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Los Angeles — Alien: Covenant edged out Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 in a weekend space battle at the box office.
Ridley Scott's latest Alien exploit opened with $36m in ticket sales, according to studio estimates on Sunday. Guardians was close behind with just over $35m in its third week of release.
"You couldn't get two outer-space operas that are more different in terms of point-of-view and execution," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for ComScore.
Fox's Alien: Covenant is a dark, R-rated scare-fest about slimy, parasitic space monsters; Disney's Guardians is a sweet, family-centered romp across the cosmos.
Two other new releases landed in the top five. Warner Bros.' teen romance Everything, Everything debuted in third place with $12m, and Fox's Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul, opened in fifth with $7.2m.
Snatched, Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn's R-rated comedy from Fox, fell to fourth place in its second week of release with $7.6m.
Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2 provided a solid launch to the summer movie season with more than $300 million in domestic ticket sales so far, Dergarabedian said, though overall grosses are running about 10 percent behind last summer's totals.
Still, May is following a typical pattern, he said. Marvel movies kick off the month, which ends with Memorial Day tent poles like next weekend's Baywatch and Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales.
