpool and Wolverine reached its latest milestone on August 15 after surpassing Joker and ends the day with a grand total of $1.086 billion.

The third installment is on track to gross another $27 million to $28 million this weekend, which would bring its domestic total to around $545 million.

The film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling novel, produced by Sony and Wayfarer Studios, comes in third for its second outing. It ends with usThe Blake Lively directorial is expected to earn between $24 million and $26 million this weekend, for a domestic total of nearly $100 million through Sunday.

In its first seven days, the female-starring film has grossed $73.7 million, the year’s best showing for a non-sequel. The film has reported strong repeat business despite a social media firestorm over a breakup between Lively and co-star/director Justin Baldoni, who hired a seasoned PR crisis manager.

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