After Alien Covenant was predicted to earn over $40 million at the domestic box office this weekend, the latest box office figures are just in. Alien Covenant still entered the charts at number one but its takings were slightly lower with $36 million. On Friday, it opened with $15.3 million in 3716 theatres including $4.2 million from Thursday night previews with $36 million for the entire weekend. In comparison, Prometheus opened back in 2012 with $51 million in its opening weekend so we have a $15 million drop.
This is to be expected unfortunately – Prometheus was pretty hyped as Ridley Scott’s return to science-fiction. Going back even further, AvP Requiem opened with $10 million over Christmas while Paul Anderson’s AvP opened with $38 million. Unlike Prometheus, Alien: Covenant hasn’t been released in 3D and it hasn’t opened in many IMAX screens in America (with most of them still occupied by Guardians of the Galaxy 2) so that causes a drop in revenue when compared to Prometheus.
Alien Covenant made $36 million in its opening weekend domestically.
Last weekend, Alien Covenant took $42 million in 34 countries overseas and made another $30.3 million this weekend when it opened in a further 52 new countries giving it a foreign gross so far of $81.8 million. That combined with the domestic takings and we have a worldwide gross of $117.8 million. The good news is it has made more revenue than its $97 million budget and it still has yet to be released in China (June 16th) and Japan (September 15th) which are two heavy hitters when it comes to movies.
So where do you think the final box office gross will end up? Prometheus made $403 million so it’s safe to say Alien Covenant won’t reach those heights but it will surely do better than AvP Requiem’s $128 million and AvP’s $172 million. But then again, both AvP’s were made pretty cheaply compared to it (around $60 million and $40 million respectively).
Alien Covenant still received positive reviews from critics with a Fresh rating of 73% on Rotten Tomatoes and it should continue to perform well over Memorial Day weekend though next weekend also sees the release of Baywatch and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
Keep a close eye on Alien vs. Predator Galaxy for the latest on Alien: Covenant! You can follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to get the latest on your social media walls. You can also join in with fellow Alien fans on our forums!
I don't think the general public ever had a desire to see a sequel to Prometheus to be honest.
That's the Fast and Furious Target Audience.
The old adage that nobody went broke underestimating the stupidity of the average cinemagoer holds true. There's big money in flashing lights and loud noises
The R rating requires that AC delivers on more than an adolescent level. Additionally, and because it is a sequel/prequel, it inherently has a pedigree to live up to. It fails in that regard, and as such, has been panned by those critics that are either invested or not in the pocket of Fox.
Prometheus came out and a lot of people were disappointed that the Xeno was nowhere to be found. Then the pendulum was moved across the spectrum to the point of Covenant being basically a full blown Alien movie. They need to find that sweet spot, in my opinion, of balancing the philosophical aspects of Prometheus and the Xeno of Alien.
I think the prequels tied their hands behind their back because of the nature of the Xeno. It bleeds acid. So you can't shoot it or blow it up if it's on your ship. So the only option is the airlock like in Alien and Aliens, which has obviously already been done.
The future of this series will be in whatever will hopefully be in Alien 5, and I'm not talking about the cancelled Alien 3.5. I'm also not talking about Ripley necessarily. If they have a great story to finish her out, then great. I don't believe the Engineers are done after Covenant. They can re-appear in an Alien 5 on other worlds. There can be different, exotic, and more deadlier versions of the Xeno. They need to do an Alien 5 in order to move away from the traditional Xeno that we have seen so far. Allowing the beast to change will allow the freedom to start giving us things we've never seen. That way you don't know what's going to happen already. Gives us a Xeno that can be shot or blown up on a ship because it wouldn't destroy the ship with the acid blood. To counter that perceived weakness, give it a higher intelligence so the hunt would have more tension. The scene that pops into my head is from Aliens when Hudson says, "How could they cut the power." I think that's why I liked the Neomorph in Covenant, and would have loved to see more of it. That little bastard was fast, lol.
I think if Alien is to survive as a franchise, and I agree with what some have said, it can't be a traditional space horror with stupid characters just there to be lambs to the slaughter. Alien 5 and beyond needs to keep the philosophical creation elements, I feel. It doesn't need to be front and center, but those elements will keep the audience engaged and thinking.
Nailed it, my friend. Absolutely nailed it.
^this!
The only people that complained about the lack of the alien were people on the internet and forums like these. The general population didn't give a f**k if it was in it. They were there to see Prometheus. Scott switched gears and attempted to appeal to a niche audience and got burned for it. He listened to the vocal minority of the internet.
Prometheus's issue was never the lack of xenomorph to the majority of the view audience. It was the lack of consistent editing.
Only if Covenant have 3D and a lot of actions.
It broke so many records and didn't get horrible reviews at the time of it's release yet by the time "Episode II: Attack of the Clones" came it, it dropped in Box office from "Menace" because it was a polarizing film. I honestly feel like Ridley can't win at this point. They complained about the lack of Alien and then on "Covenant" he tries to bring that back and he still criticized. George Lucas also was criticized heavily for trying to tell Vader's full story. Ridley only tried to tell the origin story for the Engineers but people criticized him. Peter Jackson was also criticized for "Hobbit" prequels and the 2nd "Hobbit" film dropped after the first. I think it's very difficult to do prequel series and satisfy everyone.
OK.
Usually I disagree with RT. I don't care about RT. All Marvel Disney movies have HIGH notes in RT. All Marvel Disney movies are MEDIOCRE TO ME.
That actually isn't true.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0065466/?ref_=nm_flmg_wr_8
That is because the original version of Blade Runner is actually kinda the shits, It's filled with interesting ideas but is killed by the forced narrative choices. The directors cut and final cut though are great. Yes I am old enough to see every version in order of release, which is watching a movie get better and better as time goes on. I'll never be a fan of the 1982 version.
People view RT as gospel in some circles. I was just pointing out critic reviews. I personally hate RT and most modern critics as most come off as people who more get off seeing movies before everyone else. They are the review equal of people who post "FIRST" on youtube videos or make "reacts" videos.
Like I said before: you are taking RT too seriously. RT is nothing.
Remember All Critics Killed BLADE RUNNER in 1982. All Critics NEVER worked in a film.
That still isn't break even point. They have to make at least another 50m between Japan and China to even begin to break even.
I hate everyone of those movies with a burning passion, but a few of them have higher critic scores on Rotten Tomato's than Prometheus and Covenant.
Also of interest is Covenant has slipped below Prometheus's RT score.
I hope you are right.
I came from that "general audience." The only Alien film that interests me is original. The rest all trash, especially the pathetic Alien vs Predator iterations.
Prometheus brought me back to the alien franchise. Finally, Ridley returns and delivers something new, refreshing, and thought-provoking. But then everything went awry with A:C. The reason A:C fell on its face is because they completely discarded and butchered the only compelling aspects they had cultivated in Prometheus. The third act of A:C was one of the worst movie segments I've ever seen, and I hope Ridley and Fox realize nobody wants to see mind-numbing, stalk-and-kill sci-fi movies anymore.
This movie needed less xenomorph, not more.
You have to lump Covenant in with the vastly superior Prometheus in order to reconcile Covenant's failure. Come on man. And people complained about the lack of aliens in Prometheus, but weren't sure about ALIEN: Covenant? Come ooooooon.
And don't be so confident about Awakening coming out sooner rather than later, if at all.
I don't know if I was blaming it as much as I saying it was slightly polarizing. I think their critical scores are about even (Prometheus critics 72/audience 68, Covenant critics 71/ audience 61 RT). There were audiences asking about the more Alien though and Ridley even admitted that. "Covenant" numbers are definitely a lot of factors technically it's the 2nd film of the Prequel Trilogy even though it's the 8th Alien appearance on the big screen and 6th film. A majority o the time Sequels do drop from their predessors in the box office but notice with "Guardians of the Galaxy", Part 2 increased over the first film and it's not getting better reviews than the original. I think Time played a role, 5 years was probably too long. Also I agree with people that maybe August would be a better release date. "Covenant" is the 3rd May release (Alien, Alien 3). Hopefully "Awakening" can come out sooner.
Domestic: $59,972,181 37.3%
+ Foreign: $101,009,281 62.7%
= Worldwide: $160,981,462
Globally will save this movie overall. I think this proves how polarizing "Prometheus" really was. I'm sorry but you can't make an Alien movie without the Alien and this is coming from someone that liked the film. If the Deacon had a bigger role, maybe people wouldn't be so on the fence with "Covenant". I think us diehards forget general/causal audiences really complained about the lack of "Alien" in the last film. Now they may be on the fence for this one. With all that said I don't think it' doing that bad. "Prometheus" and "Covenant" = 560+ Million Globally is not bad so Ridley shouldn't feel he failed bringing the franchise back. I think "Awakening" should come quicker and not be a 5 year wait again.
It all comes down to a quality script. They felt they had it. You can disagree but nothing would have changed with the characters. In the end Ridley doesn't work with those small budgets anyway so it's moot.
I don't think the series would be inherently helped in anyway by a reduced budget. Yeah it could be good but it could just as equally suck. The budget isn't the problem in the resulting quality of movie and I think you would sacrifice a lot as a result.
Sure make it for 10 million and you'll make money but nothing at all inherently means it will be any better.
I see your point and disagree. Outside of Fassbender's performance in both movies, none of the characters were 3 dimensional. That isn't just me saying this. Plenty of reviews back this up and a lot of people here would likely agree. But to each his own.
Basically all Prometheus had going for it was the visuals. There were character plot holes galore in that film. Hell, they even show actors driving off in a transport in the Fifield scene, only to show them perfectly fine tending to old man Weyland in the next.
About 1/4 of the actors in the film had names outside of "mercenary 1" or "mechanic." How lazy is that to not develop any characterizations when there's only like 17 people in the film?
The same for A:C. Did we learn, beyond what we know from interviews that Rosenthal had a mate in cryo? No. Did we learn who her lover was? Maybe Ankor from the one brief interaction they had. Outside of the brief shot where Lope cradles Hallet's hand in his showing off the matching wedding bands, it wasn't even established that they were married! The only interaction they had besides standing close by to each other was "that's why you should do yoga."
I could go all day but I'm not trying to change anyone's mind.
I thought both movies were visually stunning but lacked in other areas that a smaller budget, smaller cast film would capitalize on.
The requirement for any good film is attention to detail and usually believable characters and motivations.
I don't think there is anything in Prometheus and covenant that ever relied on the set pieces to carry it. I think both movies felt they were establishing characters well and that they had interesting interactions. Essentially you would get the same thing but without the amazing visuals.
I don't think alien lends itself well to a small budget anyway. Some of the best aspects of Prometheus as covenant were in the visuals that would be absent in a 10 million dollar budgeted movie.
I disagree.
ALIEN and ALIENS are masterpieces and 2 of the greatest movies of all time.
The 8 Fast & Furious movies are FAR from masterpieces.
The same could be said of the Alien franchise.
Also, this was the worst Memorial Day weekend at the box office in 18 years. Covenant was set up for success, but general audiences seemingly weren't interested.
If the movie has faults, i really don´t think so, are not by not have Sigourney on the movie.
I agree with Grace Randolph.
Sigourney Weaver is Returning.
Maybe Sir Ridley is Directing unless He Retires of this Franchise by his own decision. FOX has too much respect for Sir Ridley Scott.
Lol, I'm sorry dude I was just trying to get the point across that those 3 smaller films were successful. I don't live on or spend the majority of my day on Box Office Mojo so I'm just making a broad statement without the numbers in front of me.
I did not simply mean "smaller budget." Of course it would be restricted and big effects pieces would be out of the question, going to Paradise included, but the whole point would be to, as you said, make it more character driven. That means new script, new concept, the works.
The thing about successful indie films is that they require much more attention to the script, character interactions, etc. because they don't have the big pretty set pieces to fall back on. Therefore much more energy is spent perfecting the actual storytelling. I'm not suggesting they re-stage an indie version of A:C where the Covenant is made out of cardboard.
Ah Sorry, it's hard to tell on here sometimes!
Are you agreeing with me or being sarcastic?
It's called counter-programming.
If it were just down to the quality of a film then films like fast & furious (whatever number it is now) would also flop.
It doesn't matter how you spin it, AC has flopped because it is fundamentally a poor film. A 6/10 film.
It wouldn't have made 10 million if it was out of theatres.
It actually showed an increase of 11 theatres from last weekend.
I'm asking if is it out of the theaters on where others live. Its out of the theater I saw in my country.
Not sure what you mean. It had a horrific drop off but it is very clearly still in theatres.
Alien: Box Office Situation (3D)
Run, Hide, Call in sick for the day.
Is it out of the theaters already?
Yes, I saw The Crossing prologue. Saw the Walter commercial after I saw the film. Not watched The Last Supper, wasn't sure if it would be spoilery so I avoided it. Will go watch it now.