Predator Badlands Devours the Weekend Box Office With the Biggest Opening in Franchise History

Well, this is not what the tracking said. Dan Trachtenberg just turned his stealthy Predator sequel into a legit event, and Disney/20th has to be very happy they put this one in theaters.

Predator: Badlands blows past expectations

Predator: Badlands opened way hotter than anyone predicted: $40 million domestic and another $40 million overseas, for an $80 million global debut. That is the best opening in the series, topping Alien vs. Predator, which bowed at $38.2 million back in the day. If you adjust for inflation, AVP still holds the franchise crown for total domestic with $80 million, but Badlands has a real shot to leap over that, especially with an A- CinemaScore.

Translation: the franchise is still absolutely viable on the big screen. That is notable after Prey skipped theaters and launched straight to Hulu. Whether Badlands pulling a PG-13 helped bring in younger moviegoers is the open question here. We will get a clean read on the ratings angle in a few days when Paramount drops The Running Man with an R rating.

Everything else this weekend

• Regretting You held strong in second with $7.125 million, down just 9% in weekend three. Colleen Hoover fans are clearly still finding it, and it is closing in on $40 million domestic.
• The Black Phone 2 scared up $5.3 million and now sits at $70 million domestic. Fun note: it shares star Mason Thames with Regretting You.
• Sarah's Oil (Amazon/MGM) quietly overperformed among indie debuts with $4.45 million.
• Nuremberg did a respectable $4.14 million; feels like it will do its best work on streaming.
• Chainsaw Man: The Movie kept slicing up late-run dollars with $3.8 million and a $38 million domestic total as it winds down.
• Yorgos Lanthimos's Bugonia sputtered at $3.5 million for a $12 million domestic cume; a $20 million finish seems like the ceiling.
• Die My Love, with Jennifer Lawrence and Robert Pattinson, face-planted at $2.8 million. Mubi reportedly paid $24 million for it, and the CinemaScore landed at a rough D+. Maybe it finds life on streaming.
• Sydney Sweeney's Christy had an even tougher time: $1.3 million, outside the top ten, with a $649 per-screen average.
• Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere wrapped its run on a down note, adding $2.2 million for a $20 million domestic total after shedding more than 1,000 theaters.
• Tron: Ares rounded out the top ten with $1.8 million and a $71 million domestic haul to date.

Next up

Next weekend brings three sizable new players: The Running Man, Now You See Me: Now You Don't, and Osgood Perkins' Keeper. Which one are you checking out?