FILM: Box Office Hustle – Alien Covenant Opens amidst a Galaxy of Guardians and a would-be King

Back for the first-time and yet still so familiar, we at Play Your Way Network welcome you to the Box Office Hustle. A weekly report that gives you a rundown of what you need to know about what is in theaters and if the price of the IMAX 3D ticket is worth the gallon of gas to get you there or if you should call [ol’girl/dude/oh you kinky huh?] for a netflix and chill instead. Here’s what you are going to get: (1) The Weekend Spotlight for the top box office opener, (2) What You Should Know about the climate of all the schtuff playing this weekend and whats the best bang for the buck and (3) The Power Rankings for the top 5 films in the theater for you to watch or ignore. Leh’go…

Weekend Spotlight, Alien: Covenant –  In 2012, a year that we got tons of Aztec end of the world prediction inspired media, Prometheus offered sci-fi fans the chance to imagine an alternative reality. From the mind of Ridley Scott came what we first thought would be a long-awaited sequel to the cult classic Alien franchise. Instead we got a prequel that ditched the Alien moniker as it was less a story of Xenomorphs hunting down prey, but of how Xenomorphs and Humans came from the same ancestor deep within lost space called the Engineers (for lack of a better name at this time). Despite the refreshing mind floss, the film raised way more questions than it answered and left us all wanting a sequel to get some resolution.

This weekend, we get what we asked for (for better or worse) as Alien: Covenant opens Friday May 19 (with early screenings in select cities the night before).

What you need to know: This weekend (May 19-21) Alien: Covenant, promises to be a contender for the top draw, further burying to predictably underwhelming King Arthur: Legend of the Sword and being the perfect injection of action following last weekend’s sleeper hit Snatched. We don’t expect Snatched to maintain any sort of staying power as you can probably attribute the success of the Amy Schumer and Goldie Hawn helmed mother/daughter comedy to the Mother’s Day weekend crowd. However, Covenant isn’t a made man, for another threat looms in the universe – Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2, an unqualified box office smash is going strong with proven replay value for movie goers.

Rotten Tomatoes has a pre-launch critic score of 74% with several pro-reviewers saying that Covenant is the best sequel since the first two Alien films. 98% of people on RT wanna see it and YouTubers have taken to the interwebs with gushing reviews. If you haven’t seen Guardians of the Galaxy yet, though – you should probably skip Covenant and catch up on Guardians, as nothing major is coming out next weekend (so see Covenant then) in time to behold the goddess of Themyscira the following weekend – thats our advice…the player way (our Player Way podcast review on Alien Covenant coming this weekend, btw).

POWER RANKINGS (aka what we think you should see):

1. Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 – A guaranteed hit with your friends and family, great replay value 
2. Alien: Covenant – Sci-Fi Horror that makes a great date movie, even if your date isn’t a sci-fi fan, unless they don’t like horror – in which case ditch your wcw/mcm
3. Fate of the Furious – If you haven’t watched this yet, you are either old or overworked or broke, hopefully matinee got this for the low-low by now. Guaranteed fun.
4. Snatched – Ladies, this is the time to get that sucker dude you keep friend zoning to make him pay you to see this movie he won’t wanna see, but he’ll enjoy it or at least fake it.
5. King Authur: The Sword of Anarchy Rides Again – Correct, No that is not the name of the movie…But who cares? My title sounds better and who TF is going to watch this movie anyway? If you paid to see this and are a fan (snort laughs), then I got another movie you can waste money on – shout out to Assassin’s Creed, you owe me money – don’t let me catch you in the street bruh. Oh and Charlie Hunnam (Sons of Anarchy) is in it…see what I did there, now?