‘Alien: Covenant’ barely overpowers ‘Guardians’ at box office
After almost 40 years, audiences are still interested in the “Alien” universe. Ridley Scott’s “Alien: Covenant,” from 20th Century Fox, dethroned Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” which had topped the box office for two straight weeks. Meanwhile, Warner Bros.’ “Everything, Everything” and Fox’s” “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” sequel battled for those not interested in R-rated scares.
“Alien” took in an estimated $36 million in the U.S. and Canada, coming in below analyst projections of $40 million to $50 million. Internationally, the picture pulled $30.3 million over the weekend after already being open in territories across the globe. Its worldwide take rests at $117.8 million to date.
“It does endure the test of time,” said Chris Aronson, the studio’s head of distribution, “as does Sir Ridley Scott.”
The latest in the aging franchise is the eighth film, counting the two widely panned “Alien Vs. Predator” movies. It’s also a sequel to 2012’s “Prometheus,” a heady quasi-prequel to the original 1979 “Alien.” Even with an admittedly confusing timeline, the studio was able to drum up interest in the flick among core “Alien” fans with gruesome marketing and generally positive reviews. It may also help that the famous creatures designed by surrealist H.R. Giger — the xenomorphs and facehuggers — that “Prometheus” lacked, due to its origin-of-man backstory, were reintroduced.
Audiences (62 percent male; 66 percent 25 and older; 51 percent white) gave the picture a B CinemaScore, while critics averaged a 73 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
“Alien: Covenant” performed worse than its 2012 predecessor, which brought in $51 million in its debut. That film ended up collecting $400 million worldwide. But considering the studio saved more than 25 percent in production costs this go around, with a $97 million price tag, the future of “Covenant’s” profitability still looks promising.
Falling to second place in its third week was “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” with a still-impressive $35.1 million this weekend. It has pulled in $301.8 million domestically to date for a global tally more than $732 million.
Performing the best of the other new releases was “Everything, Everything,” which took in $12 million. The Warner Bros. and MGM movie directed by Stella Meghie (“Jean of the Joneses”) met analyst projections of a $10 million to $12 million opening. Such a performance is a respectable debut for a film that cost $10 million to make.
A young-adult tearjerker, “Everything, Everything” is about a teen girl who’s sealed off from the world because she has a severe immune system disease. But when she falls for the guy next door, through text messages and window pane conversations, she risks it all. Adapted from Nicola Yoon’s best-selling young adult novel of the same name, it stars Amandla Stenberg (“The Hunger Games”), Nick Robinson (“Jurassic World”) and Anika Noni Rose.
Audiences and critics appear split on the teen romantic drama. While moviegoers gave it an A-minus, the film has an average 43 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Landing in fourth was Amy Schumer’s “Snatched,” from Fox. In its second week, the poorly reviewed mother-daughter comedy, starring Goldie Hawn, pulled in $7.6 million. It’s grossed $32.8 million domestically to date.
Next week, Disney’s gets back into the box-office conversation with the latest in its “Pirates of the Caribbean” series, “Dead Men Tell No Tales.”