'Alien: Romulus' topples 'Deadpool & Wolverine' from No. 1 box office spot

Fede Álvarez’s Alien: Romulus is exceeding expectations with its box office debut as it’s received well by both new and old fans of the franchise.

The movie, which has now revived the franchise, debuted at No. 1 on the domestic weekend chart with $45.1 million, marking the second best opening of the franchise.

The movie opened overseas to $66.7 million and got a worldwide start of $108.2 million.

Alien: Romulus also has the honor of being the movie that dethroned Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine from the top position at the charts.

The film stars Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced and Spike Fearn. It has received an 82 percent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes.

Romulus is the eighth installment in the long-running Alien franchise. It features events between Ridley Scott’s 1979 Alien and James Cameron’s 1986 sequel, Aliens.

The movie depicts the story of colonists who find a space station in ruins and then face the terrifying alien creature that’s the villain of the franchise.

Alien: Romulus was set to premiere on Hulu, but plans changed and the movie hit theaters instead on August 16.

Describing how that happened, director Álvarez told Variety: “That decision was not made at the point where theaters were healthy, [But] it was always going to be an ambitious movie for [a streaming] platform.”

“I remember making an announcement to everybody that this movie was going to in theaters, and there was a big cheer,” he added. “I was like, wow, even the gaffer cares that this goes into theaters!”