The Big Picture
-
Alien’s
re-release in theaters celebrates its iconic status in the sci-fi genre, setting the stage for a new installment in the franchise. - Despite being 45 years old,
Alien’s
solid box office performance demonstrates its enduring popularity among audiences. - The success of
Alien
adds to the impressive global box office totals of the franchise, solidifying its place in sci-fi film history.
It’s the season of re-releases at the domestic box office. After the success of the first Dune film a couple of months ago and the recent 20th anniversary re-issue of DreamWorks’ Shrek 2, not to mention the ongoing re-release of every live-action Spider-Man movie, this past weekend saw two more older films compete for attention among the new titles. 20th Century Studios celebrated the 45th anniversary of Ridley Scott’s seminal first Alien film by debuting it in over 1,700 nationwide theaters to solid box office response.
Across the three-day weekend, Aliengrossed $1.5 million with a per-theater average of nearly $900. The movie finished just outside the top 10, narrowly falling short of the debutante action film Boy Kills World, which made $1.6 million in its first three days of release. Alien out-performed Universal’s 25th anniversary re-release of The Mummy, which grossed a hair over $1 million this weekend from around 1,200 nationwide theaters. By comparison, the recent Shrek 2 re-release grossed $1.4 million in its first weekend.
The ‘Alien’ Franchise Remains Iconic
Originally released in 1979, Alien is widely considered one of the most influential science-fiction films of all time. It established Scott as a force to be reckoned with — he was just one film old at the time — and spawned a massively successful franchise. The film’s unique blend of horror and hard sci-fi has inspired numerous knockoffs, but the Alien franchise remains near-immortal, with a new installment — Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus — just around the corner.
|
Alien Movies |
Global Box Office |
|---|---|
|
Prometheus (2012) |
$402 million |
|
Alien: Covenant (2017) |
$238 million |
|
Alien (1979) |
$186 million |
|
Aliens (1986) |
$183 million |
|
AVP: Alien Vs. Predator (2004) |
$172 million |
|
Alien: Resurrection (1997) |
$160 million |
|
Alien 3 (1992) |
$158 million |
|
Alien Vs. Predator – Requiem (2007) |
$128 million |
The first Alien has seen multiple re-releases over the years, and its global box office currently stands at $186 million. It’s the third-biggest film in the franchise, behind Prometheus ($402 million worldwide) and Alien: Covenant ($238 million worldwide). Incidentally, both those films were also directed by Scott. The Alien series also includes James Cameron’s Aliens ($183 million worldwide), AVP: Alien Vs. Predator ($172 million), Alien: Resurrection ($160 million) and David Fincher’s Alien 3 ($158 million). Alien Vs. Predator — Requiem is the series’ lowest-grossing installment, with $128 million globally.
Starring Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Veronica Cartwright, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Ian Holm, and Yaphet Kotto, Alien follows the crew of a space tug that comes across an abandoned spaceship, and is subsequently forced to defend itself against a rampaging extraterrestrial creature let loose in their ship. You can watch the film in theaters;Romulus will debut on August 16.
Alien (1979)
In deep space, the crew of the commercial starship Nostromo is awakened from their cryo-sleep capsules halfway through their journey home to investigate a distress call from an alien vessel. The terror begins when the crew encounters a nest of eggs inside the alien ship. An organism from inside an egg leaps out and attaches itself to one of the crew, causing him to fall into a coma.
- Release Date
- June 22, 1979
