‘Twisters’ Sets a Disaster Film Record With $74 Million Box Office Opening

With “Despicable Me 4” still going strong, Universal is keeping its July running hot with “Twisters,” which is earning a strong $74.6 million opening weekend at the domestic box office.

Not only does that blast past pre-release tracking that had Lee Isaac Chung’s spiritual sequel to the 1996 tornado film opening in the low $50 million range, it also sets a new record for the highest opening weekend ever for a natural disaster film. That record had been held for 20 years by Roland Emmerich’s “The Day After Tomorrow,” which opened to $68.4 million before inflation adjustment.

But just as important for “Twisters” is the audience reception, which is very positive with an A- on CinemaScore and a 92% Rotten Tomatoes score. Such strong word-of-mouth will be essential, as the film seeks to leg out as a PG-13 alternative to the R-rated “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which could potentially open to $200 million-plus next weekend.

While the year-over-year comparison for this box office weekend was guaranteed to look unfavorable as “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” entered theaters this time a year ago, “Twisters” is nonetheless another huge win for theaters after they struggled through much of the first half of 2024.

After suffering through an April and May where only one film, “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes,” posted an opening weekend of more than $35 million, four films since the start of June have opened to more than $55 million, giving the theatrical market the momentum that it was completely lacking to start off the summer season.

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