The storm chasers of Lee Issac Chung’s spiritual sequel, Twisters, have chased down a sizable opening before the weekend. But can the whirlwind keep spinning?
As Glen Powell’s character Tyler Owens says in the new film Twisters, “If you feel it, chase it!” And summer audiences were feeling the upcoming spiritual sequel to the beloved 1996 Jan De Bont film Twister. The new film has garnered a pretty positive reception with a certified fresh rating of 78% at Rotten Tomatoes, with an audience score of 94%. In his review of Twisters, our own Chris Bumbray says, “Twisters still works as a good piece of summer entertainment. The pace is lively, and besides Jones, Powell and Ramos, some of the supporting cast members are fun. […] Twisters isn’t the instant classic the original was, but it’s a good time at the movies.”
Deadline now reports that the storm chasers were able to wrangle up $10 million in early week previews that started at a special early Wednesday peek at IMAX and premium screens and the standard Thursday previews, which began at 5 p.m. The early forecasts for the new Amblin film ran a pretty wide gamut, with some naysayers predicting it won’t open above $40 million, while others, such as the usually reliable BoxOfficePro, expect it to make in the $60-75 million range (an unusually widespread for them).
The early 2-day previews already surpass the early gross from Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which made $6.6 million in advanced screenings but took in $58.4 million for the weekend. If this pace keeps up (provided that tornadoes don’t take out a bunch of theaters), Twisters is on track to make the latter’s prediction. It should be noted that while Twisters is not exactly a legacy franchise on the level of the Planet of the Apes films, their ace-in-the-hole is the current rising stardom of Glen Powell, whose charisma is being put on full display in this film and unleashing his boyish charm a bit more than his breakout in Top Gun: Maverick.
While this year is seeing the effects of last year’s strikes with a thinner crop of movies, as well as some jarring flops coming from seemingly slam-dunk hits, the end of July is set to deliver a one-two punch for audiences as this film is tracking well, but will not enjoy too long of a stay at the top as Deadpool & Wolverine makes its much anticipated debut next week.