Scott’s follow-up to the polarizing 2012 prequel film Prometheus underperformed in both its opening weekend numbers and reviews, earning just $36 million in U.S. theaters and receiving just a “B” grade on audience-driven survey site CinemaScore. For reference, audiences gave recent films The Great Wall and Ghost in the Shell the same grade, so it’s not exactly a ringing endorsement from ticket buyers.
The news wasn’t as bad from professional critics, who currently have Alien: Covenant sitting at a 73-percent “Fresh” rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes (although audience scores on the site are a bit less enthusiastic about the film). Given that the film cost approximately $97 million to make, its current worldwide gross of $117.8 million means that it will likely cover its production and marketing budget by the end of its run, but industry pundits had previously set a $40 million domestic debut as what the film should earn to be considered a bona fide success.
| # | Title | Weekend | U.S. Total | Worldwide Total |
| 1. | Alien: Covenant | $36M | $36M | $117.8M |
| 2. | Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 | $35M | $301.8M | $732.5M |
| 3. | Everything, Everything | $12M | $12M | $12M |
| 4. | Snatched | $7.6M | $32.7M | $39.9M |
| 5. | Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul | $7.2M | $7.2M | $7.2M |
| 6. | King Arthur: Legend of the Sword | $6.8M | $27.2M | $93.4M |
| 7. | The Fate of the Furious | $3.1M | $219.8M | $1.2B |
| 8. | The Boss Baby | $2.8M | $166.1M | $467.9M |
| 9. | Beauty and the Beast | $2.4M | $497.7M | $1.2B |
| 10. | How to be a Latin Lover | $2.2M | $29.4M | $29.4M |
Also working against Alien: Covenant is the fact that the film only narrowly beat Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2, which earned $35 million in its third weekend in theaters. The latest installment of a franchise as iconic as the Alien movies is generally expected — and rightfully so — to have a much bigger premiere against a movie that’s been around two weekends already, even if that movie is Marvel Studios’ latest blockbuster.
On that note, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 is already outpacing its predecessor at the box office, so it will be interesting to see how big of a run the sequel has in theaters.
As for the rest of the week’s new releases, the young-adult drama Everything, Everything outperformed expectations across the board with a $12 million premiere in U.S. theaters and an “A-” grade on CinemaScore. People who bought tickets to see the movie were more than happy with it, despite critics giving it a mere 43-percent approval rating.
The only other new release to crack the top ten films was Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul, the fourth film in that family-friendly franchise. The film earned well below what the studio hoped, with $7.2 million marking the lowest debut for any installment of the series so far. This could spell the end for the franchise’s theatrical debuts, but there’s always a good chance it could shift into the direct-to-video market and do fine.
The only other noteworthy element of the week’s top ten were the continuing troubles for King Arthur: Legend of the Sword, which is well on its way to being the year’s first major flop. Director Guy Ritchie’s film cost more than $175 million to make, and has earned less than $30 million domestically and less than $100 million worldwide so far, and doesn’t have any major premieres in large markets left to save it.
This upcoming week features a few high-profile new releases, including the action comedy Baywatch getting started a little early on Thursday, May 25, and Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales hitting theaters a day later on May 26. The latter film is the fifth chapter of a series that has already earned more than $1.2 billion domestically and $3.7 billion worldwide across four films.
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