We’re not in Kansas anymore.
“Twisters,” an update of the original 1996 “Twister” movie with Bill Paxton, blew away everything this weekend.
Directed by Lee Isaac Chung, “Twisters” smashed expectations with $80.5 mil at the box office.
Glen Powell, star of the year, is the head storm chaser. His non stop PR and marketing campaign helped the movie overturn everything around it.
Powell has already had two hits in 2024 — Richard Linklater’s smart “Hit Man” on Netflix, and the romcom “Anyone But You.” His meteoric rise this season follows his appearance in “Top Gun Maverick.”
For Chung, “Twister” is a huge leap forward after his Oscar nominated, and very different, “Minari,” put him on the map.
The rest of the box office wasn’t even stormy. Holdovers from last week and early this summer had tepid responses. Kevin Costner’s “Horizon” failed to break $28 million after 4 weeks. Sony’s “Fly me to the Moon” is a total bust after 2 weeks with just $16.3 million. Indies “Kinds of Kindness” and “The Bikeriders” have slipped into the abyss.
And so we wait for “Deadpool and Wolverine” to challenge “Twister.” If Ryan Reynolds were really clever, he’d have a video of him and Hugh Jackman playing the game, Twister. (Send a check here.)