Alien: Romulus Starts Strong with $41 Million - Charts with Dan!

[@zbennalley]

I work in a movie theater, and we had an empty theater for all the showings of Borderlands on Sunday, and 8 people watched overall for both Friday and Saturday's screenings.

[@Reevofc12]

​@Randy_Richmondwhen it was film, probably. With digital they usually just shut it off after a little while

[@zbennalley]

@Randy_Richmond yes we do, but if no one shows up, we shut off the projector.

[@MikMortsllak]

"In a Borderlands showing, no one can hear you scream"

[@Boom12]

Honestly, even if people were watching, they probably wouldn't mind the projector shutting down midway. Save their time, save your cinema power bill.

[@tomiwaaina5499]

Another week where Dan doesnt say that Long legs had long legs and im disappointed

[@aidanmchutchison567]

Considering Romulus was supposed to go straight to streaming, a $41 million domestic opening & $100 million+ worldwide opening against an $80 million budget is a pretty good result all things considered. Personally if I’m Disney I’d be taking that as a win… Also, lol Borderlands, Eli Roth ain’t ever getting another big budget movie again

[@sionyn]

Eli Roth is a better actor than he is a director.

[@MichealWilson92]

Eli Roth is working on Thanksgiving horror sequel

[@aidanmchutchison567]

@@MichealWilson92 Thanksgiving in fairness was a much, much smaller movie that made a profit coz horror movies are relatively cheap to make, but I mean interns of $100 million+ budget blockbusters

[@mathsalot8099]

​@aidanmchutchison567, we will see. I had thought that numerous times of multiple directors. If M. Night can still get big budgets after The Happening and After Earth, Eli Roth probably will, too. Shaymalan had a couple ok movies, and that was enough for studios to put their faith in him again.

[@SamsonTheBlaster]

@@mathsalot8099 "If M. Night can still get big budgets" Except he can't. After Earth was his last big budget film. Since then his films have all been self-financed.

[@fariseb]

"Borderlands. YIKES." I felt that in my soul. 😂

[@sweetlows1]

The "Jesus Christ, it's Jason Bourne!" really got me. 😂

[@alexgruel9932]

I wonder what the record for most theaters lost in a weekend is? Cause it feels like if that is something that can be found out, it would make a VERY interesting chart for Borderlands next week. Also, Longlegs lost 665 theaters? So close!

[@adrianm.9536]

I am just now realizing that Inside Out 2 has a legit shot of passing the Lion King (2019), just 38 mill between them. 😮

[@everlastingpass1on]

Garfield isn't a sequel, but is definitely a reboot.

[@OmegaRejectz]

the list includes reboots though, just not remakes.

[@karlmuster263]

There's a line to be drawn for the list to to be meaningful. The two Garfield movies were different enough that they're both adaptations of the comics. If you made a list of only original screenplays, that would exclude It Ends With Us.

[@studiob212]

The reason why I don’t really like to follow streaming numbers is because they don’t seem as transparent and clear box office, it’s weird

[@RedXDC]

I told Dan to make it separate as well

[@studiob212]

@@RedXDC I don’t think that’s the issue, Dan has made it separate before but the content is the same, it’s not really his fault, it’s just how the industry works yk

[@xger21]

They don't seem transparent because they are not transparent for the most part. We don't really know for most of the services, we have best guesses.

[@WilberforceWooster]

At this point, was the boxoffice really weak this year week? Or rather, was everything just pushed later into year because of the actor/writers strike? Because the boxoffice is kicking butt right now. It seems the audience will come if there are movies they like.

[@tristenrodrigue1814]

Yes. Last year in 2023 all the big releases came out before August and we didn't get a big hit after August besides Five Night at Freddy's and Wonka. This year we'll have Joker 2, Venom 3 (yes venom makes great money like it or not), Beetlejuice 2, Gladiator 2, Wicked, Sonic 3, Mufasa, and Moana 2.

[@FaydOgolon]

My family went to see "Coraline" this past weekend. We had planned to see it in 3D, but it was practically like Barbenheimer in trying to find a theatre with three seats together. We wound up seeing it in standard format. I never expected that for a 15-year-old movie.

