35 votes

‘Alien: Romulus’ $41.5m scores record openings for Fede Alvarez and Cailee Spaeny; second best for franchise; global launch at $108.2m

34 comments

  1. [13]
    teaearlgraycold
    (edited )
    Link
    Including spin-offs this is the 9th Alien movie. Given that, I’m really impressed with the quality of the movie. The characters generally made good decisions, the mechanics of the world made...

    Including spin-offs this is the 9th Alien movie. Given that, I’m really impressed with the quality of the movie. The characters generally made good decisions, the mechanics of the world made sense, and we saw some cautious but well-handled world building. It’s the best series entry since Aliens.

    Edit: I know this movie is polarizing. But I stand by my opinion that it’s the 3rd best Alien movie.

    19 votes
    1. [4]
      nothis
      Link Parent
      Really? The trailer makes it look like something from the CW. They had this clip on IMDB where a guy explains he knows how to use a pulse rifle “from playing video games” or something. The vibes...

      Really? The trailer makes it look like something from the CW. They had this clip on IMDB where a guy explains he knows how to use a pulse rifle “from playing video games” or something. The vibes seem so off. But I guess I gotta give it a try, now.

      8 votes
      1. [3]
        teaearlgraycold
        Link Parent
        Some people are really not into it. So I can't guarantee anything. But I did just rewatch most of the series (Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Prometheus, and Alien: Covenant), so it's all pretty fresh in...

        Some people are really not into it. So I can't guarantee anything. But I did just rewatch most of the series (Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, Prometheus, and Alien: Covenant), so it's all pretty fresh in my mind. Trailers can be much worse or much better than their underlying movies. The line you referred to didn't come off as the wrong vibe in the context of the movie.

        The director took inspiration from the Alien: Isolation video game. I think that was pretty smart. You have this part of the Alien universe that was really well received but hasn't been put into a movie yet. It was an easy place to pull from.

        10 votes
        1. nothis
          Link Parent
          That's actually something I got from the trailer, lol. That one corridor looks like it's straight out of the game. And the game got the vibe of the original Alien movie like nothing since....

          The director took inspiration from the Alien: Isolation video game.

          That's actually something I got from the trailer, lol. That one corridor looks like it's straight out of the game. And the game got the vibe of the original Alien movie like nothing since.

          Alright, alright, I'll watch it!

          7 votes
        2. Tardigrade
          Link Parent
          I watched it this weekend and I'd agree, the line to me read as a sarcastic cover up to not have to explain in the moment why he'd learnt how to use a gun. Maybe some form of industrial resistance...

          I watched it this weekend and I'd agree, the line to me read as a sarcastic cover up to not have to explain in the moment why he'd learnt how to use a gun. Maybe some form of industrial resistance org?

          3 votes
    2. [3]
      Eji1700
      Link Parent
      As I’m legit surprised to hear this, one question, does it do anything new with the world or is it just Alien but somewhere else

      As I’m legit surprised to hear this, one question, does it do anything new with the world or is it just Alien but somewhere else

      3 votes
      1. cloud_loud
        Link Parent
        Alien but somewhere else. But it has really cool set pieces.

        Alien but somewhere else. But it has really cool set pieces.

        6 votes
      2. teaearlgraycold
        Link Parent
        New perspective, extra context on areas of the world we've seen before, a light tie-in to the original movie.

        New perspective, extra context on areas of the world we've seen before, a light tie-in to the original movie.

        4 votes
    3. [5]
      AugustusFerdinand
      Link Parent
      Just saw this last night and I disagree wholeheartedly. Spoilers Except at every opportunity. Goes back into place with face huggers. Ignores warnings about chest burster. Answers the phone while...

      Just saw this last night and I disagree wholeheartedly.

      Spoilers

      characters generally made good decisions

      Except at every opportunity. Goes back into place with face huggers. Ignores warnings about chest burster. Answers the phone while surrounded by face huggers. Demands a door be opened when there's a Xenomorph staring them in the face. Completely ignores the alien rat corpse right in front of them. Injects self with drug anyway. The list goes on and on. I felt like I was watching a 90's blonde-girl-goes-upstairs slasher movie.

      Set design was on point, but the plot was bad, the acting was bad, the final monster was terrible and predictable, and instead of the continual build up of tension of the previous movies it was nothing but loud-noise-jump-scares. I'm disappointed it even got a theatrical release and is obvious that the original plan for it to be a Hulu only release is apparent in the very weak script.

