Jordan Peele’s third feature as director, Nope, grossed $6.4M last night from 3,250 theaters that began 4PM.

That pic is good start for a Peele movie, just 14% off from the $7.4M which his last horror pic, Us, made back in March 2019. That pic posted a $71.1M opening, the best start for an R-Rated original horror movie at the domestic box office.

Nope‘s previews are well ahead of Get Out‘s $1.8M, which was a movie that audiences discovered in its opening weekend and flocked to, sending its opening to $33.3M.

Us is Peele’s longest movie to date at 2 hours and 15 minutes. The movie’s critical scores on Rotten Tomatoes are so far the lower of his three films, but the numbers are pretty good at 81% next to Us‘ 93% Certified fresh and the Oscar-winning Get Out‘s at 98% certified fresh. The audience score on Rotten Tomatoes for Nope currently sits at 78% next to Us‘ 60% and Get Out‘s 86%. 

Nope is expected to make around $50M. It may come in less than that given the runtime here for a horror movie, and should the critical scores ease. The film was made for $68M in the Santa Clarity Valley before P&A.

Disney/Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder led Thursday among regular films in release with an estimated $3.8M at 4,375 theaters, -15% from Wednesday for a running two week total of $254M, 13% ahead of Thor: Ragnarok versus the same time frame.

Universal/Illumination’s Minions: Rise of Gru did $3.6M at 4,114 theaters, -4% from Wednesday for a running three week total of $280.1M, 1.8% ahead of 2015’s Minions over the same period. Minions ended its stateside run at $336M.

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