'Twisters' Sucks... Up a Terrific $32.2 Million At Friday Box Office

Amblin's canny blend of IP, new stars and 90's style "underdog" blockbuster filmmaking made the legacy sequel an event film unto itself.

“Oh, yeah. Oooh, ahhh, that’s how it always starts. Then later there’s twisting and shouting...”

Amblin’s Twisters (distributed by Universal in North America and Warner Bros. Discovery overseas) earned $32.2 million on Friday, counting $2 million in Wednesday sneaks and $8.7 million in Thursday preview showings. With decent reviews (76% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) and solid consumer buzz (92% verified R.T. score, an A- from CinemaScore, etc.), plus potentially strong walk-up business today and tomorrow from the kinds of general audiences who don’t buy their tickets six weeks in advance, we could see an opening weekend closer to $80 million than $70 million. However, nobody at Universal will be sad about an over/under $75 million debut frame. Twisters could have easily been an “I.P. for the sake of I.P.” disaster. But canny casting and aggressive pitch to non-obsessive moviegoers while filling a decade-long disaster movie vacuum has created a hit that isn’t relying on its I.P. for fortune and glory.