Alien Box Office: Budget and Worldwide Gross for Every Film

The seven Alien films have grossed about $1.61 billion worldwide on combined budgets of $460 million, according to Box Office Mojo and The Numbers. The table sets out each film's budget, domestic gross, international gross and worldwide gross in US dollars. Grosses come from Box Office Mojo, except Aliens, which comes from The Numbers, and the Alien: Romulus budget also comes from The Numbers.

Ridley Scott directed Alien (1979), Prometheus (2012) and Alien: Covenant (2017). James Cameron made Aliens (1986), David Fincher made Alien 3 (1992), Jean-Pierre Jeunet made Alien Resurrection (1997), and Fede Álvarez made Alien: Romulus (2024), released by 20th Century Studios. For the full list and how the films connect, see how many Alien movies there are and Alien movies in order.

Two crossover films carry the creature but sit outside the Alien watch order, and their pages live in the Predator franchise. AVP: Alien vs. Predator (2004), directed by Paul W. S. Anderson, cost $60 million and grossed $177.4 million worldwide, with $80.3 million domestic and $97.1 million international. Aliens vs Predator: Requiem (2007), directed by Colin Strause and Greg Strause, cost $40 million and grossed $130.3 million worldwide, with $41.8 million domestic and $88.5 million international. Together they add about $308 million, which is left out of the $1.61 billion total.

For the wider story around these films, see the Alien movies hub and the Alien timeline.

By raw worldwide gross, Prometheus is the most successful Alien film at $403.4 million, but by return on budget the two earliest films sit far ahead of it. Prometheus carried the largest budget in the series at $130 million, so it earned about 3.1 times its cost. Aliens earned about 10.8 times its $17 million budget and Alien (1979) about 10.0 times its $11 million budget. In my opinion, "most successful" depends on whether you count dollars or efficiency, and the efficiency answer is the one that explains why the studio kept returning to the creature.

Was Alien a box office hit? Yes. Alien (1979) turned an $11 million budget into $109.7 million worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo, and about 77 percent of that came from the domestic market ($84.2 million against $25.5 million abroad). That is the most American weighted split in the series. Aliens was more balanced, with $85.2 million domestic and $98.1 million international, and it returned almost eleven times a $17 million budget.

Did Alien 3 flop? The answer is relative. Alien 3 (1992) cost $50 million, almost three times what Aliens cost, and finished with $159.8 million worldwide, which is less than Aliens earned. Its domestic gross of $55.5 million only just cleared its budget, and about 65 percent of the total came from overseas. So, measured against its predecessor, it fell short, which is the most direct way I can explain the "flop" label. Measured against the budget alone, a multiple of about 3.2 is better than Alien Resurrection (2.2) and Alien: Covenant (2.5).

Alien Resurrection (1997) is the weakest return in the series on this measure. A $75 million budget produced $161.4 million worldwide, and its $47.8 million domestic gross is the lowest of the four original era films. International audiences supplied about 70 percent of the total, a pattern that held for most later entries.

The prequels and the most recent film show a different shape. Prometheus opened the Scott prequel run with the biggest gross in the series, and Alien: Covenant followed at $240.9 million, a drop of about 40 percent, on a budget that fell from $130 million to $97 million. Alien: Romulus then recovered to $350.9 million on an $80 million budget, about 4.4 times its cost, which is the best multiple since the 1980s. It could be argued that a smaller budget and a return to the original setting did more for that result than any single casting choice, though the numbers cannot prove the cause.

A caution on all of these multiples: they compare gross with production budget only. Marketing spend and the share kept by theaters are not in the public figures, so a multiple of three is not three times profit. The next film is also unsettled. TheWrap reported on 23 October 2026 that 20th Century Studios has a new Alien film in early development, with Ridley Scott producing and Aaron Guzikowski writing, and no director or date attached. Whether that project is a follow up to Romulus is unconfirmed, and the latest status is on the Alien Romulus 2 page. If you want to see how this money lines up with quality, Alien movies ranked sets the two side by side.