Universal’s ‘Us’ Lands Biggest Opening for an Original Horror Film
Writer-director Jordan Peele once again delivered a box office hit with his second film US earning $70 million over the weekend. Generating nearly double the original projections of $38 million to $45 million range, the film’s prosperous weekend cements Peele’s filmmaker talent and awards the film the title for highest-grossing opening ever for an original horror film.
The psychological thriller about a family getting tormented by their doppelgangers also landed the third-biggest horror opening ever behind IT and last year’s HALLOWEEN sequel, the top opening ever for any original R-rated film, and the second-biggest debut of the year behind CAPTAIN MARVEL.
The impressive opening weekend gross far exceeded Peele’s directorial debut GET OUT, which launched with $33 million during its opening weekend and over $176 million overall back in 2017. “Put simply, Jordan Peele is a genius,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution in an interview with Variety. “He’s managed to tap into something that the domestic box office can’t get enough of. People can’t wait to see what he does next.”
"The best horror movie of all time.” Heroic Hollywood
Audiences weren’t the only fans of the horror debut. The film currently holds a 94 percent Certified Fresh Rotten Tomatoes score, with critics like Heroic Hollywood writing it’s “the best horror film of all time” and CNN labelling Jordan Peele as the “new master of suspense.”
And while the entire cast is being praised for their tremendous performances, particular credit is being given to Lupita Nyong’o. The Associated Press wrote she “delivers arguably her fiercest, most extraordinary performance” as both the meek matriarch of the family and her evil doppelganger. The New York Times’ also writes that “Nyong’o brings a tremendous range and depth of feeling to both characters, who she individualizes with such clarity and lapidary detail that they aren’t just distinct beings; they feel as if they were being inhabited by different actors.”
Catch US in theaters now and available from Swank this summer.