Looking back at the winners of the 2024 movie cycle, the unquestionable winner of the sci-fi category goes to a continuation of a beloved franchise. While some fans have grown tired of the constant IP machine churning out uninspiring content, not everything has been a recycling of ideas. The perfect example of this is Alien: Romulus.
While Alien: Romulus dominated at the box office, it’s also finding recent success on streaming. Per FlixPatrol, Alien: Romulus is in the HBO Max Top 10 list of movies globally. This comes a year after Alien: Romulus topped the Disney+ streaming charts after making its way to the service.
The film is in the Top 5 across several international markets, including Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Hungary, the Netherlands, Norway, Serbia, Spain and Sweden. Its highest ranking is #2 in the Czech Republic and Slovakia. This is a testament to Alien: Romulus‘ staying power that it remains a streaming hit almost two years later.
If you don’t happen to have HBO Max, Alien: Romulus is one of the newest additions to the Netflix catalog this month.
Alien: Romulus Is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes
Alien Romulus Trailer Screenshot shows a woman going down a spaceship hallwayImage via 20th Century Studios
The seventh addition to the Alien franchise is a bona fide hit with both critics and audiences, as Alien: Romulus scored a Certified Fresh ranking on the review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. Alien: Romulus has an 80% Tomatometer score among 409 critical reviews, and an 85% Popcornmeter score with audiences.
“Honoring its nightmarish predecessors while chestbursting at the seams with new frights of its own, Romulus injects some fresh acid blood into one of cinema’s great horror franchises,” the critical consensus reads.
Meanwhile, the summary of the audience’s feelings towards Alien: Romulus reads, “Resurrecting a franchise with equal servings of fan service and originality, Alien: Romulus keenly delivers Xenomorph blood and thrills.”
The film scores similarly well on IMDb with a rating of 7.1 out of 10 stars from a total of 280,000 reviewers. Alien: Romulus is also the 289th most popular movie on the site.
Alien: Romulus Revitalizes the Alien Franchise
Alien: Romulus was a breath of fresh air to longtime Alien fans. While it does have connections to previous installments, Romulus takes the unorthodox approach of focusing on a younger, new cast of characters. However, the plot sticks close to previous Alien movies: survive being trapped in an enclosed space with a Xenomorph.
Directed by Fede Álvarez, Alien: Romulus follows a group of young colonizers who discover a Xenomorph while scavenging the deep ends of a derelict space station. The movie stars Cailee Spaeny, David Jonsson, Archie Renaux, Isabela Merced, Spike Fearn, and Aileen Wu. Its worldwide box office stands at $350.8 million, and it’s the second-highest-grossing Alien movie.
Alien: Romulus is streaming on HBO Max internationally, and on Netflix in the U.S.
Release Date
August 16, 2024
Runtime
119 Minutes
Director
Fede Alvarez
