
“Twisters” is a box office phenomenon.
In its North American premiere, the film—a stand-alone follow-up to the 1996 disaster epic “Twister”—raked in an astounding $80.5 million from 4,151 cinemas. The sequel was expected to bring in between $50 and $55 million over the weekend. It’s the year’s third-biggest opening weekend, ahead of “Godzilla x Kong” ($80 million) and behind “Inside Out 2” ($154 million) and “Dune: Part Two” ($82 million). Twisters, which was helmed by “Minari” director Lee Isaac Chung, stars Anthony Ramos, Glen Powell, and Daisy Edgar-Jones as storm chasers who must fight for their lives as several tornadoes collide over central Oklahoma.
Experts surmise that a number of factors, chief among them the fact that viewers genuinely enjoyed the movie, had a significant role in the first spike in ticket sales. It has a CinemaScore of “A-.” Interest was sparked by nostalgia for the original blockbuster, which starred Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Cary Elwes, and Philip Seymour Hoffman. It was also made more financially viable by Powell, who was a star of “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Anyone But You,” and Edgar-Jones, who was a fan favorite of Hulu’s romantic drama “Normal People.”
David A. Gross, the owner of Franchise Entertainment Research, a movie consulting company, says, “It’s ideal summer entertainment.” “It’s been 28 years since the first time we saw this kind of chaos, but the spectacle, the special effects, and the set pieces are bigger and better.”
Not counting the numerous millions spent on marketing, “Twisters” cost $155 million to produce. The film was supported by Universal Pictures and released nationally, with Warner Bros. holding the worldwide distribution rights.
While “Twisters” quickly raced to the top of the domestic charts, it was difficult to compare it to the same weekend in 2023. That’s because “Barbenheimer” fever was raging over the country around this same time last year. However, following a sluggish start to the summer, a number of underwhelming tentpoles, like “Inside Out 2,” “Despicable Me 4,” and “A Quiet Place: Day One,” are helping the box office finally pick up steam. Comscore reports that in the last month or so, the year-to-date gap has decreased from 21% to 17%.
According to senior Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian, “A wave of hits has accelerated a summer season that began unfavorably with a string of lackluster box office results.” “It has sparked an impressive turnaround for movie theaters and studios alike, as well as fueled a resurgence in June and July.”
Second place went to Universal and Illumination’s “Despicable Me 4,” which in its third weekend of release brought in $23 million from 4,112 theaters. The animated follow-up has brought in $259 million domestically thus far. The iconic “Minions” film franchise just made history by becoming the first animated series to gross over $5 billion worldwide at the box office.
During its sixth weekend in theaters, Disney’s Pixar sequel “Inside Out 2” brought in $12.7 million from 3,625 sites, placing it at No. 3. With $596 million in ticket sales, the sequel is barely shy of breaking the $600 million milestone in North America. With $1.443 billion in global sales, it is currently the second-highest-grossing animated film ever and is shortly expected to overtake “Frozen 2” ($1.45 billion) for the top place. Additionally, “Inside Out 2” is on the verge of surpassing “Barbie” ($1.446 billion) to become the 14th-biggest film of all time.
In its second run, Neon’s horror breakout hit “Longlegs” added a healthy $11.7 million from 2,850 screens and finished fourth in North America. Reductions in revenue from the first weekend were only 48%, which is remarkable for the horror genre. To date, “Longlegs” has brought in $44.6 million.
“A Quiet Place: Day One” by Paramount, which took in $6.1 million from 2,913 venues, completed the top five. The largely silent sci-fi thriller has made $127.6 million in just four weeks on the big screen. In contrast, the franchise’s two previous entries, “A Quiet Place” (2018) and “A Quiet Place Part II” (2021), both achieved domestic box office troughs of $188 million and $160 million, respectively.
In other news, Sony and Apple’s $100 million love comedy “Fly Me to the Moon” didn’t make a splash following its worrisome $11 million premiere. $3 million in ticket sales from 3,356 theaters was a 68% decline from the previous weekend. The movie, which stars Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum as a marketing specialist and a NASA director, respectively, and is set against the backdrop of the Apollo 11 mission, has only made a pitiful $16 million. It’s among the year’s greatest box office busts.