It looks like it was a good weekend for Nope, box office wise. The sci-fi thriller collected a domestic box office of $44 million over the opening weekend making it the No. 1 film (July 22 – July 24) over Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder, Universal’s Minions: The Rise of Gru, Sony’s Where the Crawdads Sing, and Paramount’s Top Gun: Maverick.
Jordan Peele’s third original feature film had midday showings starting on Thursday (July 21), pulling in a total of $6.4 million from IMAX and select PLF screens before it’s weekend debut at 3,785 theaters across the U.S. Overall, Nope drew in $13.19 million on Friday, $13.95 million on Saturday, and $10.46 million on Sunday.
The Monkeypaw Productions and Universal Pictures pic marks the 39th R-rated film to be a top opener, keeping company with some big tentpoles and sequels, such as The Matrix Revolutions at No. 30, Peele’s very own Us at No. 12, and Deadpool at No. 1. Most of the films that had a top opening weekend made over $100 million in total box office, implying that Nope will eventually cross that line, too.
Peele’s latest effort is progress from his first feature, Get Out, released on Feb. 24, 2017. The film, which also starred actor Daniel Kaluuya, opened to $10.83 million on Friday, followed by $12.7 million on Saturday, and $9.9 million on Sunday, making $33.4 million opening weekend.
Domestic box office totaled $176 million. Get Out had the added benefit of opening internationally, where it would earn 31.1% of its box office at $79.4 million. In total, Get Out collected $255.4 million worldwide — pretty decent considering the production budget was a mere $4.5 million.
Peele’s 2019 follow-up, Us, marks his best opening weekend for an original feature film directed by him, to date. The pic, starring Lupita Nyong’o, earned a box office of $28.9 million, $25.4 million, and $16.8 million on opening Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, respectively. The opening weekend total landed at $71.1 million. Most of the box office was gained domestically with a total of $175.1 million, and an international box office of $80.1 million, resulting in a worldwide total of $255.2.
The following weeks will see such releases as the Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson animation DC League of Super-Pets, Brad Pitt’s Bullet Train, and Jo Koy’s Easter Sunday. Hopefully, Nope will continue to tread upward towards the total box office of its Jordan Peele predecessors.
