"Alien: Romulus" Dethrones "Deadpool & Wolverine" from #1 Spot

[JamesG]

Alien: Romulus Dethrones Deadpool & Wolverine
by Erik Childress
Aug. 18, 2024


The last film to lead the box office four weeks in a row was Barbie. The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Avatar: The Way of Water also did it last year.

Deadpool & Wolverine had a chance to be the first in 2024 to achieve that this weekend. Instead, a new Alien film was released by the Fox division of Disney to take it down.

Alien: Romulus led the way this weekend with a $41.5 million start.





Not that any tears should be shed for Deadpool & Wolverine. After all, it passed a billion dollars last weekend and a half billion domestically this week.

Adding another $29 milllion into the mix, it stands at over $545 million in North America, the eighth highest ever after 24 days of release. Globally, the film passed $1.143 billion and its now 31st all time.





While details on rumored drama behind the scenes is getting a slow roll in the press, the release of It Ends with Us continued to rake it in with $24 million this weekend.

It's poised to become Sony’s biggest success story of 2024.





Twisters is quite the interesting tale to come out of the summer. The fourth-highest grossing film of the season domestically (and fifth of the year), which premiered on PVOD this weekend, is now up to $238 million after a $9.8 million fifth weekend (just a 35% fall), and nevertheless on the verge of being on the losing end theatrically.

Just $95 million to date internationally has the $155 million-budgeted film at $333 million worldwide.





The two big animated sequels of the summer are well into profit already. Despicable Me 4 cleared $6 million this weekend and now has a total of over $340 million domestic and $847 million worldwide.

Of course, the biggest film of the year, Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out 2, is now close to $642.1 million after $3.2 million this weekend.





Speaking of animated films, one of the fascinating stories of the week is the latest re-release of Henry Selick’s Coraline. Fathom Events did a 15th anniversary release starting on Thursday, and the film has since grossed $11.3 million, $8.3 million of it over the weekend.

Back in 2010, the film opened in February to $16.8 million and grossed over $75 million. It remains the highest-grossing of all the Laika productions, which include Paranorman, The Boxtrolls, Kubo and the Two Strings, and Missing Link.

The studio’s latest, Wildwood, will open on April 11, 2025.





Less successful is M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap. It took another 50% dip this weekend down to $3.4 million for a total of $35.2 million.

Getting into the top 10 this week was Stree 2, a Bollywood horror-comedy that grossed $2.1 million.





Dropping out of the top 10 this week was Tilman Singer’s Cuckoo. The Neon release dropped 71% (in 1,503 theaters) to $866,000 and now has a total of $5.3 million.

Focus upped the screen count for Didi to 427 theaters, where it grossed $700,000 and now has a total of $2.6 million. IFC continues to try and get their films out to a wider audience. Not all of them are going to connect.

Case in point: Skincare with Elizabeth Banks, which made $315,000 in 768 theaters for just a $411 per-theater average despite an OK approval rating with critics.

https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com...ool-wolverine/






August 16-18, 2024: Weekend Studio Estimates

1. Alien: Romulus $41,500,000
2. Deadpool & Wolverine $29,000,000 / $545,816,895
3. It Ends with Us $24,000,000 / $97,784,697
4. Twisters $9,800,000 / $238,439,315
5. Coraline [15th Anniv. Re-Release $11,306,072
6. Despicable Me 4 $6,000,000 / $340,402,155
7. Trap $3,435,000 / $35,214,485
8. Inside Out 2 $3,200,000 / $642,194,883
9. Stree 2 $2,570,000
10. Borderlands $2,350,000 / $13,542,237