‘Alien Romulus’ Budget Didn’t Change When It Went From Streaming to Theaters

The Xenomorphs are finally back in theaters for the first time since 2017 with Alien: Romulus. However, it wasn’t initially supposed to be that way. When a ninth installment of the landmark sci-fi horror franchise was first announced, the plan was for the film to follow in the footsteps of other beloved horror franchises with titles like the Hellraiser reboot and Prey before it on Hulu. Everything changed in the aftermath of the pandemic, though, and Alien got another chance to be made for the big screen. Collider’s Steve Weintraub asked director Fede Álvarez exactly how similar the streaming version would’ve been to the theatrical release and, apparently, it was roughly the same.

Álvarez confirmed that the streaming deal for Romulus was largely a result of the time, as restrictions were in place and the box office was far from recovering. “This is the budget for the Hulu movie, by the way,” he said regarding the $80 million production cost of the film.

“The budget never changed. I don’t know if they announced it or not at the time, but we made deals in 2021, so I can’t blame anybody for not betting on the theatrical experience in 2021 when everything was dead. Basically, 20th Century was given the green light to make a certain amount of movies for the platform at a certain price, and that price was kind of the same for everything, which is basically around the budget of our movie.”

In essence, the scope of the film remained the same thanks to the money the team was given to work with which was a bit more generous than most made-for-streaming features.

Part of why the streaming version was so theatrically-minded comes down to the fact that 20th Century always saw a possibility to bring Romulus to theaters once everything opened up. Blockbusters have largely returned with a vengeance since the title was first announced, with Top Gun: Maverick and Spider-Man: No Way Home breaking the seal, followed by the summer of Barbenheimer and, just earlier this year, Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine earning billions for Disney. It only made sense to everyone involved, especially with promising developments when filming, to bring Alien back to the big screen given the love for the franchise and the young stars at the helm led by Cailee Spaeny. Álvarez, for his part, is glad everything worked out and even compared Romulus to Denis Villeneuve‘s first Dune given the situation:

“But I think the studio knew that potentially by the time we were making the movie, they were hopeful that it was going to change, that it was gonna go theatrical. No one at the studio enjoyed the idea that it was gonna be for streaming. That was my sense. You’re gonna have to ask them, but my sense was that they weren’t happy about it. There was just no option.

So as soon as the theaters were coming back alive and we had a script already and they saw the ambition of the movie and they started watching some of the dailies, it was a combination of many factors that led them to say, ‘No, it should be a theatrical experience.’ Watching the movie at IMAX last night, I was like, ‘No way in hell this would have been a movie for streaming.’ But remember,
Dune
actually was day-and-date streaming, as well. Not because no one thought that movie would deserve to be on the platform on day one, it’s just a reality of that. That was just a product of that.”

‘Alien: Romulus’ Has Lived Up to the Hype on the Big Screen

Although there was some uncertainty, Álvarez was relieved that Romulus wouldn’t be his first made-for-streaming movie. “But I couldn’t be happier,” he continued. “I was texting with a producer friend of mine who I was developing a movie with at the time that I decided to do Alien and jumped ship on the other movie. That person told me, with the best intention, ‘Do not do it because, Fede, you’re a filmmaker that belongs in theaters, not in streaming.‘ I remember that stayed with me, and thank god, here we are. I’ve never made a streaming movie so far. Let’s see how much we can keep that going.”

That decision from 20th Century Studios turned out to be the right call in the end, as the film immediately became a runaway hit at the box office. During its debut weekend, Romulus took the top spot at the global box office with $108.2 million, already surpassing its budget and marking the second-best domestic opening in franchise history. Fans came to see the Xenomorph carnage in premium formats too, as it led the IMAX box office as well with a staggering $16.5 million. This all came on the back of some stellar reviews, including a 7/10 score from Collider’s Ross Bonaime and an 82% on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences were clearly more than willing to head out for some claustrophobic sci-fi scares aboard a space station, especially with all the hype built up and the glowing praise from the director who started it all, Ridley Scott.

Alien: Romulus is in theaters now. Stay tuned here at Collider for our full spoiler interview with Álvarez.

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