Moviegoers ran toward the tornadoes this weekend, propelling ‘Twisters’ to a blockbuster opening. The standalone sequel to the 1996 hit made $80.5 million in ticket sales from 4,151 theatres in North America, according to studio estimates Sunday.

That’s about $30 million more than analysts expected initially and makes for the biggest opening of a live-action movie yet this summer.

Its overperformance recalled ‘Oppenheimer’s debut last year on the same weekend. According to reports, the film earned just $2 million less than the Christopher Nolan directorial that released in cinemas last year. But there are also important differences: while ‘Twisters’ is PG-13, ‘Oppenheimer’ was 3 hours long, R-rated and historical, not to mention the collective enthusiasm around its clash with Margot Robbie and Greta Gerwig’s, ‘Barbie’.



‘Twisters’, meanwhile, is a franchise. It may not be a direct sequel to ‘Twister’ but it is benefiting from the brand recognition. The original Jan de Bont-directed film starring Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton was a financial hit at the time and has only become more beloved over the years. This film, directed by Lee Isaac Chung, does not include any of the characters from the original and introduces a new crowd of storm chasers.

Strong reviews and a cast led by Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones helped propel the film — about storm chasers caught in the middle of fast-converging tornadoes — to what The Hollywood Reporter said was the top domestic opening ever for a natural disaster film.

It opened last weekend in some markets internationally and continued its expansion this weekend. Globally, its total earnings is estimated to be $574.4 million.


‘Twisters’ has also whipped up some spirited online discourse and debate, some about the film not explicitly referencing climate change and some about the lack of a kiss between Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones. A video showing the kiss that was left on the cutting room floor made the rounds on social media over the weekend.

Universal also had the No. 2 movie in the country with ‘Despicable Me 4’, now in its third weekend. It added $23.8 million from North America, where it is still playing in over 4,000 theatres, bringing its domestic total to $259.5 million.

Holding steady in third was Disney and Pixar’s coming-of-age animation ‘Inside Out 2’, at $12.8 million. In its six weeks out, it has earned $596.4 million domestically and an additional $847 million globally.



In fourth, down two spots, was horror mystery ‘Longlegs’ from indie studio Neon, at $11.7 million. Nicolas Cage stars in the tale of an FBI agent (Maika Monroe) tracking a creepy serial killer.

And in fifth, slipping one spot, was Paramount’s apocalyptic horror film ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’, at $6.1 million. Lupita Nyong’o plays a seriously ill woman in a New York invaded by keen-eared extraterrestrials.

The Scarlett Johansson and Channing Tatum starrer ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ came in 6th with a collection of $3.3 million, while ‘Bad Boys: Ride or Die’ continued its box office run, earning an impressive $2.7 million collection.

Meanwhile, the Bollywood film, ‘Bad Newz’, starring Vicky Kaushal, Triptii Dimri and Ammy Virk, has amassed an estimated $1.1 million from the US markets. The film, which made its debut in theatres countrywide on Friday, is directed by Anand Tiwari, best known for his 2018 directorial debut movie ‘Love Per Square Foot’.



According to early estimates on Sacnilk, the film earned an estimated Rs 9 crore from overseas markets, thus helping push its overall global box office collection to an estimated Rs 40 crore.

‘MaXXXine’ and ‘The Bikeriders’ rounded off the top 10 with collections of an estimated $819,000 and $700,000 respectively.

But another force is storming theatres next weekend in ‘Deadpool and Wolverine’, which is tracking to open in the $160 million range. That would be enough to unseat ‘Inside Out 2’ for the biggest opening of the year. The Ryan Reynolds starrer is one of the highly anticipated film releases of the year as it brings back actor Hugh Jackman as his famed character, the Wolverine. The film arrives in theatres on Friday, July 26.