Prometheus Holds Second Place in Summer U.K. Box Office

The Ridley Scott-directed Sci-Fi thriller awaits its U.S. bow this weekend and momentum appears to be on its side. Across the Atlantic where audiences have already flocked to see the movie, Twentieth Century Fox is already cashing in, with a £6.24M gross last weekend, which translates to just over $9.7M. That figure outshines any of the Alien movies, according to The Guardian which reported the figures.

Of course anyone with a television in the English-speaking world and beyond knew last weekend was Britain's Diamond Jubilee extravaganza and the government tacked on two bank holidays Monday and Tuesday so crowds could join in on the festivities. And while they did, some clearly took a break for some big screen good times because Prometheus tacked on an additional £3.68M ($5.73M) those days, making the pic bigger than the total gross across the pond than any of the Alien movies, according to The Guardian.

The longer term impact is challenging to determine since prequels and sequels tend to muster fans to head to the theaters in bigger droves than a film first out of the gate. But for comparisons sake, Gladiator opened in May 2000 with £3.56M ($5.54M) and eventually tallied £31.2M ($48.56M), though Robin Hood opened with £5.75M ($8.95M) but it eventually totaled only £15.6M ($24.28M).