[@whentsayshi]

Hey Dan, as a British viewer, just want to say I really appreciate the new change of release time. It makes a big difference to get my box office video on a Monday evening than a Tuesday morning, feels very cosy!

[@NathanielWhittoUpdates]

Same!

[@RabbiJoeInJerusalem]

I second that (in Israel).

[@chazzer6545]

I would always wait up till like 2am when he uploaded it at that time

[@pance_9912]

Do Brits spell "cozy" "cosy"? I know there are some "z"s for Americans that are "s"s for Brits but I never thought of applying that to "cozy".

[@robbhardwick6312]

Ditto! An yes we do spell it Cosy. Cos it's how it's spelt lol

[@RabbiJoeInJerusalem]

So you're telling me that a movie starring Anne Hathaway and Julie Andrews had great legs? I could've told you that.

[@TheOneWithTheManyZs]

5:01 that should be around 55 million for Alien 3.

[@hadoct1315]

Alien Romulus is a really great movie with a few small nitpicks you can make but it’s such a fun theatre experience and is definitely the best in the franchise since the first two films certainly worth the theatre ticket!

[@ther3aper561]

That's good to know, I'm super excited for it

[@docsays]

👍🏽

[@esoteric_1]

Romulus had an opportunity to slash the budget by $20M. Just trim the first 40 minutes and get right into the action. Also dump the third act, visually very ugly. Xenomorphs are slick, it looked like a different horror film.

[@ShaneRob93]

25:15 We know it, and it's exactly why we love what you do Dan! I actually saw Yu-Gi-Oh!: Pyramid of Light in theaters, we even got a special Yu-Gi-Oh! card or maybe a few of them, I can't quite remember. I already feel old most of the time, but yeah that's an early theater memory for sure.

[@Suchanda_C]

Yesss!

[@KeithFraser82]

"Stop, stop! It's already dead!"

[@A_Noid]

Romulus was like a mix of all Alien films. Not original, but plenty of fun.

[@cardboard2night]

Honestly... Maybe it's for the best - the last time this franchise tried to be original it led to Covenant... Sometimes, aliens trying to eat your face and galactic corporation exploiting you is enough... Could it had less references and cgi death faces of beloved actors? Yes, but whatever...

[@YouFightLikeACow]

The non sequel remake chart is more interesting if you factor out based on IP. Then you'd have IF, Longlegs, and Civil War, and Beekeeper, Challengers, and Argylle. Trap would be somewhere too. That's a list I like to track!

[@chazzer6545]

I got to see Sing Sing at the Edinburgh film festival this weekend and my god I loved it, one of the best this year

[@ther3aper561]

What's wild is despite DP&W insane opening, it's 3rd and 4th weeks are pretty on par with Inside Out, showing it was much more front loaded and will probably not outgross it I look forward to seeing how it compares week after week

[@MichealWilson92]

Until beetlejuice 2 hits theaters on Sep 6th

[@jim1242]

I think Inside Out, will win out, family movies have longer legs than comic book movies traditionally. Although are will very sucessfull!

[@mr.prince8701]

It's not passing inside out 2. Rated R and its a comedy

[@cybersoldierforever]

Never thought Alien could make a comeback , but here we are.

[@commandZee]

Maybe it's something in the water 😋

[@mattmccomas1]

I am very happy to see it doing so well, Covenant was disappointing. So I guess that's a comeback?

[@benjamintillema3572]

Sometimes all a long running franchise needs to do in order to make it big again is go back to the basics.

[@barmanfred3301]

Dan i love this show so much! I always look forward to it during the week, and you do the charts better than anyone else with so much good insight. Thank you for all this great work! Love from Denmark❤

[@marielozoria]

i always watch charts on my lunch break thanks dan for making mondays a little more bearable 😊

[@TheLegendaryMovieCritic]

So happy that Alien: Romulus is one of the biggest horror hits of the year! Great for that major franchise! The Coraline rerelease did great for Laika!

[@mark2graves-movies689]

25:14 it's one of the reasons we love watching your shows, Dan ❤

[@zbennalley]

A clean shaven Dan is the box office man.

[@_rudygw_]

Alien was freaking amazing!

