It's not "game over, man!" for Alien: Romulus as it devours the top spot at the domestic box office

The Alien franchise came roaring back to movie theaters this weekend with Alien: Romulus. Despite the advice of Ellen Ripley, audiences did not “get away from” those dastardly Xenomorphs. Alien: Romulus grossed $41.5 million this weekend. That's the second-biggest domestic launch in the history of the franchise, only behind the $51 million debut of Prometheus. This one came quite close to the $37 million debut of Alien: Covenant's bow in May 2017. Barring a cataclysmic second-weekend decline, Romulus will become only the second Alien installment to clear $100+ million domestically (again, following Prometheus).

Disney got to wrap up a phenomenal box office run this summer with Alien: Romulus, which, like Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, suggested the Mouse House can keep long-running 20th Century Fox franchises going and going. Alien: Romulus smartly marketed itself as a grimy horror movie first and foremost, thus ensuring it could play on one of the most lucrative and reliable genres around nowadays. Its promotional material also emphasized a standalone approach to its storyline, which made it accessible to general moviegoers. You didn’t have to be an Alien devotee to think the posters or trailers looked cool.

Alien: Romulus marked an interesting departure for mainline Alien movies, which have largely opened in either late May, early June, or Thanksgiving. The first main Alien feature to open in August, Romulus scored the 17th biggest domestic debut ever for an August new release. The Romulus opening weekend was also the biggest domestic launch for a movie opening after the 15th of this month. Typically, the biggest August movies (Suicide Squad, Guardians of the Galaxy, Signs, etc.) bow in the month's first two weeks. It's rare for something to open extraordinarily well after August’s midway point. Previously, the biggest launch for a post-August 15 new release was the $38 million debut of Inglourious Basterds (released August 21, 2009). In its own way, Alien: Romulus was a reminder that appealing-looking movies will flourish no matter where you put them.

Fellow Disney/20th Century Studios property Deadpool & Wolverine finally forfeited the number one spot at the domestic box office this frame. Losing 45%, this title took in another $29.2 million for a sizeable $546 million domestic total. A $610-$620 million domestic finish looks to be in the cards for this smash hit. Just before its third domestic weekend got underway, Deadpool & Wolverine officially became the biggest R-rated movie of all time worldwide.

Impressively, It Ends with Us held nicely in its second weekend of release, easing 52% to gross another $24 million. For comparison’s sake, The Fault in Our Stars plummeted 69% on its second weekend of release and Fifty Shades of Grey dropped a steep 73%. It Ends with Us is clearly benefiting from great word of mouth and, unlike many other book adaptations, is drawing in audiences far beyond devotees to the original Coleen Hoover novel. Having grossed $97.7 million after 10 days of domestic release, there's a chance this production exceeds $150 million before its domestic run is through. At the very least, it'll get to an impressive $130 million with ease in North America.

Twisters continued its leggy summertime run with another $9.8 million, a 35% dip from last weekend. That brings this Lee Isaac Chung directorial effort to a mighty $238.4 million domestically. Look for this one to close out its domestic run with just under or over $260 million domestically.

Coraline returned to theaters this weekend for its 15th-anniversary re-release and delivered some fantastic returns. Over the 3-day weekend, Coraline grossed a robust $8.3 million, already more than the $7.1 million of its 2023 re-release. Including the $2.9 million from Thursday grosses, Coraline has now grossed $112. million in this theatrical reissue. That makes it only the fifth Fathom Events title in history to clear $10 million domestically. Per Box Office Mojo, Coraline has now grossed $93.6 million across its three theatrical runs. Can Coraline gross another $6.4 million to hit $100 million domestically? Depending on how it holds this week (and if Fathom keeps it on any screens next weekend), it just might. If it does, it’ll be only the second stop-motion animated film (following Chicken Run 24 years ago) in history to clear the nine-digit mark domestically.

Coraline is a great reminder for studios that need to reissue movies more in theaters. Yes, Fathom Events brings classic movies back nearly every weekend, however, they’re typically restricted to just two showtimes on Sunday and Wednesday. Over the last four consecutive days, Coraline played at movie theaters like theatrical re-releases used to: like normal new movies, with showtimes from morning to night over several consecutive days. Give these reissues some marketing muscle like the latest Coraline release had and studios could make some serious coin. The modern dearth of physical media and scarcity of many classic movies on streaming could make big-screen reissues of pre-2010 movies must-see attractions. Coraline’s roughly $18 million haul from its 2023 and 2024 domestic reissues shows there’s money here!

Despicable Me 4, in its seventh weekend of domestic release, grossed another $6 million, a tiny 25% dip from the last frame. One of the summer's biggest titles, Despicable Me 4 now has $340.4 million to its name and has surpassed the lifetime domestic gross of 2015's Minions. Next stop: shattering the $350 million mark. Trap dropped another 48% this weekend to gross another $3.4 million for $35.2 million domestically. Its domestic run will end in a disappointing $40-45 million range. Animated summertime hit Inside Out 2, in its tenth weekend of North American release, grossed another $3.2 million, a 34% dip from last weekend. The biggest movie of 2024 (both domestically and globally) has now grossed $642.1 million in North America alone.

Stree 2 came in at ninth place with a $2.57 million debut. There was no salvation for Borderlands in its second weekend of release, as this box office flop plummeted 73% in its second frame of release to gross another $2.35 million for a $13.4 million domestic total. That makes it only the ninth new release in history to open in over 3,000 theaters and fall 73+% in its second weekend of release. What a staggering failure, it’s truly rare to see this costly of a boondoggle in the modern world. This title won’t get past $20 million domestically, just comprehend that for a moment.

Harold and the Purple Crayon fell off a steep 67% this weekend, grossing just $1.02 million in its third frame. This flop has only grossed $15.7 million after 17 days of release. My Penguin Friend was just behind Harold with a disappointing $1.022 million debut from 1,080 theaters. That's only slightly ahead of the $990,279 bow of Gigi & Nate, the last "man and animal friendship movie" handled by Roadside Attractions domestically. In its second weekend of release, Cuckoo fell 71% to gross another $866,000 for a $5.3 million domestic haul. Arthouse darling Didi expanded into 427 theaters this weekend and grossed $700,000 for a per-theater average of $1,639 and a $2.69 million domestic haul to date. Then there was Longlegs, which grossed another $721,050 for a mighty $72.9 million domestic cume.

IFC Films, hot off its success with Late Night with the Devil, tried its hand once more with a wide-release horror title this weekend with Skincare. Unlike In a Violent Nature, this post-March 2024 title crashed and burned with one of the year's worst wide-release bows, grossing just $315,894 from 768 locations for a $411 per theater average. Exempting Fathoms Events titles and theatrical re-releases, this is the 34th worst wide-release opening of all time. Rob Peace grossed just $253,216 from only 526 locations for a per-theater average of $481. Here was another victim of Hollywood's bizarre dedication to sending out arthouse titles to hundreds of theaters immediately.

Sing Sing finally drastically expanded its theater count from 39 theaters to 112 in this frame. This Greg Kwandar movie grossed $251,955 for a per-theater average of $2,250. Its biggest single weekend gross yet, Sing Sing's per-theater average was unfortunately underwhelming. Still, this one grossed just over $1.117 million after a month of release despite never playing in more than 112 theaters. That's not too shabby and it could have a steady run for weeks to come if A24 doesn't suddenly expand it into 1000+ theaters with no prior marketing effort.

CatVideoFest 2024, now in its third weekend, grossed another $82,655 (a tiny 20% dip from the last frame) for a $540,527 domestic total. It'll soon surpass CatVideoFest 2023's $608,599 haul to become the biggest entry in the series so far. The 2024 edition of this feature is also already the 13th biggest Oscilloscope Pictures release ever domestically. Fun fact: this is the first year since 2017 Oscilloscope Pictures has launched two movies in one year that cracked $500,000+.

Good One expanded into 13 locations and grossed another $45,260 for a per-theater average of $3,482. After ten days, Good One has grossed $85,138. Widow Clicquot eased 42% this weekend to gross another $39,000 from 49 locations for a $796 per theater average and an $849,681 domestic total. Kneecap, in its third weekend, grossed another $38,386 from 58 locations. With $948,417 after 17 days of release, there's a chance this title could sneak past $1 million domestically despite Sony Pictures Classics ruining its domestic run. The Nick Jonas movie The Good Half grossed $38,080 from 53 locations this weekend for a per-theater average of just $718. Utopia is reporting the title has grossed $146,162 in its domestic run. That sum is enough to make this the ninth-biggest Utopia release to date. The 2024 re-release of Caligula opened to $30,815 at 13 locations for $2,370 per theater average, while indie newcomer Mountains debuted at a single theater and grossed $6,119.

The top ten movies this weekend grossed $129 million. That's an impressive 43% increase from this weekend last year when Blue Beetle had an underwhelming bow at the top of the box office. It's also an increase of roughly 27% from this same weekend in 2019 when Good Boys secured the number one spot at the box office as well as a 19% increase from this same in 2018 when Crazy Rich Asians topped the marketplace. It’s incredibly encouraging to see August 2024 deliver multiple consecutive weekends outpacing frames from pre-COVID times.

August 2024 has grossed, to date, approximately $645.4 million. If even just one or two newcomers for the rest of the month can do decently, then August 2024 will get past $850 million domestically. That would exceed the monthly August grosses for 2023 and 2019! Summer 2024, meanwhile, has now grossed $3.345 billion and should get past $3.55 billion for the entire season. Exempting summers from 2020 to 2022, would be the lowest summertime domestic haul since 2005 (and that's before taking inflation into account). However, given that May 2024 was abnormally slow, that's not a bad feat at all. If May 2024 had performed like past summer kick-off months, summer 2024 would likely be approaching summer 2023's $4+ billion haul. August 2024 hits as It Ends with Us and Alien: Romulus is helping to make up May 2024’s box office follies and make the summer 2024 domestic box office a bit better than once expected.