Alien Covenant is bombing a bit... thats for sure, but the reason for this is quite simple.... its a ALIEN Movie and like it or not the Alien Franchise is not a Big Hit apart from the Franchise Fanbase... i am not saying its bad, its just that it does not have the impact Star Wars does...
The Problem stems from the Beast being cooked... so to speak, as right after Alien 3 the Franchise had come to its climax, Ripley was dead... The END!
The Franchise enjoyed a lot of coverage as far as Games and Comics etc, but the Big Time it had ran its course and given a send off.....
Until they resurrected it with Resurrection, which was prior to the expanded universe of what Prometheus opened up, and so they explored the route that LV-426 must have been destroyed and Ridley also gone.... and so the only way to bring the Alien Back was Clone Ripley (in hindsight the Prequel route/Space Jockey Race was another avenue).
Alien Resurrection Sadly did not do too well, it just lacked that feel the other Alien movies had, it felt a bit odd in the way to bring Ripley Back this way.. and elements of this movie was simply just not a touch on the First 3
This set up a Bad Rap for the continuation... and hence FOX did not continue with a Sequel but instead they explored the AVP Franchise as the AVP Computer Games and Comics was giving Fans their fix of Marines and Xenomorphs..
Sadly Alien vs Predator was not the same kind of Movie the Games/Comics was based off, this was no 22nd century Space Fairing Human Marines Flick.... and so AVP again did not go down to well....
Then we had AVPR.... after AVP did not seem to please many as hoped it never brought back that WOW Factor of the 1986 Aliens, and it again did not do justice to the Games/Comics... FOX had lost confidence and rushed out a Low-Budget Sub Standard AVP2 and this Movie Sucked... it totally damaged the reputation of the Xenomorph and even had some effect on the Predator.
After this, the Xenomorph became a Bug Hunt, reduced to a Space Monster Zombie kind of threat... to a degree.. it lost its charm... Then we had a few Disappointing AVP Games Released. That was not as good as the 2001-2002 Series
At this point the Xenomorph was not that Iconic Beast that it was Originally not in the eyes of the General Public. And to a degree Casual Sci-Fi Fans...
PROMETHEUS... was a attempt to get back on track as no one ever explored the Origins of the Xenomorph or who the Space Jockey was and after first having a movie that would cover the Xenomorph a bit... and the Space Jockey, they decided to tone down the Xenomorph Connections feeling that giving clues to the Space Jockey/Engineers played a role in its creation without having to actually show any Xenomorphs was the way to go..
This Split the Fans, the movie had its flaws... and maybe it was in a part a attempt to bring in the Casual Sci-Fi and General Public to see a interesting Sci-Fi flick that maybe not everyone would have known was a ALIEN movie.. maybe because they felt the ALIEN had a Bad Rap... and this movie could pull in some Casual Fans to then find out its actually connected to Alien but its trying to expand and explore the Franchise in more depth...
Again this never worked out as planned, some Casual Fans found it confusing, and Franchise Fans was Split...
So we come to.... ALIEN COVENANT...
Ridley Scott and FOX felt maybe leaving the Xenomorph out was a mistake, and so they then changed the plans they had for a Sequel to Prometheus to loosely cover where this movie was going but to bring it in to showcase Xenomorphs and different versions too... they even threw in a Curve-Ball that Split Fans.... they kind of brushed away the Engineers/Shaw which disappointed some Prometheus Fans...
It was heavily Pushed as a ALIEN Movie, especially with TV Spots and Posters.. it was like LOOK ITS A ALIEN MOVIE!
Sadly it did not give Aliens Fans enough Action, touched upon Prometheus a bit to much for their liking, the whole ITS ABOUT DAVID... did not settle too well...
The Movie was also branded about as a Horror Flick, bringing it back to the Original Alien... The Trailers Teased as Such.... RS even said this will Scare the S&%" out of you..... Sadly it did not do this enough, the Magic of Alien was attempted but the Alien was shown too much and not kept to the Shadows... CGI did not look as Good as the up close Practical effects of Old. The Whole Xenomorph Scenes seemed Rushed, and nothing Original and just a attempt to Re-hash... Alien vs Dallas and Alien 3 vs Prisoners (smaller scale) feel with the lets blow it out of the Airlock Ending of Alien and Aliens.
so the movie just did not quite deliver what the Franchise Fans wanted, it had too small a budget and too much to try and cover in a limited time-frame too.
This Effected the Re-watch Value for the Franchise Fans for various reasons, and the Negative reviews that came and word of mouth simply did not do well to Pull in the Casual Fan-base..
So as with Prometheus the higher first week was a majority of Franchise Fans who went to see the movie opening week, and then it seems not as many had 2nd/3rd views as Prometheus had.
Negative reviews and disappointment from Franchise Fans passed about Word of Mouth and this has effected Alien Covenant quite a bit..
Another point is these kinds of reaction have had a effect, combined with what the Trailers Showed... i had spoken to some people who had not seen it yet and their comments was.. "well i have been told the Trailers show all the movie apart from Prometheus things and showing its all about Mad Scientist David the Robot who creates the Alien"
So they therefore dont see the need to see the movie....