[@deanwright1609]

Thanks Dan. Nice to watch a Charts before my Aussie work day.

[@dustinnichols8523]

Alien vs. Predator is 20 years old! And I've turned to dust.

[@KeithFraser82]

Oh dear, Thanos is at it again...

[@papel_pe]

Hey Dan! How hard would it be to make a special instalment about the "school-night box office"? A show about the best working week days in history, what days during the week do people go to the movies? What movie has had the biggest % of it's total box office from work-week days? I think there's something cool in there, maybe a special show? A slow weekend when the summer is over? I would love to see it.

[@emmalavinia9962]

I live in Romania. I've been going to my favourite cinema on Tuesdays lately, 'cause the ticket price is half off. I've watched Deadpool &Wolverine with a full theatre, even the front seats were all occupied. I don't know if you have these kind of deals during week days. If so, he should see what the "butts in seats" numbers are, not the gross for week days.

[@papel_pe]

@@emmalavinia9962 exactly! In Colombia we have 2x1 wednesdays and the movie theaters are usually packed. I guess there will be outliers like holidays or worldwide events affecting it but even those would be interesting to note.

[@OrionInSpace]

Just a note Dan on the domestic overall box office Alien 3 is incorrect it’s actually $55M. Probably just an editing error I assume. On that note though, I was REALLY hoping that Romulus could score a new franchise record for opening weekend and it’s crazy how the one movie in this franchise that doesn’t have the “Alien” name in it is the highest.

[@SylviusTheMad]

edit: I misunderstood.

[@ProuvaireJean]

Prometheus wasn't marketed as an Alien film, which might be telling.

[@KennethConnally-np9it]

​@@SylviusTheMad I think he's talking about the overall domestic box office for Alien 3, not just the opening weekend, which Dan lists as $95m even though he puts it below Aliens, AVP, Alien, and Alien: Covenant which he lists as having smaller grosses.

[@OrionInSpace]

@@SylviusTheMad I’m talking about overall domestic not opening weekend domestic

[@OrionInSpace]

@@ProuvaireJean if anything then you’d think it would do less because of that but hey you never know

[@keaton3174]

I know Romulus only had a budget around 80 mill but I was hoping to see it hit the low 60s so I definitely hope it has a low drop off and still brings in around 22-25 mill the34 next weekend. I know some have called it a "greatest hits by a cover band" but I really enjoyed it and want it to do well for Fede (secretly hoping he'll help Terminator like he did Evil Dead and Alien). I was surprised Prometheus had a larger opening weekend than Romulus (even unadjusted) but I was also surprised how much the two connected and I honestly like what they did with that connection.

[@garyoak8247]

I’m so happy! I will be seeing it again. So many wtf moments in this movie. I hope it gets more success at the box office! 😭

[@Xfile1947]

Alien: Romulus $42 M Deadpool and Wolverine $30 M

[@NathanielWhittoUpdates]

Alien doing pretty well. Very very sensible budget.

[@HariOmRadhaKrishna]

Excited for The Cat Returns & Bettlejuice 2.

[@gjin141]

Always look forward to box office charts, Dan. Hello from the UK. Great work!

[@strivingtobalance]

As a fan of Coraline and someone that went to go see it this weekend, I was kind of hoping you might make more mention of it here. One thing that is fascinating is that it made nearly $4 million more than Phantom Menace's re-release this year with 1165 less screens than Phantom Menace's re-release. PM did $3230 per theater average for it's 25th anniversary re-release while Coraline did $6261. That added a nice $12.5 million to Laika's coffers for funding more amazing stop motion projects from them in the future.

[@paradisecity0406able]

Looks like 'Alien: Romulus' was able to *SCARE* away the competition

[@autex2609]

I'm glad it BIT off 41 Million domestically. It also HATCHED another 66 millioin oversees. The fans sure HUGGED this one. *these are all from real articles*

[@KeithFraser82]

It BURST onto the scene!

