The upcoming Alien: Romulus is already making waves for its box office projections, and it may shatter a record held by the most divisive Alien movie to date.
Alien: Romulusis taking thestoried space horror franchiseback to its roots. Set between the genre-defining duology ofAlienand Aliens, Romulus sees the crew of a wayward ship attacked by Xenomorphs.
Romulus is set to also make box office history, at least for the historically flagging Alien franchise. While early entries raked in cash thanks to comparatively low budgets, later installments suffered from diminishing returns as costs skyrocketed.
With a budget in the $80 million range and some projections estimating it could make as much as $40-50 million in its opening weekend (thoughVarietypredicts a more modest $28-38m opening), Romulus could beat the $51 million record set bythe incredibly divisive Prometheus.
Prometheus was a surprise hit when it was released. By this time, the Alien franchise had taken a hit in popularity. The last stand-alone movie wasAlien: Resurrection, with the Xenomorphs only appearing in the two Alien vs. Predator films in between.
While Romulus may struggle to break that all-time grossing record given the current state of the box office, it could surpass its opening weekend.
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If thepositive word of mouthsurrounding Romulus continues, there’s a chance it could take the crown.
For more on the Alien franchise, we’ve covered thepotential return for Sigourney Weaverandthe controversy surrounding Ian Holm’s appearance. Or read all about the horrifyingoriginal ending to Alien.
Christopher Baggett was a TV & Movies Writer on Dexerto’s US team and a comics expert, across DC Comics and Marvel. He also has bylines at ComicsBeat, Comic Book Resources, and The HomeWorld.
