The box office totals for last night's opening previews for The Predator are in are the latest installment of the sci-fi/action franchise is off to a solid, if unremarkable, start.

The Shane Black sequel opened on Thursday night to $2.5 million, under fellow Fox sci-fi franchise Alien: Covenant which opened to $4.2 million in Thursday night previews in May 2017. Additionally, the last major Fox September release, last year's Kingsman: The Golden Circle opened to $3.4 million.

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The Predator is poised to top this weekend's box office with industry analysts predicting the film will earn $25-30 million domestically over its opening weekend. For comparison, the previous Predator film, 2010's Predators, earned $24.7 million over its opening weekend before earning $127.2 million worldwide.

The largest box office totals for the entire franchise to date is 2004's crossover film Alien vs. Predator which earned $38.2 million its opening weekend and finished its theatrical run at $172.5 million worldwide.

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With an estimated production budget of $88 million, Black's sequel should become the highest earning solo film in the franchise despite the middling critical reviews and recent controversy involving the filmmaker originally casting a registered sex offender in the film.

Directed by Shane Black from a script he wrote with Fred Dekker, The Predator stars Boyd Holbrook, Trevante Rhodes, Jacob Tremblay, Keegan-Michael Key, Olivia Munn, Sterling K. Brown, Alfie Allen, Thomas Jane, Augusto Aguilera, Jake Busey, and Yvonne Strahovski. The film is out in theaters everywhere now.

(via Deadline)