Universal’s weather thriller Twisters spun up a huge maiden weekend, earning an estimated $80.5 million to top the North American box office, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations said Sunday.
The stand-alone follow-up to 1996’s popular Twister – under the seemingly unlikely direction of the man who helmed sweet Korean-American family drama Minari, Lee Isaac Chung – had been projected to make closer to $50 million.
But 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.
Twisters ousted the previous top earner, another Universal film, animated comedy Despicable Me 4, which placed second with $23.8 million in ticket sales for the Friday-through-Sunday period.
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 New York invaded by keen-eared extraterrestrials.
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