Face-hugs all round: it’s been a good weekend for Alien at the global box office. The sci-fi horror franchise burst back to life this year with Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus, the first film in the series since 2017’s Ridley Scott-directed Alien: Covenant, this time with a somewhat back-to-basics approach – scared space-colonists battling hordes of Xenomorphs on a hellish space station, with chest-bursting, acid-dripping, monster-birthing results. That approach put bums in seats across the world – since Romulus’ opening weekend came in at $108 million worldwide. Not bad for a film that was originally slated for Disney+.

In the US, Romulus pulled in $41.5 million in ticket sales, and it fared well internationally too – it earned $66.7 million elsewhere around the world, with a major whack coming in from China ($25.7 million). It also hit #1 at the UK and Ireland box office, earning £3.74 million (or, $4.84 million) across the weekend. The film’s budget reportedly totalled at around $80 million, so there’s a way to go yet for costs to be fully recovered, once marketing is taken into account – but it’s a strong start. Stay tuned to see if Romulus displays long, gangly Xenomorph legs in the coming weeks.