Jordan Peele’s Us is tracking for a scary-good $35-40 million opening

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Not only did Jordan Peele’s first feature, GET OUT, win an Oscar and stand as one of the best-reviewed movies of the year, but it also made a mint, making over $250 million around the world off a $5 million budget. Lord knows if his newest horror movie, US, could make that much, but so far, the early tracking seems to suggest it will at least get off to a scary-good start with a $35-40 million opening.

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The early estimates come from various outlets – like Deadline and Variety – which all agree that movie is on track for a solid $35 million opening, with the strong possibility of going up towards $40 million. Even the lower end of expectations would place that above the $33 million opening of GET OUT and would signify, at the very least, a strong, profitable start for the horror movie.

Of course, what helped propel GET OUT to such incredible box office heights was terrific, sustained following weeks, taking small drops at the box office from weekend to weekend. It achieved this by establishing itself as more than a movie, but as a defining moment in Black horror that was unmissable. US, the story of a family attacked by vicious doppelgangers while on vacation, could benefit from the same hype, but we won’t know if that’s the case until it comes out on March 22 – or at least until the first wave of reviews hit.

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While good reviews may help it have a stronger-than-expected weekend and long legs in the following weeks, it will be interesting to see how US holds with other competition in play. That next week the Disney movie DUMBO hits theaters, and one week later the Stephen King adaptation PET SEMATARY, as well as the DC superhero movie SHAZAM! Two of those pose no threat to US as big-budget flicks with different markets, and SEMATARY comes out after US has had two weeks to make a solid chunk of change. So, though there are other potential hits coming out right after US, the movie looks unique enough to stand on its own and carve out its own spot in the marketplace.   

US stars Lupita Nyong'o, Winston Duke, Elisabeth Moss, Tim Heidecker and more arrives March 22.