LOS ANGELES -- After almost 40 years, audiences are still interested in the Alien universe. Ridley Scott's Alien: Covenant, from 20th Century Fox, dethroned Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which had topped the box office for two straight weeks. Meanwhile, Warner Bros.' Everything, Everything and Fox's Diary of a Wimpy Kid sequel battled for those not interested in R-rated scares.
Alien took in an estimated $36.2 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, coming in below analyst projections of $40 million to $50 million. Internationally, the picture pulled $30.3 million over the weekend after already being open in territories across the globe. Its worldwide take rests at $117.8 million to date.
"It does endure the test of time," said Chris Aronson, the studio's head of distribution, "as does Sir Ridley Scott."
The latest in the aging franchise is the eighth film, counting the two widely panned Alien Vs. Predator movies. It's also a sequel to 2012's Prometheus, a heady quasi-prequel to the original 1979 Alien. Even with an admittedly confusing timeline, the studio was able to drum up interest in the flick among core Alien fans with gruesome marketing and generally positive reviews. It may also help that the famous creatures designed by surrealist H.R. Giger -- the xenomorphs and facehuggers -- that Prometheus lacked, due to its origin-of-man back story, were reintroduced.
Audiences (62 percent male; 66 percent 25 and older; 51 percent white) gave the picture a B CinemaScore, while critics averaged a 73 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Alien: Covenant performed worse than its 2012 predecessor, which brought in $51 million in its debut. That film ended up collecting $400 million worldwide. But considering the studio saved more than 25 percent in production costs this go around, with a $97 million price tag, the future of Covenant's profitability still looks promising.
Falling to second place in its third week was Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 with a still-impressive $34.7 millionlast weekend. It has pulled in $301.4 million domestically to date for a global tally of more than $732 million.
Performing the best of the other new releases was Everything, Everything, which took in $11.8 million. The Warner Bros./MGM movie directed by Stella Meghie (Jean of the Joneses) met analyst projections of a $10 million to $12 million opening. Such a performance is a respectable debut for a film that cost $10 million to make.
A young-adult tear-jerker, Everything, Everything is about a teen girl who's sealed off from the world because she has a severe immune system disease. But when she falls for the guy next door, through text messages and window pane conversations, she risks it all. Adapted from Nicola Yoon's best-selling young adult novel of the same name, it stars Amandla Stenberg (The Hunger Games), Nick Robinson (Jurassic World) and Anika Noni Rose.
Audiences and critics appear split on the romantic drama. While moviegoers gave it an A-minus, the film has an average 43 percent positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Landing in fourth was Amy Schumer's Snatched, from Fox. In its second week, the poorly reviewed mother-daughter comedy, starring Goldie Hawn, pulled in $7.8 million. It has grossed $33 million domestically to date.
Also from Fox, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul is the fourth film in a series. In the latest picture, a Heffley family road trip derails when the lead character Greg, played by Jason Drucker, hatches a scheme to get to a video-game convention. The movie generated $7.1 million in sales.
For critics, the film was the worst of the weekend's new crop, with only 19 percent positive notices, according to RottenTomatoes. The movie was expected to generate $9 million in its debut, according to BoxOfficePro.com. It cost $22 million to make, according to Box Office Mojo.
Moviegoers who did see the flick gave it a B on CinemaScore.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 provided a solid launch to the summer movie season with more than $300 million in domestic ticket sales so far, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for ComScore. But overall grosses are running about 10 percent behind last summer's totals.
Still, May is following a typical pattern, he said. Marvel movies kick off the month, which ends with Memorial Day tent poles like this weekend's Baywatch and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by comScore:
Alien: Covenant, 20th Century Fox, $36,160,621, 3,761 locations, $9,615 average, $36,160,621, one week.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, Disney, $34,653,754, 4,347 locations, $7,972 average, $301,391,228, three weeks.
Everything, Everything, Warner Bros., $11,727,390, 2,801 locations, $4,187 average, $11,727,390, one week.
Snatched, 20th Century Fox, $7,832,517, 3,511 locations, $2,231 average, $33,015,117, two weeks.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, Warner Bros., $7,152,269, 3,702 locations, $1,932 average, $27,503,490, two weeks.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul, 20th Century Fox, $7,126,084, 3,157 locations, $2,257 average, $7,126,084, one week.
The Fate of the Furious, Universal, $3,234,040, 2,287 locations, $1,414 average, $219,944,340, six weeks.
The Boss Baby, 20th Century Fox, $2,848,253, 2,071 locations, $1,375 average, $166,200,803, eight weeks.
Beauty and the Beast, Disney, $2,545,579, 1,792 locations, $1,421 average, $497,924,628, 10 weeks.
How to Be a Latin Lover, Lionsgate, $2,051,180, 948 locations, $2,164 average, $29,309,990, four weeks.
Lowriders, OTL Releasing, $1,183,600, 365 locations, $3,243 average, $4,211,985, two weeks.
Gifted, Fox Searchlight, $766,765, 824 locations, $931 average, $22,900,823, seven weeks.
Going in Style, Warner Bros., $600,081, 690 locations, $870 average, $43,372,898, seven weeks.
Baahubali: The Conclusion, Great India Films, $599,085, 236 locations, $2,538 average, $19,997,556, four weeks.
Smurfs: The Lost Village, Sony, $572,562, 652 locations, $878 average, $43,064,566, seven weeks.
Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall, Sony Pictures Classics, $565,664, 373 locations, $1,517 average, $2,273,140, six weeks.
The Circle, STX Entertainment, $451,218, 647 locations, $697 average, $20,030,002, four weeks.
Born In China, Disney, $371,765, 575 locations, $647 average, $13,137,812, five weeks.
The Lovers, A24, $274,050, 105 locations, $2,610 average, $528,495, three weeks.
Get Out, Universal, $245,135, 262 locations, $936 average, $174,939,840, 13 weeks.
MovieStyle on 05/26/2017