Sequel Scores $18 Million Opening Day

“Alien: Romulus” slithered to $18 million from 3,885 locations across Friday and preview screenings — a substantial haul that suggests that 20th Century’s latest entry in the survival thriller series will come in north of the studio’s projections and land around a $40 million debut across opening weekend. The killer sci-fi feature also gets a boost from Imax and other premium large-format auditoriums. The solid start marks a victory lap for Disney, which has ruled theaters through the summer season with the two biggest hits of the year, “Deadpool & Wolverine” and “Inside Out 2.”

“Romulus” was originally greenlit for a Hulu debut, but Disney shifted the Fede Alvarez-helmed production to a theatrical rollout before principal photography began. Nearly 50 years old, the “Alien” series is still a prestige brandname to horror and sci-fi fans, and they are rolling out for the opening weekend. The franchise’s previous two entries, prequels “Prometheus” and “Alien: Covenant,” saw the original film’s director Ridley Scott return to the property. “Prometheus” debuted to $51 million in 2012, finishing at $403 million globally; the 2017 entry “Covenant” marked a dropoff, opening at $36 million and ending at $240 million worldwide.

Seven years later, “Romulus” has brought some renewed life to the R-rated franchise — and at a lower price point too. This latest entry cost $80 million to produce before marketing efforts — less of a financial weight than the previous two entries. If the franchise’s solid track record overseas continues for “Romulus,” then this domestic start should be a solid foundation for a fruitful theatrical run — especially considering this entry’s positive reviews and warm response from audiences (survey firm Cinema Score turned in a B+ — the highest grade for the franchise since James Cameron’s “Aliens” and an especially solid result for a horror film, which tend to score lower).

The mid-quel, set between the events of “Alien” and “Aliens,” wipes the slate clean by introducing a new, younger cast of meatbag victims for H.R. Giger’s Xenomorph designs to gnash into. The ensemble includes Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson and Isabela Merced.

Disney also gets bragging rights for second place, as Marvel’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” is finally relinquishing the No. 1 slot on domestic charts in its fourth weekend of release. The mega-meta superhero team-up feature earned $8.1 million on Friday, down just 48% from its daily total last week. The R-rated comedy continues to draw a crowd after clearing $520 million in North America and $1 billion worldwide. Earlier this week, it surpassed “Joker” to become the highest-grossing R-rated release of all time.

The Blake Lively-Justin Baldoni drama “It Ends With Us” is projecting a third place finish after taking in $7.7 million on Friday. The adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel is looking at an impressive hold, projecting a 52% slide from its opening weekend. A modest drop like that indicates the film is finding a substantial audience outside of fans of the book. The film should surpass a $100 million gross in North America within the coming week — a fantastic return on its $25 million production budget.

Universal’s release of “Twisters” is still spinning around in the top five too, projecting a three-day total of $9.2 million and a 39% drop from last weekend. The Amblin production has now surpassed a $230 million domestic gross.

Fifth goes to Fathom’s re-release of Henry Selick’s stop-motion classic “Coraline,” celebrating its 15th anniversary with a remastered 3D edition (the film is playing in 2D too). The Focus Features production drew a substantial crowd, earning $5.8 million across Friday and Thursday previews in 1,564 locations. The speciality release is now expected to top a $10 million gross in its first four days of release. That’s more than half of its $16.8 million opening haul back in 2009 — not shabby at all for a 15-year-old film.