      1 vote
      1. [4]
        TumblingTurquoise
        (edited )
        Link Parent
        I went to see this movie and I had your comment specifically in my mind all the time. They never do. Next time they encounter them it's in a different area. There's never an explicit warning. It...
        I went to see this movie and I had your comment specifically in my mind all the time.

        Goes back into place with face huggers.

        They never do. Next time they encounter them it's in a different area.

        Ignores warnings about chest burster.

        There's never an explicit warning.

        Answers the phone while surrounded by face huggers.

        It was his sister that he thought was dead, and whom saving was one of the reasons they were moving through the station. I can empathize with the situation, I would've probably answered myself.

        Demands a door be opened when there's a Xenomorph staring them in the face.

        Again, the sister. And it would have been dumb for them to open the door, which they didn't.

        Completely ignores the alien rat corpse right in front of them.

        That one was indeed a weird thing to overlook.

        Injects self with drug anyway.

        On one hand, she had no idea what it is. On the other, it is kinda stupid that she did that, not knowing what it is.

        The list goes on and on.

        I think this is the first Alien movie where the people who encounter the xenomorph for the first time, with no prior knowledge of it, show some degree of competence.

        Some dumb decisions? Sure. Do I have some degree of understanding? Absolutely. They're a bunch of uneducated teenager slaves who have never seen the light of day.

        Compared to the characters from Prometheus, the ones here are insanely more competent & intelligent.

        4 votes
        1. [3]
          AugustusFerdinand
          Link Parent
          Not going to rewatch it to go step by step, but... ...and you should probably put your response behind a spoiler as well... Literally has a face hugger attached to her, is told what it's going to...

          Not going to rewatch it to go step by step, but...

          ...and you should probably put your response behind a spoiler as well...
          1. Literally has a face hugger attached to her, is told what it's going to do, is told it probably did it when they remove it, ignores it all, gets everyone killed. Warning from more intelligent person shouldn't have to be drawn in crayon for them to get it.
          2. Sister or not. Told, explicitly that making noise is going to get you killed, answers the phone anyway.
          3. They didn't open the door because the synthetic is the only one that could and refused to do so. No credit to the idiots for the door not being opened.

          I think this is the first Alien movie where the people who encounter the xenomorph for the first time, with no prior knowledge of it, show some degree of competence.

          We'll have to agree to disagree and I'd suggest you rewatch all the old movies and compare.

          They're a bunch of uneducated teenager slaves who have never seen the light of day.

          Which is partially true, but teenagers aren't without their own functioning brains. Fully capable of planning an escape, flying a mining ship, docking with a defunct space station, researching the provisions it has on board, being able to find the provisions problems and how to resolve them, knowing how to use advanced tools, weaponry, this, that, and everything in between, but here's the surprise magical plot device that gives them an excuse to be idiots because the writers are lazy and need some reason for them all to have collective stupidity so they don't have to come up with a plausible plot.

          1. [2]
            TumblingTurquoise
            Link Parent
            I remember the first Alien movie quite well In the first movie, the character literally sticks his head in the facehugger egg. Here, they fight off quite a lot of them until one person gets...
            I remember the first Alien movie quite well

            In the first movie, the character literally sticks his head in the facehugger egg. Here, they fight off quite a lot of them until one person gets facehugged almost by chance.

            In the first movie, they can't figure out a way to get the facehugger off. Here, they do.

            One of these two displays more competence than the other. And I don't even want to get into Prometheus & Covenant.

            4 votes
            1. AugustusFerdinand
              Link Parent
              And in the first movie... ...they didn't have magical cryo fuel and cryo gun to spray facehugger right on hand to get the facehugger off after being told exactly what the facehugger is doing to...
              And in the first movie...

              ...they didn't have magical cryo fuel and cryo gun to spray facehugger right on hand to get the facehugger off after being told exactly what the facehugger is doing to her vs the first movie where everything is unknown to everyone. Does one dude in the first movie do something dumb like stick his head in an unknown alien egg? Yes.
              Do a bunch of teens trying not to let something attach to their face, a standard reaction by anyone, prove competence? No.
              Does having a plot device that the first movie didn't have prove competence? No. Especially when the rest of both movies is taken into context.

  2. [5]
    cloud_loud
    Link
    This is the last major movie of the summer, so we're ending the summer on a high note after a disappointing May. We've had 11 weeks in a row where the number 1 film was at over 40M DOM. Pretty...