[@WildWill1994]

This may seem like a small thing, but I want to give you props for the way you contextualized Hillbilly Elegy's appearance on the streaming charts. Just very matter of fact without any added opinionated commentary. You're very respectful about movies and shows that may cater/appeal to more religious and/or conservative leaning audiences; and as someone who is in both of those groups, it's a big reason why I've enjoyed your content for all these years. It's a nice contrast to a large majority of online movie discourse that tends to get entrenched in the "culture war" stuff all the time. Excited for the Alien ranking video! Have a great rest of your week!

[@tfromcleveland3741]

25:05 classic Dan

[@siddhantshah6013]

13:11 A slight correction. I know BO numbers for India can be hit or miss with its reporting, but Stree 2 claims to have made close to 34 million USD (per what the producers have claimed). If you subtract the 2 million USD for the US and Canada, that should still put it at #4.

[@GuineaPigEveryday]

Watched Alien: Romulus twice in IMAX becuz i had some money saved for Summer break and it was just that great to watch, ik it has a few problems, but its very well made and entertaining as hell. Great performances, great production design, great action-horror sequences, great visuals/direction, great practical effects, great music. So glad they released this on the big screen, they should’ve done that with Prey also, but was never expecting this movie to be such a big hit given all the mockery online about its young cast

[@KarmaIsARealThing]

Great video!!! No one is doing it like you. So professional but we can also tell you love the work!

[@HushIAmTalking]

I did enjoy the profitability trackers we had for big movies maybe last year? I imagine they're a lot of work but I would be interested in seeing how some of the bigger movies (or flops) compared to their budgets

[@brendonspencer5788]

Love the content. Looking forward to the Alien ranking video!

[@BreinGames]

Dang Dan. Save some numbers for the rest of us!

[@legochickenguy4938]

it's dan time lets gooooo

[@jasonraschen1109]

Thanks for the charts Dan. Looking forward to your Alien ranking video. Didn’t know there were short films. Also, I hope you see and post a review of “Blink Twice”. Really like to know your thoughts on the film.

[@charvolth]

Caught Didi and Alien Romulus yesterday. Dan you were right. Romulus as a seismograph was quite accurate. Didi was a heck of a ride as well in another way.

[@tmarie69]

I loved Alien Romulus!

[@vincenthalfprice9930]

26:15 made me laugh for an embarassingly long time

[@0volts157]

Real numbers. Thank you, Dan.

[@DTC_95]

Seeing Romulus tomorrow night. Been watching the first two Alien movies and ignoring the rest of the franchise.

[@jesserochon3103]

It’s a greatest hits of all the previous entries. Nothing new. But man was it well executed. Loved it.

[@soondartube]

Hey Dan, Alien 3 and 4 opened on Holiday weekends, below is from boxofficeguru Alien : Resurrection which opened in second place with a three-day chomp of $16.5M with a five-day haul of $25.8M. The Fox sequel, starring Sigourney Weaver and Winona Ryder, launched in 2,415 locations for an alien-busting Friday-to-Sunday average of $6,822 per theater. With an average gross of $5.5M per day over the three-day weekend, Resurrection nearly cloned the $5.8M opening daily average of its predecessor Alien3 which grossed $23.1M over the four-day Memorial Day Weekend frame in 1992.

[@kevin424co]

Whatever anyone may say, Blake Lively’s strategy certainly worked

[@Cotsos88]

hey Dan, in case you didn't for your Alien ranking video, you should check out the Alien Isolation game. You could watch the cinematics on youtube as a movie. It's a great story , it takes place between 1 and 2, and I don't think it's retconned by anything that came afterwards. There's even a short segment (it was a DLC after the main game) that takes place on the Nostromo with most of the original cast (they were alive at the time this was made) returning to voice the characters.

[@gibbyboi7313]

I like alien Romulus if the reason some people didn't like it was the ending. I can understand their their gripe on it. But if people didn't like it cuz of the references get off your high horse man and be a child again like y'all got to really enjoy this movie. I'm I'm an absolute alien fan and I only felt one call out to be out of place

[@ericsilva-gomez2481]

4:09 love that Dan adjusted for inflation. Shocked that the first two movies weren’t as big

[@Weaponator18]

Wow, Alien Romulus really BURST onto the top of the box office this weekend.

[@autex2609]

I'm glad it bit off 41 Million domestically. It also hatched another 66 miliion oversees. The fans sure HUGGED this entry.

[@richtheobald4390]

Not surprised it popped out so strongly as it is close to the hearts of quite a few.

[@autex2609]

@@thekismet6264 from my understanding, for an 80 million budget + the 66 million overseas + filmed in Budapest with significant tax breaks + on the ground marketing minus a lot of the super expensive stuff that drains budgets = success. They were cautious with this one and it apparently really paid off. The ppl claiming this as not successful don't actually know what they are talking about and are crapping out content for content's sake.

[@verazollinger6862]

This why I prefer your charts over Grace Randolph's! She tried to spin it like Alien had bombed

[@ianwerkheiser1292]

At the end of the year you should total up how many weeks we were above or below the red and blue lines on the road to recovery.

[@jim1242]

25:24 Has it really been 20 years already since 2004?! I remember when the Bourne Supremacy and Princess Diaries 2 came out, it feels like only yesterday!

[@TiberiumPie]

Keep up the great work Dan

[@andrew3738]

Hi Dan. Thank you for your amazing charts. Please make sure to update the MCU totals. Some are not up to date. Black Panther, for example, has $40M more.

[@stillhammered3060]

So why is Grace Randolph saying that Alien Romulus is a failure because it didn't out perform Jurassic World and should have stayed on streaming with no theatrical release? This is after she said the main character and the android were romantic partners 😳.

[@Sharpe1502]

As a woman, it really pains me to bad mouth another woman who is passionate about movies. But in the 2010’s when I was a teenager and found Grace’s channel, as soon as Grace started saying how bad of an actress Jessica Chastain was, I immediately went, “Oh, this lady cannot be taken seriously,” and never watched a single video she made ever again. It amazes me that she still has an audience.

[@ThennaryNak]

Because Grace rarely knows what she’s talking about. Which is why I love Dan’s breakdowns and theorizing, as he brings actual facts into it.

[@motherplayer]

Extremely, extremely gratifying to know an over 10-year old animated re-release is doing better numbers than Borderlands in it's second weekend. Both the intrigue of it in 3D and generally being well remembered is showing,

[@curtisbme]

Don't know what that poster is worded the way it is but the Coraline was shot (not converted) and originally released in 3D. That is not a new feature for that re-release. Also more accurate to call it stop-motion vs 'animated'.

[@motherplayer]

@@curtisbme Of course I know that. For pete sake, I saw it in theaters when it came out in 3D! I'm just saying it's pretty darn good that the re-releasing is now showing it that way too.

[@TheSiemek]

I am just here to laugh at Borderlands.

[@Ductos]

A case of morbid curiosity almost made me buy tickets for Borderlands this week (it opens on Thursday in Germany). Instead, I'm gonna see Horizon Part 1, which also only opens now. But hey, at least "Madame Web" producer Avi Arad must be glad he doesn't have the worst performing movie of the year, right? Now it's...also Avi Arad, only now for "Borderlands". Huh.

[@ApocalypseMaxx]

Oh wow!! Yu-Gi-Oh the Movie is in the Top 5 from 20 years ago????

[@alexhein6054]

It actually jumped to 104 million opening weekend so wow!

[@da-be-ju]

"Took a very simple task and made it much more complicated" - that's called PLANNING FALLACY

[@marielozoria]

i also watched sing sing yesterday, it was so bittersweet

[@Nightly0]

Hiya Dan. Since moving the show to Monday, do you think your viewership and engagement have gone up. Regardless, love the show whatever day you put it up. Thanks

[@StewartFletcher]

Romulus is honestly pretty excellent. Yes, there some poor CGI, some pacing issues, and other little things, but overall, I was absolutely pleased with its beauty, gore, and storytelling

[@TVandManga]

Great video Dan!

[@storywala88]

Well put but the Alien charts was a little messed up...

[@Ineddiblehulk]

thank you! Grace was making out that the alien Romulus debut was bad, bordering on a disaster. This was exactly meeting expectations for the franchise and a mid budget horror sci fi with a cast of unknowns.

