Jordan Peele's Horror Hit Us Conquers Box Office Chart

Jordan Peele's new horror movie Us proved that the success of his 2017 debut Get Out was no fluke. Peele's latest slice of social scares has opened at the top of the US box office with an estimated $70 million from its first three days. Not only does this hugely eclipse Get Out's $33 million opening, it makes it the third-biggest R-rated horror debut of all time, behind only last year's Halloween reboot ($77 million) and 2016's Stephen King adaptation It ($123 million).

The achievements of Peele's movie don't stop there. One notable thing about Us is that it is an entirely original film, whereas both Halloween and It were based on pre-existing material. As a result, Us scored the second largest opening ever for a live-action, original picture--second only to the most successful film of all time, James Cameron's Avatar. In this era of seemingly endless remakes, sequels, and shared universes, this is a notable achievement.

Elsewhere in the box office chart, the Marvel movie Captain Marvel dropped to second place with an estimated $35 million weekend gross. So far the film has taken $321 million domestically, bringing its worldwide total to $910 million. It currently stands as the seventh-biggest movie in the Marvel Cinematic Universe worldwide--although the impending release of Avengers: Endgame will almost certainly drop it down a place.

The next four places on the box office chart saw last week's top five drop one place each--namely, Wonder Park, Five Feet Apart, How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World, and Tyler Perry's A Madea Family Funeral. The only new title in the Top 10 is Gloria Bell, starring Julianne Moore. The acclaimed drama expanded its release to 670 theaters, and rose from No.18 to No.7.

You can see the full Top 10 list for March 22-24 US box office below, as compiled by Box Office Mojo.

US Box Office For August March 22-24

1. Us – $70.2 million
2. Captain Marvel – $35 million
3. Wonder Park – $9 million
4. Five Feet Apart – $8.7 million
5. How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World – $6.5 million
6. Tyler Perry's A Madea Family Funeral – $4.5 million
7. Gloria Bell – $1.8 million
8. No Manches Frida 2 – $1.7 million
9. The LEGO Movie 2: The Second Part – $1.1 million
10. Alita: Battle Angel – $1.0 million