Ridley Scott’s gory, grisly “Alien: Covenant” is estimated to make $40 million in its opening weekend at the box office after raking in a Friday total of $15.2 million from 3,761 screens, a solid total that will make it the new No. 1 movie over “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”
With a reported budget of $97 million before a robust marketing campaign and $46.6 million already in the bank from overseas markets, “Covenant” is on pace to hit studio and independent projections, which expected an opening in the low forties. Solid reviews are helping buoy the film’s buzz, with critics giving it a 73 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Still, a $40 million total would be 22 percent lower than the $51 million made in 2012 by “Prometheus,” Scott’s prequel to the “Alien” series and the start of a new saga that “Covenant” continues. The film currently has a B on CinemaScore, the same rating audiences gave “Prometheus,” so it will be interesting to see whether word-of-mouth from early viewers will be able to bump up Saturday totals.
“Guardians,” meanwhile, made $8.8 million in its third Friday in theaters and is projected to post a third frame total of $33 million. That would be enough to push the Marvel film up to $300 million domestic, second among all 2017 films behind only the $496 million of “Beauty and the Beast.” “Vol. 2″ currently has a global cume of $650 million and is approaching the $773 million made by its predecessor.
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Coming in third is Warner Bros./MGM’s romance “Everything, Everything,” a $10 million film that should hit its projection targets with an estimated $11 million opening from 2,800 screens after posting a $4.7 million Friday total. Based on a best-selling young adult novel by Nicola Yoon, the film has only scored 42 percent on RT but has been an overwhelming hit with young female audiences. It has received an A- from CinemaScore, with 82 percent of those polled being women and 74 percent under the age of 25.
Fox rounds out the top five with “Snatched,” which is projected for a $7.5 million second frame after a $2.2 million Friday, and newcomer “Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul,” which is now estimated to finish below its $10 million pre-weekend projection target with a $7 million opening. The fourth film in the “Wimpy Kid” series, “Long Haul” has a B on CinemaScore and a 19 percent RT rating.