    This is the last major movie of the summer, so we're ending the summer on a high note after a disappointing May. We've had 11 weeks in a row where the number 1 film was at over 40M DOM. Pretty impressive recover and seems to have dampened a lot of the sour mood from that May where many movies disappointed.

    Romulus specifically is opening well for the franchise, even if it is under Alien: Covenant adjusted for inflation. Still though, a WW opening over 100M is pretty good for a film that was originally made to be straight to Hulu. It makes you wonder how much Prey would have made had it been released theatrically in a very empty August 2022.

    7 votes
    1. [3]
      dna
      Link Parent
      Prey was so much better than I expected from a 'TV movie'. I think it would've done $250M+ domestically in more normal times.

      Prey was so much better than I expected from a 'TV movie'. I think it would've done $250M+ domestically in more normal times.

      6 votes
      1. [2]
        cloud_loud
        (edited )
        Link Parent
        Interestingly enough, for as iconic as the Predator franchise is none of the movies have broken 60M DOM (AvP being an exception). I think it would have matched what The Predator made at the very...

        Interestingly enough, for as iconic as the Predator franchise is none of the movies have broken 60M DOM (AvP being an exception). I think it would have matched what The Predator made at the very least. With a smaller opening (paying for the sins of that movie's poor reception), but better legs due to positive word of mouth.

        1 vote
        1. dna
          Link Parent
          Wow, I had no idea the Predator franchise had such low domestic takes. I guess $250M is optimistic.

          Wow, I had no idea the Predator franchise had such low domestic takes. I guess $250M is optimistic.

          1 vote
    2. Inanimate
      Link Parent
      Would definitely have seen Prey in theaters, that movie was amazing! A creative premise and the atmosphere would have been incredible in theaters.

      Would definitely have seen Prey in theaters, that movie was amazing! A creative premise and the atmosphere would have been incredible in theaters.

      4 votes
  3. [7]
    BeanBurrito
    Link
    What does this movie have that other Alien movies did not? Is it just another iteration of unsuspecting astronauts naively going somewhere and getting ripped about by those monsters?

    What does this movie have that other Alien movies did not? Is it just another iteration of unsuspecting astronauts naively going somewhere and getting ripped about by those monsters?

    6 votes
    1. [2]
      Randomise
      Link Parent
      I feel like it recaptures the tension the first movie had, plus very good visuals/decors. I went into it blind, not really liking horror, I left the cinema with a sense of "what the fuck, that was...

      I feel like it recaptures the tension the first movie had, plus very good visuals/decors.

      I went into it blind, not really liking horror, I left the cinema with a sense of "what the fuck, that was insane".

      8 votes
      1. BeanBurrito
        Link Parent
        I really liked the movie Prometheus. It was more sci-fi than horror. Did some interesting universe building. It wasn't all "eat the naive space people".

        I really liked the movie Prometheus. It was more sci-fi than horror. Did some interesting universe building. It wasn't all "eat the naive space people".

        2 votes
    2. [2]
      Tuaam
      (edited )
      Link Parent
      For me it looked like it had the same aesthetic as the original 70s film, with "antiquated" flight computers. I always liked this aesthetic because typically Industrial stuff has utilitarian,...

      For me it looked like it had the same aesthetic as the original 70s film, with "antiquated" flight computers. I always liked this aesthetic because typically Industrial stuff has utilitarian, "outdated" technology, and we've been stuck in this generic 'everything in the future is an ipod' look for 20 years that I think it's time to move on.

      4 votes
      1. BeanBurrito
        Link Parent
        Interestingly, I can remember film critics saying ( and liking ) the same thing when the original Alien came out. They liked the grimy worn out look to the space ships instead of the typical "in...

        Interestingly, I can remember film critics saying ( and liking ) the same thing when the original Alien came out. They liked the grimy worn out look to the space ships instead of the typical "in the future everything is clean and shines" look.

        2 votes
    3. [2]
      Tardigrade
      Link Parent
      I really enjoyed it and felt it did add to the wider Alien universe, a little view into life somewhere else in the universe. What I would say thought is even if you didn't find that yourself it's...

      I really enjoyed it and felt it did add to the wider Alien universe, a little view into life somewhere else in the universe. What I would say thought is even if you didn't find that yourself it's a great opportunity to experience the tension of Alien with big screen and big sound (unless you live somewhere with a cinema doing reruns of classics like the original Alien film already)

      2 votes
      1. BeanBurrito
        Link Parent
        I saw a few of the Alien movies on the big screen. Some of those sequels also did some universe building with seens from corporate offices on Earth, a prison planet, and of course Prometheus.

