Box Office Report: ‘Twisters’ Sticks The Landing As ‘Longlegs’ Defies Expectations

Box Office analysis is provided by Daniel Garris of BoxOfficeReport.com.

Weekend Box Office Report: July 19th, 2024 to July 21st, 2024

Universal's Twisters had a break-out performance at the domestic box office this weekend with a first place debut of $81.25 million. The standalone sequel to 1996's Twister far exceeded consensus expectations, which had tended to range anywhere from $50 million to $70 million heading into the weekend. Twisters; which is being released domestically by Universal and internationally by Warner Bros., was directed by Lee Isaac Chung and stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell and Anthony Ramos. There seems to be little doubt that the over-performance of Twisters this weekend was due in part to the film's strong appeal in the Midwest and more rural areas of North America, which tends to minimize pre-release online buzz somewhat (relatively speaking). Twisters also represents a second break-out performance at the box office for Glen Powell post Top Gun: Maverick (the first being last year's Anyone But You). Twisters delivered the third largest opening weekend performance of 2024 thus far, behind only Inside Out 2 and just behind Dune: Part Two (and just ahead of Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire).

Twisters started out on Friday with $32.14 million (which included an estimated $10.7 million from Thursday preview shows that began at 2PM and early access shows on Wednesday), decreased a very respectable 14.4 percent on Saturday to gross $27.52 million and declined 21.5 percent on Sunday to take in $21.59 million. The film's opening weekend to preview gross ratio of 7.59 to 1 was very promising for a high-profile summer release with preview shows on both Wednesday and Thursday. Twisters has gone over well with critics and looks to be going over even better with audiences after receiving a good A- rating on CinemaScore (and given the film's initial daily percentage holds on Saturday and Sunday as well). The audience breakdown for Twisters skewed a significant 78 percent over 25, 22 percent under 25, 50 percent male and 50 percent female. The film grossed an estimated $9.0 million from domestic IMAX screens this weekend (which represents 11.1 percent of this weekend's overall gross). While it will be difficult for Twisters to hold up well next weekend with Disney's highly anticipated Deadpool & Wolverine entering the marketplace, beyond next weekend Twisters will have a great opportunity to hold up well throughout the rest of the summer, especially when keeping in mind how back-loaded the original Twisters was beyond opening weekend (even by 1996 box office standards).

Internationally, Twisters was less impressive this weekend with $27.7 million from 76 international markets. With the addition of the film's performance in select international markets last week, the international total for Twisters stands at $43.5 million. Through Sunday, Twisters has grossed $124.7 million globally. It should be noted that Twisters was down just 27 percent this weekend in international holdover markets. International debuts for Twisters this weekend included $5.2 million in the United Kingdom, $2.0 million in France, $1.5 million in China, $1.1 million in Germany, $1.0 million in Taiwan and $1.0 million in Spain. Additional totals for Twisters through Sunday by international market include $7.3 million in Mexico, $5.2 million in Australia, $1.8 million in Brazil, $1.1 million in Indonesia and $1.1 million in Thailand. Through Sunday, Twisters has grossed an estimated $3.0 million from international IMAX screens, for a global IMAX total of $12.0 million.

Universal also claimed second place this weekend as Despicable Me 4 grossed $24.44 million during its third weekend of release. The blockbuster computer animated sequel from Illumination declined 44.0 percent from last weekend, which was a very respectable hold given that Despicable Me 4 lost its IMAX showtimes and screens to Twisters this weekend and that Twisters provided significant competition for the non-family component of the Despicable Me 4 audience. Despicable Me 4 passed the $250 million domestic mark this weekend and has grossed $260.10 million through 19 days of release. That currently ranks Despicable Me 4 as the third highest grossing release of 2024 thus far domestically. Despicable Me 4 is also already on the verge of passing the $264.62 million final domestic gross of 2017's Despicable Me 3.
Internationally, Despicable Me 4 grossed $53.0 million this weekend from 79 international markets. That brings the film's international total to $317.1 million and current global haul to $577.2 million. This weekend's international performance for Despicable Me 4 included a debut of $4.3 million in Japan. Additional totals for Despicable Me 4 through Sunday by international market include $31.9 million in China, $31.9 million in Mexico, $25.8 million in Australia, $22.4 million in the United Kingdom, $18.3 million in Brazil, $16.0 million in France, $15.5 million in Germany, $13.5 million in Spain and $11.9 million in Argentina. Despicable Me 4 will open in South Korea this coming Wednesday (July 24).

Disney and Pixar's Inside Out 2 was able to re-stabilize this weekend by declining a solid 35.7 percent to place in third $12.83 million. Inside Out 2 is now on the brink of reaching the $600 million domestic mark with a 38-day domestic total of $596.40 million. That also leaves Inside Out 2 just $12.18 million away from passing the $608.58 million final domestic gross of 2018's Incredibles 2 to become the highest grossing animated film of all-time domestically (without adjusting for ticket price inflation). Internationally, Inside Out 2 continued to impress this weekend with an estimated $34.2 million from 51 international markets. That brings the film's international total to $846.9 million and current global haul to a massive $1.443 billion globally. Before too much longer Inside Out 2 will surpass the $1.454 billion global take of Frozen 2 to become the highest grossing animated film of all-time globally (2019's The Lion King, which has a total global gross of $1.663 billion, is officially counted as a photorealism film as opposed to an animated film).

NEON's Longlegs placed in fourth with $11.97 million. The break-out R-rated horror thriller declined 46.6 percent from last weekend, which represents a very solid second weekend hold for a horror film. This weekend's hold suggests that Longlegs is going over better with audiences than the film's C+ rating on CinemaScore would indicate and was helped out by the film adding an additional 340 locations this weekend (for a total location count of 2,850). With a ten-day domestic total of $44.92 million, Longlegs continues to outpace expectations in a significant way. Longlegs is already the second highest grossing film ever domestically for NEON and before too much longer it will overtake the $53.37 million final domestic gross of 2019's Parasite to become the highest grossing film ever for NEON domestically.

Paramount's A Quiet Place: Day One rounded out this weekend's top five with $6.33 million. That represented a respectable 44.2 percent decline from last weekend. With a 24-day domestic gross of $127.87 million, A Quiet Place Day One is running 2.3 percent ahead of the $124.95 million 24-day gross of 2021's A Quiet Place Part II (though A Quiet Place Part II declined just 24.4 percent in its fourth weekend to gross $9.09 million). Internationally, A Quiet Place: Day One grossed an estimated $5.2 million this weekend from 67 international markets. Respective totals for the film stand at $113.8 million internationally and at $241.7 million globally.

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