[@breksen]

Hey Dan, love your work, just wanted to let you know that I think looking deeper into Coralines rerelease numbers would've been really cool, these numbers are quite frankly outstanding. It's one if the biggest rereleases in years, and I can't think of another time where the rerelease had a chance of outgrossing the originals opening weekend, which this has, but also, opened within range of other Laika films such as The Missing Link which it easily outgrossed, and was within fighting distance of Kubo and the Two Strings

[@seankale5116]

this just proves that like Godzilla minus one, if you budget well you can make a movie look beautiful like Alien Romulus did. the acid blood in zero G alone was an amazing scene but the whole movie ( minus one part, ugh ) looked so good.

[@00shmee]

At 5:29 looks like you a chart error. Alien 3 should be $55 Million, not $95 Million.

[@tomiwaaina5499]

Saw that too. It already has the inflation adjusted number. Easy mistake to make

[@jessrl8025]

More good news for the Box Office!

[@whogg0521]

When you show that MCU tracker, what does the yellow highlighted boxes mean?

[@LucyLu_meztli]

Hey Dan! Happy Tuesday :) Talking about adjusted worldwide inflation with friends, we agreed that if you have the corresponding numbers in USD for each year, you can then use the USA inflation accordingly. (The exchange currency rate for each year, would compensate the local inflation from each country). Source: a bunch of actuaries who work in finance ;)

[@udaygorade8697]

Thanks for the box office report

[@guerillahag]

omg stree 2 mentioned

[@elixr8928]

Hi Dan! I'm a fan of your channel and love your coverage, both the reviews and Movie Math, but I am more content with hanging out silently in the background. However, I feel compelled to tell you that "Detective Conan" is not a Chinese animation. It is Japanese and it is one of the longest-running film franchises based on an ongoing manga (Case Closed). I have always appreciated how often you highlight live-action films and animations outside the US and I feel that this information is relevant to your efforts. Hope my input is not impolite or out of line =)

[@DanMurrellMovies]

I know - I covered its release in Japan earlier this year. It was released in China last weekend, where anime has had a surge in popularity. Thanks for watching.

[@soondartube]

Great Show, when you are doing the yearly figures can you include which studio is in the lead?

[@DanMurrellMovies]

I update that information with a chart at the end of every month.

[@bwhopper4229]

Hey Dan, is your Borderlands drop from the actual or estimated of last week? The actual number is less (2,427,379) but the drop is also less (71.8%)

[@mitch4509]

Hi Dan, Love these episodes. Quick bit of feedback that I think would make your some of your charts better. For the Inside Out vs Deadpool comparison chart, you don't show Inside Out's most recent weeks. I think the recent weeks for Inside out would add more context for which film we expect to be the number 1 film of the summer. For your top 10 summer picks vs actual, it would be helpful if movies that you didn't pick but actually made the list were highlighted in some way. That way folks can easily see which movies overperformed your expectations. For example, IF, It Ends with Us, and The Fall Guy could be in orange text and be labeled as "Unpicked." This would highlight that your misses were near the bottom of the top ten movies for the summer.

[@MellowFelloh]

Thanks dan

[@richardastley1168]

No mention of The Crow? Cinematic bombs are tight.

[@klimmr]

I still think it's stupid that Alien 3 calls itself Alien Cubed. What does the exponent add to the title, or did it just look cool?

[@yashshankar5640]

No stree 2 in the international chart??!😭😭

[@josephkavanagh7665]

Whose watching this in 2023?

[@JakeHageman]

This made me laugh out loud 😂

[@shadow73737]

did you time travel ?? its 2024

[@joequintana5546]

Me. August 19, 2023.

[@alexisnaranjo]

I too am from a different time line. I folded a paper in half 7 times then I ended up here. I miss the purple skies.....

[@simoncobian2816]

Me I did a slingshot around the sun to get here.

[@seanleon2766]

Another massive win for Disney.

[@esoteric_1]

I love Longlegs; i have Dune 2 and Longlegs as my top 2 films of 2024.

[@condo0073]

Hey Dan, you have any of your brilliant analysis planned for the recent chabges a paramount please?

[@michaeltylerable]

Still waiting for that Alien ranking video 🙃

[@DanMurrellMovies]

Still working on it