“Us,” the horror follow-up to “Get Out” from director Jordan Peele and released by Universal, earned a massive $7.4 million in its Thursday box office previews from 3,150 screens. It opens on 3,741 screens this weekend.
Independent trackers have “Us” expected to earn between $45-50 million, though Universal is saying that the opening would be considered a success if it was within the range of “Get Out.” Peele’s previous film earned $33.3 million in its first weekend in 2017 following a Thursday preview total of just $1.8 million.
A $50 million opening for “Us” would also put it within the range of the opening for John Krasinski’s horror film “A Quiet Place,” which earned $4.3 million during its Thursday previews. It also eclipsed the total of last year’s horror prequel “The Nun,” which made an impressive $5.4 million on Thursday ahead of a $53.8 million opening.
“Get Out” was made on a trim $4.5 million budget, while “Us” cost a still modest $20 million. But behind killer word of mouth and a Rotten Tomatoes score that currently sits at 94 percent with 183 reviews counted, “Us” is expected to leg out well beyond its opening and could reach a domestic run of over $200 million.
“Us” stars Lupita Nyong’o as Adelaide Wilson, a woman returning to her beachside childhood home with her husband, Gabe (Winston Duke), and their two children (Shahadi Wright Joseph, Evan Alex) for an idyllic summer getaway. After spending a tense day at the beach with their friends (Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker), Adelaide and her family return to their vacation home to discover the silhouettes of four figures standing in their driveway. “Us” pits an ordinary American family against a terrifying and uncanny opponent: doppelgängers of themselves.
Peele wrote and directed “Us,” his second feature, for his Monkeypaw Productions alongside Ian Cooper. The film is the company’s first solo production venture. Sean McKittrick and Jason Blum also produced.
“Us” could top what would be the third weekend for Marvel’s “Captain Marvel.” It also opens opposite the true-story thriller “Hotel Mumbai” and the foreign film “Sunset,” and Julianne Moore’s “Gloria Bell” going wider. “Captain Marvel” on Thursday brought in another $4.2 million domestically, bringing its domestic total to $286.4 million and $825 million globally.