After five weeks with animated films in the lead, TWISTERS barnstormed the box office with a bracing $80.5M in opening weekend ticket sales, powering all films to a total of $147.2M. While in most years this would be a solid summer weekend, the same weekend last year was taken over by BARBENHEIMER, with BARBIE opening to $162.0M, OPPENHEIMER adding $82.5M.
The total for all films was $311M, amounting to the highest-grossing weekend since AVENGERS: ENDGAME set the record with its April 26-28 opening of $357.1M, leading all films that weekend to $402.1M.
Warner Bros.’ TWISTERS is a classic summer action movie, delivering a much-appreciated busy weekend at the box office. The good times will continue next weekend with the highly-anticipated opening of Marvel’s DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE, narrowing an alarming gap that has developed between this year’s and last year’s grosses.
TWISTERS is a standalone sequel to the 1996 film with a similar name, TWISTER, directed by Jan de Bont and starring Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jamie Gertz and Phillip Seymour Hoffman. The original was an undeniable success, generating $241.8M in overall ticket sales, the second-highest total that year behind $306.2M for INDEPENDENCE DAY.
TWISTERS is directed by Lee Isaac Chung and stars Glen Powell (TOP GUN: MAVERICK) and Daisy Edgar-Jones (WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING). The story revolves around Kate Cooper (Edgar-Jones), a former storm chaser who is haunted by a previous encounter with a tornado.
She is lured back to the open plains by her friend Javi (Anthony Ramos) to help him test out a groundbreaking new storm-tracking system. They soon cross paths with Tyler Owens (Powell), a charming and reckless social-media entrepreneur seeking adventures he can record and post to his online channels.
At first glance, the $80.5M brought in by TWISTERS this weekend seems to have blown away the $41.1M earned by the original TWISTER in its opening weekend. However, this comparison is worth a second look due to the 28-year time gap between the two films. Here is an inflation-adjusted, side-by-side comparison of the two films.
- TWISTER (5/10/1996) – Opening Gross $41.1M ($82.1M*), Opening Locations 2,414, Opening Per Theatre Avg. $16,984 ($34,010*), Total Gross Domestic $241.8M ($484.2M*) Total Gross Worldwide $494.6M ($990.4M*), Budget $90.0M ($180.2M*), RT Critics/Audience Scores 67%/58%
- TWISTERS (7/19/2024) – Opening Gross $80.5, Opening Locations 4,151, Opening Per Theatre Avg. $19,393, Budget $155M, RT Critics/Audience Scores 78%/92%
* 1996 Dollars Adjusted for Inflation to 2024 Dollars
By adjusting 1996 dollars to current levels, the box office for TWISTER almost doubles to $82.1M. Moreover, this year’s film played in almost twice the number of locations compared with the 1996 original, making for a per-theatre average of $19,393 for TWISTERS compared with an inflation-adjusted per-theatre average of $34,010 for TWISTER.
One could make a strong argument that TWISTER made a bigger impact in 1996 than TWISTERS will have in 2024. This is not to say that TWISTERS is anything less than a success, and an important contributor to the 2024 box office.
TWISTERS has had a surprisingly strong opening, higher than almost anyone had predicted, and its Rotten Tomatoes scores of 77% from critics and 93% from audiences are significantly higher than the 67% and 58% scores for the original. There’s a chance that TWISTESR will wind up with higher box office results over time, even after adjusting for inflation.
Universal and Illumination’s animated sequel DESPICABLE ME 4 finished in second place by earning an additional $23.8M this weekend, a drop of 45%. Its 17-day total stands at $259.5M domestic and $496.9M worldwide, well past the estimated $250M in worldwide sales it would need to hit to be profitable.
DESPICABLE ME MOVIE FRANCHISE AFTER 3rd WEEKEND
- MINIONS: THE RISE OF GRU (7/1/2022) – Opening $107.0M, After 17 Days $263.4M, 3rd Weekend Drop 33%, Total Domestic $370.2M, Total Worldwide $940.2M, Budget $80M
- DESPICABLE ME 2 (7/3/2013) – Opening $83.5M, After 19 Days $276.0M, 3rd Weekend Drop 43%, Total Domestic $368.1M, Total Worldwide $970.8M, Budget $76M
- MINIONS (7/10/2015) – Opening $115.7M, After 17 Days $262.5M, 3rd Weekend Drop 54%, Total Domestic $335.0M, Total Worldwide $1.2B, Budget $74M
- DESPICABLE ME 3 (6/30/2017) – Opening $72.4M, After 17 Days $188.4M, 3rd Weekend Drop 42%, Total Domestic $264.6M, Total Worldwide $1.0B, Budget $80M
- DESPICABLE ME (7/9/2010) – Opening $56.3M, After 17 Days $161.3M, 3rd Weekend Drop 28%, Total Domestic $251.6M, Total Worldwide $543.3M, Budget $69M
- DESPICABLE ME 4 (7/3/2024) – Opening $75.0M, After 19 Days $259.4M, 3rd Weekend Drop 45%, Budget $100M
DESPICABLE ME 4 will most likely finish as the third or fourth-highest domestic-grossing film in the series, still having an outside chance to pass $1B at the worldwide box office.
Disney and Pixar’s INSIDE OUT 2 came in third place for the second weekend in a row, earning $12.8M and dropping 36%. After 38 days in theatres, it has grossed $596.4M domestically and $1.4B worldwide.
We expect that by next weekend INSIDE OUT 2 will pass INCREDIBLES 2 to become the top-grossing animated film of all time in the domestic market. Globally, it will most likely wind up in second place behind Disney’s THE LION KING, which earned $1.663M in its 2019 theatrical run.
BATTLE FOR THE HIGHEST-GROSSING ANIMATED FILM OF ALL TIME DOMESTIC GROSSES AFTER 38 DAYS
- INCREDIBLES 2 (6/15/2018) – After 38 Days $557.7M, Total Domestic $608.6M
- INSIDE OUT 2 (6/14/2024) – After 38 Days $596.4M
Neon’s LONGLEGS continues its run as one of the horror breakouts of 2024, finishing in fourth place this weekend with a total of $11.7M, a decline of 48% from last week’s opening. After 10 days, LONGLEGS has earned $44.7M domestically and $48.0M worldwide, placing it second of all time among movies from this independent studio.
NEON’S TOP TWO BOX OFFICE PERFORMERS
- PARASITE (10/11/2019) – Opening Weekend $393K, Total Domestic $53.4M, Total Worldwide $262.6M, Budget $11.4M, RT Critics/Audience 99%/90%
- LONGLEGS (7/12/2024) – Opening Weekend $22.6M, Budget $9.0M, RT Critics/Audience 87%/66%
While LONGLEGS is unlikely to reach PARASITE’s worldwide total of $262.6M from 2019, with continued success over the next few weeks it will most likely become Neon’s #1 release in the domestic market.
It is already the second highest-grossing horror film of 2024, trailing A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE which had a significantly higher production budget and a more expensive marketing campaign. Neon will make a tidy profit on LONGLEGS since it made the film with a budget of only $9M.
Speaking of A QUIET PLACE: DAY ONE, the Paramount release finished in fifth place this weekend with $6.1M, a drop of 46%. The 24-day totals for the horror sequel are $127.6M domestic and $235.9M worldwide. By comparison, the original A QUIET PLACE had earned $148.5M domestic at this same point in its 2018 release.
Where Are We as of 7/18
After 28 weeks, the 2024 year-to-date box office stands at $4.08B, which is 82% of 2023 totals and 66% of 2019 totals at this same point in the year.
