Jordan Peele has scored another hit and cemented himself as one of the world’s premier surreal horror directors with Us opening to an outstanding $70 million in its domestic debut. The film is about a family who is terrorized by their doppelgangers, evil beings that look exactly like them and want to kill them and take over their lives, while on vacation in the picturesque hippy/surfer/college town of Santa Cruz, California. Us, distributed by Universal, scored the biggest opening for an original property since James Cameron’s ground breaking sci-fi epic Avatar started its run with $77 million. Among horror movies Us had the third biggest opening of all time, just behind Halloween‘s $76 million opening last year but well off of It’s $136 million genre record, set in 2017. Us‘s domestic opening made more than twice as Peele’s last film Get Out, albeit with a production budget almost five times as large.

Movies with predominantly black casts typically don’t do as well overseas (with Black Panther being the $646 million exception that proves the rule) but Us has started out well enough with $16.7 million in 47 territories. Its biggest market so far is the UK at $3.63 million, followed by France at $2 million and Germany at $1.4 million. Us has beaten Get Out in 39 markets so far and if it turns into an instant cult hit with solid legs like its predecessor this film shouldn’t have much trouble beating Get Out’s $79 million lifetime foreign run.

While it was handily unseated in North America, Captain Marvel finished first overall globally after taking $87.1 million in its third weekend in theatres. It made $35 million at home and reached a domestic cume of $321.5 million, while adding another $52 million overseas. That brings Marvel‘s worldwide cume to $910 million. With the billion-dollar threshold on the horizon, Captain Marvel‘s place is becoming a relevant ranking. At this point, Captain Marvel is the 52^nd best selling film of all time, before adjusting for inflation. It’s also the 11^th biggest comic book adaptation, and the 7^th biggest in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Exactly how far up the all-time chart it can climb remains to be seen, but the top 30 could easily be within reach. 

With most of the world’s moviegoers locked into the top two, there was still room for a strong result from one more picture: More Than Blue, a Taiwanese remake of a 2009 Korean melodrama loosely based on Romeo and Juliet, made $29 million in the PRC and ROC, along with four other Asian markets. That brings its lifetime gross to $136 million.

Back in the US, third place went to Paramount’s blockbuster budgeted animated flick Wonder Park that finished its second weekend with $9 million. So far Wonder Park has made $29 million at home and another $10 million in its 24 foreign territories. More markets are staggered until early May, but the global marquees will be even more crowded by then, with Dumbo coming out this Friday and then Avengers: End Game beginning its month or months of headline grabbing on April 25^th.

Five Feet Apart, in fourth, made $8.75 million and brought its cume in two weeks to $29.5 million, already making it a decent hit against its $7 million budget. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World was fifth with $6.5 million and is closing in on half a billion worldwide. A Madea Family Funeral took sixth with $4.5 million and has now made $65 million and is the 3^rd biggest of the 9 Madea movies.

Opening alongside Dumbo this Friday we have Harmony Korine’s next doped up Florida-trash art flick, The Beach Bum, starring Matthew McConaughey, Jimmy Buffet, Snoop Dogg, and Isla Fisher.

See the latest world box office estimates: