"Twisters" Opens at $80M Debut

[JamesG]

Twisters Touches Down with Impressive $80 Million Debut
by Erik Childress
July 21, 2024


Twisters politely asked other films to move this weekend to give it room to take the top spot at the box office. There’s no mincing words here: it’s incredible that the film, directed by Lee Isaac Chung and tracking for around a $50 million start, opened to $80 million.

The original Twister, released 28 years ago in May 1996, opened to $41 million, which would be about double the amount in today’s dollars. Twisters nearly matched that with the third-biggest opening of the year in a summer looking for a fourth $200 million grosser.



Reviews are all over the map on Twisters, with most ultimately positive, and surveyed audiences gave it an A- Cinemascore – the same as the first film.

The sequel grossed only $42.7 million (including an early release last week) overseas.






Universal did enjoy its own 1-2 punch this weekend with Twisters in first and Despicable Me 4 coming in second with $23.8 million in its third weekend. Now at just under $260 million, the latest in the franchise is still about $9-12 million behind the pace of the two Minions films after 19 days of release,

That puts the fourth film in the $340 million territory. Globally the film is over $574 million, making it the fifth film and third animated film this year to cross half a billion. Currently it is the third most profitable release of 2024 behind Kung Fu Panda 4. It will be second this week.






The most profitable film of the year (and nothing comes close) is Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out 2, which made another $12.8 million and is now just shy of becoming the 15th film to break the domestic line of $600 million — the fifth since 2020 and the pandemic.

At $596.3 million, the film is $14 million off the overall pace of Jurassic World and roughly $4-5 million ahead of Barbie.






Down to fourth place is Neon’s little horror sensation, Longlegs.

Oz Perkins’ film with Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage fell back to $11.7 million, a decent fall of around 48%. With nearly $45 million in the bank, it is now well placed to eclipse the studio’s highest-grossing domestic title to date, Bong Joon Ho’s Oscar-winning Parasite ($53.3 million).






The top-grossing horror film of the year is in fifth place this week. A Quiet Place: Day One grossed $6.1 million and now holds a total of $127 million.

Ultimately it should end up in the $140-150 million region. Worldwide the film is over $240 million and is one of the year’s most profitable.






One of the least profitable films — and certainly looking like one of the year’s biggest losers — is Fly Me to the Moon. The Apple Original Films production released by Sony into theaters fell to just $3.3 million in its second weekend, down from a lackluster $9.4 million.

The unfathomably budgeted $100 million production initially set for a streaming release has grossed just $16.3 million to date and $14.3 million globally. The Scarlett Johansson/Channing Tatum rom-com is destined to join Furiosa, The Fall Guy, and Horizon as the biggest money losers of 2024.






Sony's Bad Boys: Ride or Die, coming in with $2.6 million to finish seventh in its seventh weekend.

It is now making the slow walk towards $200 million, as it is slightly behind Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’s pace.






Kevin Costner’s Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1 dropped 69% in its fourth weekend to bring its total to just $28 million.

Ti West’s MaXXXine lost over 1,300 theaters and fell to just $819,000 in its third weekend, bringing its total to $13.9 million. That makes it the highest-grossing entry in the trilogy, and it’s already well into profit territory.

https://editorial.rottentomatoes.com...million-debut/






July 19-21, 2024: Weekend Studio Estimates

1. Twisters $80,500,000
2. Despicable Me 4 $23,800,000 / $259,460,135
3. Inside Out 2 $12,800,000 / $596,375,604
4. Longlegs $11,699,999 / $44,650,531
5. A Quiet Place: Day One $6,101,000 / $127,636,948
6. Fly Me to the Moon $3,335,000 / $16,355,144
7. Bad Boys: Ride or Die $2,676,000 / $189,331,546
8. Bad Newz $1,069,000
9. MaXXXine $819,242 / $13,927,111
10. The Bikeriders $701,000 / $21,230,925