Writer-director Jordan Peele’s enigmatic sensibilities have clearly become a bankable box office brand. The filmmaker’s latest thriller, Nope, made $6.4 million from over 3,200 theaters in Thursday previews that began after 4 pm. The film will certainly top the box office in its debut weekend, with projections ranging from $45 million to $60 million.
Sensitive about protecting the film’s many secrets, early audiences have mimicked its marketing and not revealed much about the plot, but have compared Nope to the films of Steven Spielberg, particularly Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind. Many have also called it a potential blockbuster about blockbusters. Collider’s own Ross Bonaime wrote in his rave review that Nope finds Peele at “his most expansive, his most adventurous as a filmmaker.”
Peele has been leveling up ever since he made his feature debut with the psychological horror Get Out. That film was produced on a $4.5 million budget and went on to win Peele an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay. His follow-up, Us, was produced on a $20 million budget, and finished with a global box office haul of over $250 million — almost exactly the same as Get Out. By comparison, Get Out made $33 million in its opening weekend back in 2017 (after $1.8 million from Thursday night previews). Us opened to a phenomenal $71 million two years later (after $7.4 million from Thursday previews). It’s worth noting that projections for Us going into the opening weekend were around $50 million.
Nope is by far his most expensive project. Produced at a reported budget of $68 million, the film was shot with IMAX film cameras by Hoyte van Hoytema, perhaps the single-most experienced cinematographer working with large-format cameras these days. He is best known for his three (going on four) collaborations with director Christopher Nolan — Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet and the upcoming Oppenheimer.
Speaking of Oppenheimer, a teaser for the film has been attached exclusively to theatrical screenings of Nope. Nolan, if you recall, moved to Universal after falling out with his home studio Warner Bros. last year. The argument was said to have begun because of WB’s controversial decision to release each of its 2021 films on the HBO Max streaming platform on the same day as their theatrical debut. While Nolan’s Tenet was spared a day-and-date streaming release just a year earlier, the filmmaker didn’t sugarcoat his disappointment at what W.B. had done. Needless to say, every major studio in Hollywood was hungry to get into the Nolan business, and Universal won out.
Peele has been with Universal his entire filmmaking career, and he's quickly developing the kind respect as a filmmaker that Nolan usually commands. If Nope ends up becoming a huge summer hit, it’ll be interesting to observe what direction he decides to take his career in next.
The film stars Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, Steven Yeun, Barbie Ferreira, Terry Notary, Donna Mills, Jennifer Lafleur, Sophia Coto, and Keith David. Watch an interview with Peele here, and stay tuned to Collider for more updates: