Jordan Peele's 'Us' breaks box office records with $70m debut weekend

New horror movie Us, director Jordan Peele’s follow up to his breakthrough Get Out, has stunned box office pundits on its opening weekend.

It made double the amount it was predicted to make, making $70 million (around £53 million) in three days on release in the US.

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The movie, which finds a family terrorised by their doppelgängers, topped A Quiet Place to grab the most money made by an original horror movie over a single weekend.

Remarkably, it’s also the best opening weekend for a live-action original movie since James Cameron’s Avatar in 2009, which made $77 million.

It tucked in behind Captain Marvel as the second biggest opening weekend of the year so far, and also dwarfed Peele’s first effort, Get Out, which made $33 million on its opening weekend in 2017.

And as it only cost the Blumhouse studio a relatively tiny $20 million to make, it’s likely already in profit.

“Put simply, Jordan Peele is a genius,” said Jim Orr, Universal’s president of domestic distribution.

“He’s managed to tap into something that the domestic box office can’t get enough of. People can’t wait to see what he does next.”

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Lupita Nyong’o and Winston Duke play parents Adelaide and Gabe, who, while on holiday at a beach house with their kids in California, are terrorised by a family who appear to be exact copies of them.

The movie, which premiered at the South By Southwest festival, has debuted to solid reviews from critics too, with a 94 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.

It’s out now across the UK.