JAY-Z Congratulates Jordan Peele on No. 1 Debut of 'Us'
Jordan Peele’s Us thrilled at the box office with a whopping $70 million debut.
The psychological thriller opened at No. 1 with the second-best opening weekend of the year behind Disney’s Captain Marvel ($153 million). It nearly doubled its three-day projections, which were in the $38 million to $45 million range.
JAY-Z was among those celebrating the movie’s success. “For US by US. Congrats on the #1 movie in the world,” the hip-hop mogul said in a tweet shared by Roc Nation.
"For US by US. Congrats on the #1 movie in the world." – Hov pic.twitter.com/Dbk1R1y2dp
— Roc Nation (@RocNation) March 24, 2019
Peele previously sought JAY-Z’s advice. During an Oscars after-party in 2018, Peele shared his concern that he wouldn’t be able to replicate the success of his previous film Get Out, but Hov offered some encouraging words.
“It doesn’t matter. You already did that,” Peele recalled in an interview with MTV News. “When JAY-Z tells you ‘it doesn’t matter,’ it doesn’t matter. You’re good, I’m good, and I can just return to this idea of, like, make my favorite film that didn’t exist.”
Us now has the largest weekend for an original horror movie, as well as the biggest launch for an original R-rated film behind Ted. It also surpassed Get Out, which opened with $33 million in 2017.
The movie quadrupled its production cost in less than a week. According to Variety, Universal and Peele’s Monkeypaw Productions spent $20 million to make Us, not inclusive of marketing and distribution costs.