Alien: Covenant Box Office Performance

[cucuchu]

I think Daniels haircut negatively affected ticket sales.

Actually, same here. She looked nasty and it kind of turned me off. I wish Daniels' hair was longer. And actually Katherine Waterston in this role in general was kind of bad. Her face is too weird. Enough of these unique Sigourneys and Noomis. Just give me a straight classical beauty.

Covenant would be at 1 Billion $$$ or more Box Office if Danny McBride and Waterson had switched hair cuts.

[Spidey3121]

I think Daniels haircut negatively affected ticket sales.

Actually, same here. She looked nasty and it kind of turned me off. I wish Daniels' hair was longer. And actually Katherine Waterston in this role in general was kind of bad. Her face is too weird. Enough of these unique Sigourneys and Noomis. Just give me a straight classical beauty.

Covenant would be at 1 Billion $$$ or more Box Office if Danny McBride and Waterson had switched hair cuts.

2 Bil if she were naked the whole time!

[Protozoid]

Interest in horror/scifi is just fine, perhaps even a bit hungry for something good.

I would like to see some numbers that support your claim. The most successful sci-fi horror movie of the last ten years was Prometheus... by a margin of hundreds of millions of dollars (unless you count Jurassic World as horror, which I don't). Before Prometheus, you have to go all the way back to I Am Legend, Spielberg's War of the Worlds, and Shyamalan's Signs before you find high-grossing sci-fi horror. Do you consider those quality sci-fi horror films? How about the Resident Evil movies, which are next on the list?

No, audience interest in sci-fi horror is moderate at best. The movies I mentioned show the upper limit of what they can gross with today's audiences. Sci-fi horror is more limited than just sci-fi. Sci-fi movies are doing huge business. Serious ones, that is, like Arrival or The Martian. Prometheus played up the sci-fi angle to great success; when people discuss that movie positively, they discuss the ideas, not the scares. Covenant doesn't have enough to offer in a crowded market that included recent hits like The Martian, Ex Machina, Fury Road, or Arrival. It lacked a compelling conceptual hook to be a good sci-fi draw, and it lacked original horror elements to be effectively scary. That and franchise fatigue: each Alien film made less than the prior one, and Covenant fits that pattern. Prometheus broke the pattern by breaking with the franchise and the subgenre. Imo, at least.

[Predaker]

Wow.

Her hairstyle is the reason this movie underperformed? I've heard dumb takes before, but this has to take the cake.

That's not what I said. Sometimes a little reading comprehension goes a long way.

And don't underestimate the shallowness of some folk!

[AlienFanIL17]

Just saw it again today.  I liked it even more than before.  I still put my ranking as Aliens, Alien, and then Covenant.  I still don't like the pacing of the third act, it still seems rushed.  I really hope we get a director's cut on blu-ray.  15-20 more minutes, with the majority of that added in the third act, would really elevate this film I feel.  The third act needs a little more tension, a little more cat and mouse with the beast. 

It seems like there were a good amount of people who didn't like Prometheus. but eventually they liked it.  I'm not saying everyone who dislikes Covenant will end up liking it.  However, I think Covenant is a movie that people will like the more they watch it.  Just my opinion.

Also, I thought of something while watching it today about no breathing masks or protection for when they landed.  Once they determine to check out the new planet, we are told the trip will take 2 weeks.  The repairs on the ship only need 48 hours.  I would say it's implied that all the tests to make sure the new destination is safe for exploration would have been carried out in the 12 days after the repairs have been made.  Again, just my opinion.

[Spidey3121]

Wow.

Her hairstyle is the reason this movie underperformed? I've heard dumb takes before, but this has to take the cake.

That's not what I said. Sometimes a little reading comprehension goes a long way.

And don't underestimate the shallowness of some folk!

You said it negatively affected ticket sales. What other way is there to take this? And then 2 other members agreed. I certainly do not underestimate the shallowness of some, but I can't imagine her hair style is keeping the masses away.

[Predaker]

There are a number of reasons Covenant is underperforming. Daniels hairstyle isn't high up on that list.

[BishopShouldGo]

I actually might be going crazy but I do think it impacted the box office a bit.

[juxtapose]

sorry but i never found her hair to be the least bit distracting. .i would agree that she is perhaps not the prettiest actress out their. .she's certainly no theron. .but she is still what i would regard as attractive..  .whatever she lacked in beauty i thought she made up for in her acting ability. .not oscar material. .but definately more than adequate.

[XenoVC]

I actually might be going crazy but I do think it impacted the box office a bit.

I thought the notion of this was funny, but this movie has done more business than Alien 3 with a bald Sigourney Weaver everywhere you can see.

[Corporal Hicks]

Her hair made the movie perform poorly? That has to be one of the daftest things I've read.

[SM]

The current numbers are a week behind internationally, so it'll be interesting to see much some of the larger markets bring in (UK, Australia, South Korea, Germany, Russia).  Based on the drops from previous weeks, I can't imagine it'll make a great deal more.

China will make a bit, and Japan doesn't get a release till September.

I think it'll get past $200m, which will see it into the top 20 for the year, but there's probably about a dozen other films yet to be released that will wind up ahead of it.

Watching it last night I was struck by the fact that back when Alien and Aliens came out, there were a bunch of movies that mimicked them.  How many space horror movies are there now?  We had Life a few months back that didn't really do much.  Before that?  Apollo 18?  And both those films are tied to present day(ish) NASA stuff and not futuristic.  Maybe there's just not an appetite for this anymore to a mass audience.

Another thing I noticed in the trailers for Annabelle Creation and IT was this jump/cut frame sped up screaming in your face kind of scares.  And they're both in mundane settings.

[juxtapose]

. .yeah i just don't think that jump cut screaming in your face shit would work in an alien movie. .it works best with ghost movies. .i did not really enjoy that bit in the it trailer either. .it looks like a very lazy effect. .

[Robopadna]

The current numbers are a week behind internationally, so it'll be interesting to see much some of the larger markets bring in (UK, Australia, South Korea, Germany, Russia).  Based on the drops from previous weeks, I can't imagine it'll make a great deal more.

You are right that its run is pretty much done internationally with the exception of China/Japan.

I think it'll get past $200m, which will see it into the top 20 for the year, but there's probably about a dozen other films yet to be released that will wind up ahead of it.

If we look at last year, making 200 million WW would put it at 44 for the year.  I think it will actually approach about 300 WW but that would probably be top 25-30.

Overall this is going to be a bad flop, especially in the context of the expectations from Fox that they had fixed all the problems with Prometheus.  They wanted a tent pole franchise and I think Alien is proving that it isn't that.

I really hope Scott gets his final movie and I think we will see soon.  Fox can let him have it, even with this poor box office return, they can go in another direction (reboot or brand new story, which I think is the least likely) or they can put it on ice for a while.  I really hope they don't do that last but instead realize the audience isn't really there to treat this as a massive money maker and instead rethink and reshape their expectations.

[Denton Smalls]

Maybe Blu Ray sales will pick up slack.