‘Twisters’ Surprises Box Office With $80.5 Million Opening Weekend

Lifted by excellent word-of-mouth, Universal’s “Twisters” is keeping the domestic box office running hot with an excellent $80.5 million opening weekend, blasting past all projections for the standalone sequel to the 90s disaster film “Twister.”

With this start, “Twisters” has earned the third highest opening of 2024 so far, just edging the $80 million opening of “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” back at the end of March. It has also broken a 20-year record held by the $68 million opening of “The Day After Tomorrow” for the highest opening weekend by a disaster film before inflation adjustment.

With a $150 million budget before marketing costs, “Twisters” needs not just a strong opening weekend, but positive word-of-mouth as well. On that front, there’s good news too as the film has earned an A- on CinemaScore to go with Rotten Tomatoes scores of 78% critics and 92% audience.

With “Deadpool & Wolverine” arriving next week to make a play at the rare $200 million-plus opening weekend, “Twisters” must find its own lane as a PG-13 alternative to Marvel Studios’ first R-rated movie. All signs point to it being just that and earning a $200 million-plus domestic theatrical run, though it will have a more muted run internationally, where Warner Bros. is handling distribution, as it has grossed $42.7 million overseas.

“Twisters” also continues a red-hot July for Universal that began with Illumination’s “Despicable Me 4,” which has passed $500 million worldwide with $23.8 million grossed in its third weekend. That brings the animated sequel to $259.8 million grossed domestically and $574.4 million worldwide.

Disney/Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” is third with $12.8 million in its sixth weekend, closing in on becoming the highest grossing animated film of all time. With $596 million grossed domestically, it needs just $12 million to pass “Incredibles 2” for that title in the U.S. and Canada.

Globally, it depends on whether one considers the 2019 remake of “The Lion King,” which grossed $1.65 billion, to be an animated film. Disney does not, recognizing “Frozen II” as the worldwide animated record holder with $1.45 billion. “Inside Out 2” also needs around $12 million to hit that mark as well.

In fourth is Neon’s “Longlegs,” which continues its spectacular indie run with a second weekend of $11.7 million, dropping just 48% from its $22.4 million start. In the coming week, it will pass the $53.3 million domestic total of “Parasite” to become Neon’s highest grossing film ever.

Paramount’s “A Quiet Place: Day One” completes the top 5 with $6.1 million, bringing its total to $127.6 million domestic and $241 million worldwide after four weekends. It tops Sony/Apple’s “Fly Me to the Moon,” which has taken a sharp 67% drop to $3.3 million in its second weekend with a $16.3 million total.

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