It’s a good news/bad news scenario for Alien: Covenant at this weekend’s box office. The film did manage to take the top spot but it came in well below tracking with a $36 million debut.
Nearly 43% of this total came from its Friday performance, which included $4.2 million from Thursday previews. An opening less than $40 million is somewhat disappointing considering the $51 million opening for its predecessor, Prometheus, five years ago. Yet, the $97 million budget for Covenant compared to the $130m spent on Prometheus works in the film’s favor as does the fact more than 68% of Prometheus’s $403.4 million global total came from overseas markets, which is where Covenant will be hoping to make up some ground.
Internationally, Covenant got its start last weekend and this weekend it brought in an estimated $30.3 million from 76 markets bringing its international total to $81.8 million for a global sum of $117.8 million. Openings this weekend included Russia ($4.4m), Germany ($2.3m) and Sweden ($822K). The film doesn’t debut in China until mid-June.
In second is Disney and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which topped $300 million domestically this weekend with an estimated $35.1 million, only a 46% drop compared to last weekend. Internationally, the film is now up to $431 million, 19% ahead of the total run of Guardians of the Galaxy at today’s exchange rates. The global total as of today currently stands at an estimated $732.6 million.
In third is WB and MGM’s Everything, Everything, which beat most expectations with an estimated $12 million. Opening day audiences took to the film as it earned an “A-” CinemaScore, a grade, unsurprisingly, largely driven by the female audience, which made up 82% of the opening weekend crowd. Overall, 74% of the audience was under the age of 25 and only 18% over the age of 35. The film carries a reported $10 million production budget which will turn this film into a nice surprise for the studio.
The second weekend of the Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn comedy Snatched dropped a little steeper than I expected with a whopping 61% decline for an estimated $7.6 million following its Mother’s Day weekend debut last week. Given its strong performance last Sunday, this isn’t much of a surprise, though it does sting a bit as the $42 million production now stands at $32.7 million domestically and isn’t showing signs it won’t likely have very long legs domestically.
Rounding out the top five is the fourth film in the Diary of a Wimpy Kid franchise, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul. The film debuted with an estimated $7.2 million from 3,157 locations, which is well below industry expectations and the “B” CinemaScore doesn’t exactly make things any better. Yet, the film can still hope for a strong performance next weekend as more kids will be out of school over the Memorial Day holiday.
Check out the full top ten results below:
May 19-21, 2017
- Alien: Covenant– $36 million
- Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2– $35.1 million
- Everything, Everything– $12 million
- Snatched– $7.5 million
- Diary of a Wimpy Kind: The Long Haul– $7.2 million
- King Arthur: Legend of the Sword– $6.8 million
- The Fate of the Furious– $3.1 million
- The Boss Baby– $2.8 million
- Beauty and the Beast– $2.4 million
- How to be a Latin Lover– $2.2 million
