Tornado warning! Director Lee Isaac Chung’sTwistersroars to the top spot at thebox officewith an estimated take of $80.5 million (perThe Numbers) domestically over its opening weekend. ActorsGlen Powelland Daisy Edgar-Jones’ stormy cinematic collaboration also becomes the second-highest debut of the 2024 summer movie season. OnlyInside Out 2($154.2 million) made more money during its premiere. Plus, for the year, onlyDune: Part Two($82 million) and the aforementioned animated adventure started stronger thanTwisters.
By comparison, the film’s 1996 predecessor,Twister,which starred the late Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt, started off its theatrical run with an opening-weekend total of $41 million. However, the nearly 30-year-old disaster movie went on to make $241.8 million domestically and another $252.8 million internationally for an impressive worldwide total of $494.6 million. Accounting for inflation, that $494.6 million would be nearly $1 billion ($990,343,306) today. So, canTwistersbecome a billion-dollar hit at the box office?
A follow-up to the 1996 original film Twister, Twisters is a sequel set years after the original, said to be fast-tracked by Steven Spielberg and Mark L. Smith, with Frank Marshal as producer. Little details exist about the film, but Helen Hunt is expected to reprise her role as Jo, with the film likely to pay homage to the late Bill Paxton.
While critics’ reviews have only resulted inTwistersregistering a Tomatometer rating of 78%, at the time of this writing, fans are clearly enjoying the disaster film drama even more. As a result,Twisters’Rotten Tomatoes audience score currently stands at 92%, and moviegoers coming right out of theaters gave the Powell-led project an “A-” CinemaScore. The numbers and ratings are solid, butDeadpool & Wolverinewill undoubtedly affectTwisters’moneymaking ability next weekend.
Animation & Horror Films Round Out Box Office’s Top 5
Last week’s No. 1Despicable Me 4saw its three-week box office reign come to an end whenTwistersroared onto the scene this weekend. But Steve Carell’s Gru and his yellow, pill-shaped Minions still managed to secure the No. 2 spot with an estimated $23.8 million domestically. In fact, this weekend’s remaining Top 5 is populated solely by animation and horror genre entries.
No. 3Inside Out 2continues its box office domination by adding another $12.8 million to its total. Not only is theInside Outsequel the highest-grossing film of 2024, but the animated flick is inching its way closer to a worldwide total of $1.5 billion ($1.44 billion). Nicolas Cage’s horror filmLonglegsdrops 48% between its first and second weekends, but it still manages to thrive and make an additional $11.7 million, which is good enough for fourth place.
20 Movies With the Biggest Opening Weekends at the Box Office
74 films have grossed over $100 million in their opening weekend, here are the twenty that dominate the chart.
A Quiet Place: Day Onerounds out this weekend’s Top 5 with $6.1 million. Meanwhile, IFC Films’ newcomerOddityjust misses out on cracking the Top 10 with $550,500 from its release in just 790 cinemas. And this weekend’s best per-theater average goes to No. 1Twisters($19,393), but A24’sSing Singcomes in a close second with $16,021 in limited release (4 theaters).
WillDeadpool & Wolverine’smassive box office forecastcome to fruition? Find out when director Shawn Levy’s superhero film finally drops in theaters this coming Friday (July 26).
