‘Us’ Scares Up A Record-Breaking Debut Weekend

It was a huge, record-breaking weekend for Jordan Peele at the box office, as the director’s new film, Us, debut with an outstanding $70 million.

That number makes Us the highest-grossing non-franchise debut since 2009’s Avatar. It’s also a record for best-ever debut for an original horror film, and the third biggest debut ever for a horror film, behind only 2017’s It ($123 million) and 2018’s Halloween ($76 million). The question now becomes whether or not Us was seriously front-loaded and will face a significant drop in its second weekend, or if the fairly positive word of mouth will bring in audiences that wouldn’t necessarily see a horror film.

While our own Sachin Hingoo had wonderful things to say about Us, I was left feeling somewhat let down after seeing the film Friday night. I wanted to be more scared than I was. While the performances were all outstanding, I thought there was some drop off in the third act, with a little too much exposition for my taste, and some plot holes which I couldn’t look past. However, it’s exciting and encouraging to see so many people loving Us, and hopefully, Peele will continue to make horror films and expand the genre’s audience.

As for the rest of the top five, Marvel Studio’s Captain Marvel dropped to second place with $35 million. It’s three-week total now sits at $321 million. Wonder Park was in third place with $9 million, with Five Feet Apart right behind it in fourth place with $8.7 million. How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World closed things out in fifth place with $6.5 million.

So, to recap, here were our predictions:

1) Us – $55 million
2) Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel – $36 million
3) Wonder Park – $8 million
4) Five Feet Apart – $6 million
5) How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World – $5.5 million

And here’s how the weekend is estimated to turn out:

1) Us – $70 million
2) Marvel Studios’ Captain Marvel – $35million
3) Wonder Park – $9 million
4) Five Feet Apart – $8.7 million
5) How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World – $6.5 million

Next week sees the release of the live-action Dumbo. Be sure to check back on Friday to see our predictions!