Twisters has an Oppenheimer-sized opening

Twisters posted the year’s third-biggest opening, far exceeding even the most optimistic box office predictions.

Down at the Universal Studios offices, the staff are undoubtedly doing The Twist in celebration of Twisters much higher than expected opening weekend. Indeed, they have reason to celebrate, with even the most optimistic box office predictions estimating the film would only open in the $50 million-ish range (including ours). To everyone’s surprise, the movie rallied to an incredible $80.5 million opening, which makes it the third biggest opening of the year behind Inside Out 2 and Dune: Part Two. 

This is a major win for Universal, with the film posting Oppenheimer-level numbers and a rock-solid A-minus CinemaScore. If word of mouth is good, this could leg out to a North American total in the $200 million plus range, although it will face steep competition next weekend from Deadpool & Wolverine. It’s also a major win for Glen Powell as a leading man, with Hollywood hyped on his potential for stardom following Top Gun: Maverick and Anyone But You. This marks his third major box office hit.

In second place, Gru and his Minions held up pretty well, with the Illumination sequel Despicable Me 4 grossing $23.8 million, with a North American total of $259.5 million. It should end its run in the $340 million-ish range. While a huge hit, it’s nowhere near as big as Pixar’s gargantuan hit, Inside Out 2, which added another $12.8 million to its coffers with a $600 million domestic take. WOW. 

Neon’s breakout horror hit from last week, Longlegs, ended up posting a much better hold than anyone anticipated. It earned $11.7 million this weekend, meaning it only declined 48% week-to-week, which is almost unheard of for a horror title. It’s grossed $44.7 million so far against a budget in the mid-teens. However, the outlook wasn’t quite so rosy for Apple and Sony’s Fly Me to the Moon, which posted a shocking 65% drop to earn only $3.3 million. Expect this to hit streaming within a matter of weeks. It was easily beaten by Paramount’s horror hit, A Quiet Place: Day One, which grossed $6.1 million for a $127 million domestic total. 

Bad Boys: Ride or Die came in seventh place, with $2.6 million and a $189.3 million total. Will Sony keep it in theaters until it surpasses the $200 million mark? In eighth place was Bad Newz, another Bollywood hit earning just over a million dollars.

A24’s MaXXXine posted another big decline this weekend, dropping 60% to an $819k weekend, with the grand total only $13 million. While it will still be the highest-grosser of the Maxine Minx trilogy, I’m sure A24 is disappointed this didn’t break out in the same way as some of their other word-of-mouth hits. It seems too niche for mainstream horror fans.

Finally, in a shocking return to the charts, is one of my favourite movies of the year, The Bikeriders, which saw its business increase by 75% this weekend despite losing over 400 screens. It made $700k for a $21 million domestic total. Now that it’s on VOD, hopefully people will discover Jeff Nichols’s magnificent film.

With Deadpool & Wolverine opening next weekend, does Twisters have a chance of an under 50% decline at the box office? Let us know in the comments!