Following the $71 million opening of Us in 2019 and his $33 million directorial debut with Get Out in 2017, Jordan Peele’s fans are saying “Yep” to his latest film Nope which topped the weekend box office charts with a $44 million debut.
“The opening isn’t as big as ‘Us,’ but it’s still extremely impressive,” said David A. Gross from the movie consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. “The weekend figure is far above average for the genre.” Although Nope‘s debut weekend didn’t break Peele’s prior films’ records, Variety reports that it did bring in more money in its category than any other original film of the last three years.
Peele is known to create suspenseful horror films while provoking thoughts from his audiences. His uncanny twist to some of America’s most controversial issues can be recognized throughout his portfolio of films if audiences analyze the plots just a little more. Nope stars Daniel Kaluuya (Get Out), Keke Palmer, and Steven Yeun. The plot thickens as the Haywood siblings (Kaluuya and Palmer), who live on a gulch in California, attempt to unveil video surveillance of a UFO sighting.
After premiering on Friday (July 22), critics gave Nope a 83% vote on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences also gave the film a CinemaScore “B” grade, the same score for Us. “We’re thrilled with the results this weekend,” Universal’s president of domestic distribution Jim Orr said. “Jordan Peele is an incredible talent. His films are layered and thought-provoking and ridiculously entertaining.”
According to reports, Nope costs $68 million to make, which was significantly more than Get Out, which had a $4.5 million budget – Us took $20 million to make. As Get Out and Us were both successful movie theatre films, each collecting $255 million at the global box office, Nope will have to wait until mid-August for international box office results.
Check out the trailer for the film below.