Jordan Peele’s second foray into the horror genre has proven itself with major box office numbers — then again, we’re not surprised it’s been a hit at the theaters.
Us is one of those films that when some watched the trailer, an effective “no thank you” followed — not because we doubt Peele’s talent in horror, but because we know how incredibly good he is and thus this would be one terrifying experience. Clones are never fun, right?
But it looks like even the most scared audience members flooded to the movie theaters this last weekend as the film now holds the title for biggest opening weekend for an original, standalone horror film.
For many of us, we fell in love with Jordan Peele’s terrifying storytelling abilities with Get Out. The director has an incredible ability to twist the narrative to have us at the edge of our seats, simultaneously horrified while also picking up a few meaningful life lessons.
Us isn’t that different. Focused on a family who encounter their doppelgängers, we watch as they try to escape a terrifying night of fighting against… well, themselves.
Starring Lupita Nyong’o, Winston Duke, and Elisabeth Moss, the film offers us an amazing cast of actors that portray both themselves as well as their “thethers.” The movie should be considered for this highest of awards — especially Nyong’o for her riveting performance alone.
So, how does the film stack up against other horror films? Us opened in 3, 741 theaters around the United States and, in doing so, made upwards of $70.3 million, making it the top performing original film and the third highest grossing opening weekend of any horror film. (The It remake opened with $123.4 million and Halloween‘s sequel had an opening weekend of $76.2 million.)
For a film in the horror genre, that is extremely impressive. To be honest, it probably helps that Get Out shocked audiences first, leaving us all itching for the next Jordan Peele scare fest. When the trailer for Us came out, we were more than ready to lose ourselves in his next film. That and the trailers did an incredible job of terrifying us with a creepy version of “I Got 5 On It.”
Now that it has had an incredible opening weekend, there’s no excuse — Go see Us now!