Daaaaaamn, Jordan Peele. We knew Us would make a lot of money -- much more than the initial projections from $38 million to $48 million -- but Us' opening weekend nearly doubled that. It made $70.2 million from March 22-24, which is literally double what Captain Marvel made this week in its third time on the chart. This is the first time Captain Marvel has been dethroned at #1, after its own better-than-expected debut. Us has set all kinds of records, and we'll get to that and more, but first check out the full top 10 domestic box office chart:
Us set a new record for an original horror movie, easily passing A Quiet Place's $50 million debut. It marked the third best horror opening of all time behind It and Halloween. Also -- and this is pretty cool -- it's the best opening for an original live-action movie since Avatar in 2009, per Deadline. Huzzah for original films!
Us demolished the $33 million opening of Jordan Peele'e previous hit, the 2017 film Get Out. That movie won Jordan Peele the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. It was a tough act to follow, but it also added more anticipation for this film, which must've contributed to the huge opening box office. Plus, no one likes to be spoiled, so many fans rushed to theaters to see what happened in Us before someone spoiled it for them online. (If you're still confused on exactly what happened, here's help.)
Very strong reviews are also known to help at the box office, although fans don't seem to be quite as fond of Us as the critics. The movie currently has a 94% fresh rating from critics but only 69% from RT users, and a "B" CinemaScore from moviegoers polled on opening night.
Us winning doesn't really mean Captain Marvel loses. The MCU movie did see a drop of -48.5% this week (and a loss of 32 screens), but those chart numbers are just from the domestic box office. Captain Marvel currently has a worldwide total of $910,298,835, and it's expected to hit $1 billion later this week. One billion dollars within a month of release? Not too shabby.
Most of the chart order above looks the same as last week's figures from Box Office Mojo. There are some changes, though, like the arrival of Gloria Bell in the top 10. Julianne Moore's movie added 615 screens, putting it up to 654, giving it a box office boost of +394.5% over last week.
Other that that, this weekend pushed How to Train Your Dragon 3 very close to $500M worldwide -- it's currently at $488M -- and Alita: Battle Angel is barely a hair under $400M with a current worldwide gross of $399,866,842. The total may be above $400M by the time you read this, depending on how much still comes in from the impressive foreign box office. But the question remains on whether it can reach $500 million, which seems to be the benchmark people are looking at for profit/sequels.
At any rate, Us should enjoy #1 while it can, because next weekend we have Dumbo and then it's Shazam! time. And in just over one month, Avengers: Endgame will arrive to show every film how box office winning is done. Keep up with everything headed to theaters in busy 2019 with our handy movie schedule.
Did you predict a $70 million opening for Us? If so, now's the perfect time to brag in the comments below. (No one will believe you without proof, but that's fine.)
