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

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

As a seasoned movie enthusiast with decades of attending screenings under my belt, I must say that the current state of cinema is truly captivating. The recent success of CatVideoFest 2024 is not only heartwarming but also financially impressive, making it one of Oscilloscope Pictures’ best performers yet. It’s a testament to the universal appeal of feline antics!

As a longtime fan of the Alien franchise, I was thrilled to see the return of my beloved Xenomorphs on the big screen this weekend with Alien: Romulus. Growing up, I watched Ridley Scott’s original masterpiece countless times and was captivated by the terror and suspense that the franchise offered. So, it’s safe to say that I was eagerly anticipating the latest installment in this iconic series.

Disney successfully extended the success of its summer box office with the film “Alien: Romulus“, demonstrating that they can continue popular 20th Century Fox franchises for a long time. The movie cleverly positioned itself as a horror film primarily, which makes it profitable given the popularity and reliability of this genre today. Additionally, its marketing highlighted a self-contained narrative, making it easy for casual moviegoers to appreciate. Even if one wasn’t an “Alien” enthusiast, they could still find the posters or trailers appealing.

The film titled “Alien: Romulus” deviated from the usual pattern of main “Alien” movie releases, which typically premiere in late May, early June, or during Thanksgiving. Interestingly, “Romulus” was the first major “Alien” feature to debut in August and it managed to secure the 17th largest domestic opening for an August release ever. Moreover, its opening weekend also marked the biggest launch for a movie premiering after the 15th of the month. Generally, the most successful August movies like “Suicide Squad“, “Guardians of the Galaxy“, and “Signs” usually premiere in the first two weeks of the month. It’s unusual for a film to perform exceptionally well after mid-August. Prior to “Romulus”, the largest post-August 15 opening was the $38 million debut of “Inglourious Basterds” (released on August 21, 2009). In a sense, “Alien: Romulus” served as a reminder that visually appealing films can thrive regardless of their release date.

This week, the Disney/20th Century Studios film “Deadpool and Wolverine” dropped to the number one spot in the U.S. box office after a 45% decrease in earnings, bringing in an additional $29.2 million. With this, its domestic total has reached approximately $546 million. It’s expected that the movie could finish with a domestic gross of $610-$620 million. As its third weekend in the U.S. began, “Deadpool and Wolverine” officially secured its position as the highest-grossing R-rated film globally.

Remarkably well, “It Ends with Us” maintained its strong performance during its second weekend, decreasing by only 52% to earn an additional $24 million. In contrast, “The Fault in Our Stars” and “Fifty Shades of Grey” both plunged 69% and 73% respectively on their second weekends. Distinctly, “It Ends with Us” is thriving on positive word of mouth and has attracted a wider audience than most book adaptations, extending beyond fans of the original Colleen Hoover novel. With a domestic gross of $97.7 million after just 10 days, it’s possible this film could surpass $150 million before its run concludes. At the very least, it seems destined to reach an impressive $130 million with relative ease in North America.

The movie “Twisters” earned another $9.8 million during the weekend, which is 35% less than the previous week. So far, it has made a staggering $238.4 million in the U.S.A., and we can expect it to finish its domestic run with around or slightly over $260 million.

As a longtime fan of animated films and someone who grew up watching classics like “Chicken Run,” I was thrilled to see “Coraline” back in theaters for its 15th-anniversary re-release. The stop-motion animation technique used in this film is simply breathtaking, and it’s always a joy to revisit beloved characters and stories that hold a special place in my heart.

Reissuing movies in theaters, as demonstrated by Coraline’s recent re-release, is a lucrative opportunity that studios should consider. While Fathom Events often brings back classic films on weekends, these screenings are usually limited to two showings per week. However, Coraline was shown like a new movie, with multiple daily showtimes spread over several days, similar to theatrical re-releases of old. If studios promoted these reissues with the same marketing power as they did for Coraline, they could potentially earn substantial revenue. With fewer physical media options and limited availability of classic movies on streaming platforms, theater re-releases of pre-2010 films could become highly anticipated events. The success of Coraline’s 2023 and 2024 domestic reissues, with approximately $18 million earned, underscores this potential profitability.

In its seventh domestic run, the fourth installment of “Despicable Me” earned an additional $6 million, a modest decrease of 25% from the previous week. A blockbuster summer movie, “Despicable Me 4” has amassed $340.4 million and surpassed the domestic lifetime gross of 2015’s “Minions.” The film is poised to break the $350 million mark next. On the other hand, “Trap” saw a 48% drop this weekend, earning another $3.4 million for a total of $35.2 million domestically. Its final domestic earnings are expected to fall within a disappointing range of $40-45 million. The summertime animated hit, “Inside Out 2,” in its tenth week of North American release, brought in another $3.2 million, a decrease of 34% from the previous weekend. With a staggering $642.1 million grossed in North America alone, it remains the biggest movie of 2024 (both domestically and globally).

In its debut, “Stree 2” managed to secure the ninth spot with earnings of $2.57 million. Unfortunately, “Borderlands” could not escape its disappointing fate during its second week in cinemas. This film, which struggled at the box office, dropped a shocking 73% in its second release frame, adding another $2.35 million to its domestic total of $13.4 million. Incredibly, this makes “Borderlands” one of only nine films ever to open in over 3,000 theaters and fall by 73% or more in its second weekend. Such a massive flop is quite unusual in today’s film industry. It’s hard to believe, but this movie isn’t expected to earn much more than $20 million domestically. So, just let that sink in for a moment.

Over the weekend, the movie “Harold and the Purple Crayon” experienced a significant drop of about 67%, earning only $1.02 million in its third week. This poor performance has brought its total earnings to $15.7 million since it was first released 17 days ago. Meanwhile, “My Penguin Friend” had a disappointing start with $1.022 million from 1,080 theaters, barely surpassing the debut of “Gigi & Nate”, the last “man and animal friendship movie” handled by Roadside Attractions in the U.S., which earned $990,279 during its opening weekend.

IFC Films, riding high after the success of “Late Night with the Devil,” dabbled again in a horror film for wide release this weekend titled “Skincare.” However, unlike their previous title “In a Violent Nature” which was released post-March 2024, “Skincare” struggled significantly, recording one of the year’s poorest wide-release debuts. It managed to earn only $315,894 from 768 cinemas, averaging $411 per theater. Excluding Fathom Events titles and theatrical re-releases, this is one of the 34 worst wide-release openings ever seen. “Rob Peace” also faced a similar fate, earning just $253,216 from only 526 cinemas, giving it an average of $481 per theater. This serves as another example of Hollywood’s unusual commitment to distributing arthouse films across numerous theaters immediately.

In this particular timeframe, the movie ‘Sing Sing’, directed by Greg Kwandar, significantly increased its theater count from 39 to 112. This growth led to a box office revenue of $251,955, equating to a per-theater average of $2,250. This weekend’s earnings marked the movie’s highest single weekend gross yet. However, the per-theater average was disappointingly low. Despite being screened in only 112 theaters after a month, ‘Sing Sing’ managed to generate over $1.117 million in total revenue. Considering its modest theater count, this is quite impressive and suggests that the movie could maintain a strong presence for several weeks if A24 decides against a sudden expansion into more than 1000 theaters without any prior promotional efforts.

2024’s CatVideoFest, currently in its third week, earned an additional $82,655 (a minor 20% decrease from the previous week) and now totals $540,527 domestically. With this rate of growth, it will soon outpace the earnings of CatVideoFest 2023’s $608,599, making it the most successful installment yet in the series. This year’s CatVideoFest has already ranked as the 13th highest-grossing domestic release for Oscilloscope Pictures ever. An interesting tidbit: this is the first time since 2017 that Oscilloscope Pictures has launched two films in a single year which have both grossed over $500,000.

Movie title “Good One” expanded into 13 cinemas and earned an additional $45,260, resulting in a per-theater average of $3,482. After ten days, the total earnings for “Good One” stand at $85,138. On the other hand, “Widow Clicquot” saw a 42% drop this weekend, earning an additional $39,000 from 49 cinemas, giving it a per-theater average of $796 and a domestic total of $849,681.

As a dedicated cinephile who has been following the box office trends for years, I must say that the recent surge in movie revenue this weekend is truly remarkable. Having closely watched the industry since before the COVID-19 pandemic, I can confidently assert that the figures we’re seeing now are significantly higher than those from the same weekends in pre-pandemic times.

As of now, August 2024 has earned around $645.4 million. If one or two more movies perform well for the rest of the month, August 2024 could surpass $850 million domestically, which would outshine its performance in both 2023 and 2019. To date, Summer 2024 has amassed an impressive $3.345 billion, with a potential to reach over $3.55 billion by the end of the season. Excluding summers from 2020 to 2022, summer 2024’s domestic earnings would be one of the lowest since 2005, but considering May 2024 was a slow start, it’s still an impressive achievement. Had May 2024 performed like previous summer openers, summer 2024 might have been on track for the $4+ billion haul of summer 2023. The upcoming releases of “It Ends with Us” and “Alien: Romulus” are expected to help offset the box office shortcomings of May 2024, making the overall domestic earnings for summer 2024 better than initially anticipated.

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2024-08-19 17:16