How Alien: Romulus Box Office Opening Compares to the Entire Alien Franchise

Alien: Romulus hit the ground running this past weekend, debuting in theaters across the country to great reviews and delivering a higher-then-expected total at the box office. Fede Alvarez’s debut for the franchise, which takes , outpaced projections and earned more than $42 million at the box office here in the United States. It’s definitely a win for the franchise and 20th Century, but how does that surprising opening compare to Romulus‘ predecessors?

Believe it or not, Alien: Romulus now has the honor of the second-best opening of the entire Alien franchise — and that’s after it already became the second-best reviewed movie in the series. Romulus‘ $42 million trails only 2012’s Prometheus, which opened with $51 million more than a decade ago. That film had a lot of hype leading up to it, as it was Alien director Ridley Scott’s return to the franchise.

That stat is a little padded against the first two films in the series — Alien and Aliens — which remain the most popular and acclaimed of the franchise. Neither of them opened in nearly as many theaters as the 3,000+ that the newer films in the series saw. 

Alien vs. Predator and Alien: Covenant are actually the only other films in the series to open with more than $30 million domestically. AvP delivered a $38 million opening back in 2004, while Alien: Covenant secured $36 million in 2017.

An Alien: Romulus Sequel?

After such a strong opening, Alien fans will obviously be wondering if Romulus has opened the door for another entry into the franchise.

Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter recently, Alvarez was asked about a potential . While it wasn’t on the forefront of his mind during the film, he definitely thought about ways the story could be extended after the fact.

“Yes, I definitely can. We tend to do that naturally, not even thinking about sequels. For us, movies have not become franchises, tentpoles, and sequels,” the director said. “This is a language that I’ve only learned in the last ten years of my life working here. For me, it’s always been about story. So, once we finished, we started thinking, ‘What do you think happens when or if they get to your Yvaga? Is it going to be great? Or is it a terrible place?’ We tend to believe it’s probably a terrible place that they think is great and fantasize about, so we naturally started thinking about where it goes and what’s going to happen. And then, a few minutes in, we go, ‘Oh, that sounds like a sequel.’”