It was a very close race at the weekend box office but we have a new champion as Alien: Covenant narrowly beat Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2.
The eighth film in the Alien franchise brought in $36 million which is a decent opening but a bit disappointing considering the last film Prometheus brought in $51 million during its opening weekend back in 2012. It will also have a tough time beating the $126 million domestic gross of Prometheus reports Box Office Mojo.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol 2 falls to second place with another impressive weekend, bringing in $35.1 million and has now crossed $300 million domestically. It is now only $32 million behind its predecessor.
Third place was a bit of a surprise as the drama Everything, Everything brought in $12 million, which was much more than expected. Snatched dropped two spots to fourth place with $7.6 million. This will be the last week Snatched is in the top five.
Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul rounds out the top five with $7.2 million. The fourth film in the franchise produced the lowest opening weekend as the other three films managed to recored double digit opening weekends.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword continues to drop as it came in sixth place this weekend with $6.9 million and has yet to cross $30 million domestically. I’m very surprised this film has flopped so badly.
The Fate of the Furious brought in $3.2 million and is approaching $220 million domestically. Beauty and the Beast brought in $2.4 million and is close to crossing $500 million domestically after 66 days.
I doubt that Alien: Covenant will repeat as box office champion as the summer blockbusters really start coming with the openings of Baywatch and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales. I predict that Baywatch will edge Pirates for the top spot.
Weekend Gross by Distributor:
20th Century Fox: $53.8 million (+31.4 percent)
Disney: $37.9 million (-29.8 percent)
Warner Bros.: $18.9 million (+3.2 percent)
Universal: $3.4 million (-2.3 percent)
Lionsgate: $1.3 million (-2.5 percent)
BH Tilt: $1.2 million (-1.4 percent)
Next week’s openings: Baywatch, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales