New disaster thriller whips up $80m in ‘Oppenheimer’ opening weekend as fans praise 'spectacular' effects and 'vivid drama'

A new movie has had the most successful opening weekend for a natural disaster picture in North America. The stars of Twisters are in for a wild ride as the film gathers momentum, gunning for a spot as one of the top films of the year.

The film, created by Lee Isaac Chung, is a sequel to a 1996 movie of the same name and stars Normal People actress Daisy Edgar-Jones, alongside Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos. Twisters raked in over $80 million this weekend.

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As it debuted in over 4,000 movie theaters across the US this weekend, Twisters is estimated to have made around $81 million. This puts the underdog film on par with some of the biggest movies of 2023, like Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, which amassed $82.4 million in its first three days.

While the film easily smashed the record for the most successful natural disaster movie - taking the place of The Day After Tomorrow (2004) - it was also the third most successful movie of the year so far, after Inside Out 2 ($154.2 million) and Dune: Part Two ($82.5 million). Despite its huge success in the US, Twisters is off to a slower start in other parts of the world, taking in around $27.1 million from 76 markets.

The stars of the now massively popular film are some of Hollywood’s brightest newcomers. Glen Powell rose to new levels of fame after he starred in Anyone But You last year, with fans comparing him to a younger Tom Cruise, whom he starred opposite in Top Gun Maverick in 2022.

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British actress Daisy Edgar-Jones also stunned in the film. The 26-year-old spoke about filming in a recent interview with British Vogue, saying: "We're on a group chat now with a bunch of (storm) chasers, and actually we all got a message a couple months ago being like 'hey if you're free there's a massive weather event coming.' " she said. "Me, Glen and Brandon were free and so we went chasing."

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