        I saw a few of the Alien movies on the big screen. Some of those sequels also did some universe building with seens from corporate offices on Earth, a prison planet, and of course Prometheus.

        1 vote
  4. [2]
    Tynted
    Link
    I can't help but look at this as yet another example of Hollywood ruining something that was genuinely taking risks, just so they could rehash shit that tries to replicate what "made the original...
    • Exemplary

    I can't help but look at this as yet another example of Hollywood ruining something that was genuinely taking risks, just so they could rehash shit that tries to replicate what "made the original movie successful." I say this because I was really disappointed that they didn't give Scott the opportunity to explore where we go from Alien: Covenant. That movie ended with a great setup for some wild stuff to happen. Did it capture the original Alien vibe? Of course not, and it wasn't a great movie, but it was at least somewhat of a risk being taken. And it felt like Prometheus and Covenant were both working to build up to whatever happened in that third movie, which could have been awesome. Not to mention, Walter was a great villain. All of that just makes me not even want to go see this, lol. Maybe I'm one of a rare few that have this opinion and the vast majority didn't care about the ending of Covenant.

    4 votes
    1. [2]
      Comment deleted by author
      Link Parent
      1. Tynted
        Link Parent
        Whoopsie daisy 😂 Yeah I haven't watched it in years, forgot David was the villain version, not Walter. Thanks!

        Whoopsie daisy 😂 Yeah I haven't watched it in years, forgot David was the villain version, not Walter. Thanks!

        3 votes
  5. [3]
    Comment deleted by author
    Link
    1. [2]
      teaearlgraycold
      Link Parent
      Spoilers Funny, the deep-faked Ian Holm seemed cool to me. Yeah they didn't do a perfect job, but the face was on a broken Android. If ever there's a time when uncanny valley is appropriate,...
      Spoilers Funny, the deep-faked Ian Holm seemed cool to me. Yeah they didn't do a perfect job, but the face was on a broken Android. If ever there's a time when uncanny valley is appropriate, that's it.
      3 votes
      1. [2]
        Comment deleted by author
        Link Parent
        1. teaearlgraycold
          Link Parent
          I wouldn’t know if they would have approved or could have given consent to the general idea before their death.

          I wouldn’t know if they would have approved or could have given consent to the general idea before their death.

          1 vote
  6. [5]
    FarraigePlaisteach
    (edited )
    Link
    I had low expectations since a cast of teenagers is jarring to me (I’m in my mid 40s so maybe they’re older than I think). Overall I think it’s better than everything that came after the first...
    I had low expectations since a cast of teenagers is jarring to me (I’m in my mid 40s so maybe they’re older than I think).

    Overall I think it’s better than everything that came after the first two. The aesthetic was on point as was the sound. The environment and story development was interesting. The two main actors were very competent, but I didn’t like the rest of characters and therefore couldn’t invest in them.

    By playing it safe and not taking too much risk, it was easy to buy in to this world. I think they’ve steadied the ship. I hope that was intentional so that future sequels of equal standard will be possible.
    2 votes
    1. [4]
      cloud_loud
      Link Parent
      The cast is in their 20s, although Cailee Spaeny looks younger than she is.

      The cast is in their 20s, although Cailee Spaeny looks younger than she is.

      1 vote
      1. [3]
        FarraigePlaisteach
        Link Parent
        Thanks. I think the fact that they’re indentured servants actually makes it very plausible for either age. But myself, having grown up in a Western Country that omits this from the public...

        Thanks. I think the fact that they’re

        indentured servants
        actually makes it very plausible for either age. But myself, having grown up in a Western Country that omits this from the public conscience, I was lacking the imagination to make the connection.

        I plan to see it again soon.

        1. [2]
          cloud_loud
          Link Parent
          Alvarez has stated that it’s supposed to be a metaphor for people in third world countries trying to escape for a better life. Immigration in other words, and the barriers between them and what...

          Alvarez has stated that it’s supposed to be a metaphor for people in third world countries trying to escape for a better life. Immigration in other words, and the barriers between them and what they want.

          2 votes
          1. FarraigePlaisteach
            Link Parent
            That’s fantastic. Not only is it represented but it makes the characters make sense.

            That’s fantastic. Not only is it represented but it makes the characters make sense.