Thank the Midwest for the stunning “Twisters” box office turnout over the past weekend: The movie’s middle-American appeal helped Lee Isaac Chung‘s disaster movie whip up more than $80 million at the opening weekend box office. As of writing, the Glen Powell star vehicle has grossed over $113 million in the United States. (And for the record, IndieWire expected “Twisters” to beat box office projections, anyway.)
Plus, a “Super Bowl” trailer always goes a long way with heartland audiences who feel underrepresented or devalued by Hollywood (see the fact that the J.D. Vance adaptation “Hillbilly Elegy,” which coastal audiences may interpret more as poverty porn, is again one of the most popular movies in the country right now on Netflix). Ditto an NBCUniversal-backed NASCAR spot featuring Powell himself hocking the film, and a production shot on location in Oklahoma, and a movie about the very disasters affecting states in America’s Tornado Alley. Rival studios should take note of how Universal Pictures has tapped into a rural sensibility here with a movie both fresh and also familiar given its expansion of the IP established by Jan de Bont’s 1996 blockbuster, “Twister.”
IndieWire spoke with exhibitors in Texas and Missouri about their over-the-weekend experiences premiering “Twisters” to sold-out crowds and diverse audiences, with family appeal thanks to a light PG-13 rating. (There’s not even an audience-rousing kiss between Powell and storm-chasing scientist Daisy Edgar-Jones at the end!)
As Deadline reported, “Twisters” over-indexed in markets like Dallas, Oklahoma City, San Antonio, Nashville, Kansas City, and St. Louis, with the top-grossing opening weekend theater in Moore, Oklahoma at the Regal Warren.
Andrew Thomas, co-founder of Moonstruck Drive-In in Houston, operates two locations, and pointed out that one was hit with tornado damage well before Hurricane Beryl made landfall in Texas in early July (over a week before “Twisters” opened July 19). Remember how one scene in the original “Twister” actually takes place at a drive-in, where moviegoers are watching “The Shining”? Similarly, in Lee Isaac Chung’s “Twisters,” a movie theater is shown ripped apart by tornado-force winds. So for midwestern audiences, there’s a bit of the close-to-home factor here.
“It was kind of an interesting time for people in our region just going through these big weather events. You wonder, ‘Is a weather disaster movie the thing they want to see’?” Thomas told IndieWire. “I always talk to our customers as they’re leaving, and it was really interesting to hear people react so strongly to the human story of the movie. In these disaster movies, the humans often take a backseat to the devastation and the destruction. It’s all about the spectacle. In this film, the filmmakers did a really good job of making the humans front and center. It allowed for audiences to have a closer connection point.”
And “Twisters” is more than just devastation and destruction. The movie shows storm chasers like Edgar-Jones, Powell, and Anthony Ramos taking care of the Oklahoma citizens ravaged by tornados in a similar way to how the original “Twister” created empathy for the people of Wakita, Oklahoma, after they’d been devastated by a tornado. That’s a contrast from many disaster movies, though the human impact was a route the Japanese-made Toho film “Godzilla Minus One” took as well.
Thomas added, “You can see a lot of the middle of the country often feels left out of culture because so much of it is — and for obvious reasons — well-dominated by the big coasts. L.A., New York. You don’t often see movies from the big studios that really focus on the experiences and culture of the middle of this country. Especially in a way that’s respectful, and not so much like, ‘Look at these weirdos.’ You sometimes get that. I think about a movie like ‘Hillbilly Elegy.’ ‘Look at how terrible it is to live in these poor places.’ A lot of people in the middle of the country feel overlooked or looked down on by the entertainment industry… Universal was really good to pick up on this as a movie that appeals to a particular demographic and a particular region.”
Jordan Hohman, a vice president of the Phoenix Theatres chain and speaking out of Livonia, Missouri, added, “We have an interesting mix of locations. Some are in more metropolitan areas, such as Detroit and Grand Rapids. As you get into more rural locations, you find the per screen average has increased [for ‘Twisters’] dramatically. If you look at where the grosses fell across the market, not just our location, the more rural locations did particularly well.”
He added, “There are certainly movies out there that appeal to urban audiences in large cities. This movie is the polar opposite. We’ve dug into some of our grosses. In our Defiance, Ohio location, one in five people in that community came out and watched this. 20% of the community was out watching the movie on opening weekend. It was our number five highest opening of all time since that theater opened in 1985.” At that location, “Twisters” missed “Barbie” by just $759. And that also meant 20% of Defiance’s community watched the film in Dolby Atmos, on offer at the Phoenix Theatres venue, as “Twisters” continues to outperform in premium formats — including 4DX screenings nationwide that have inspired viral reactions.
After a lackluster start to summer, “Twisters” looks to keep audiences in theaters after the successes of “Inside Out 2” (now at more than $603 million domestic) and “Despicable Me 4” (over $273 million domestic so far), with more to come this weekend with the arrival of “Deadpool & Wolverine.” If you feel it, ride it!
