Box Office Report for the Week of July 21

This week, moviegoers not only felt but chased Lee Isaac Chung‘s Twisters, which opened to a number that nearly matched the one set by Christopher Nolan‘s Oppenheimer a year ago, with an $80.5 million domestic tally. It also doubled the opening of Jan de Bont‘s Twister in 1996, with a $41 million tally at the time.

Of course, we don’t have a Barbenheimer situation here, but the Twisters tally far exceeded most pundits’ initial expectations. Though it may be completely obliterated by Deadpool & Wolverine next week, which is poised to slash the box office with a record-setting opening for the Deadpool franchise and the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Beyond that, however, it was a quiet weekend at the movies regarding new releases. Longlegs is holding much better than I imagined, with only a 48% drop between this week and last week and an excellent $11.7 million domestic tally for its second weekend. Its legs (pun intended) are a sign of how inventive the marketing is, even if the reception from its audience has not been as strong as the critical response to the film.

It’s also another great weekend for animation, as Despicable Me 4 and Inside Out 2 are also holding out strong, adding to their already profitable overall gross with a $23.8 million tally for Despicable Me and a $12.8 million tally for Inside Out 2. In its third weekend, Despicable Me 4 has now crossed the $500 million mark and could be well on its way to finishing with a $700-800 million tally. It would be one of the lowest of the franchise, which has experienced diminishing returns since Minions: The Rise of Gru, but would still be profitable for the studio nonetheless.

Next week should be interesting to discuss, with Deadpool & Wolverine taking over the box office by storm. Now, I’ll admit I haven’t been paying attention to the craze behind the film, as I’m knee-deep into covering Fantasia in-person and remotely for several outlets (including this one) and will likely catch the film once the festival is over, but there’s no denying that the film will be huge. I was wrong on Inside Out 2 not making $1 billion, because I’m seemingly more conservative than most regarding box office tracking.

I don’t know what number the film will make, but it hitting the billion-dollar mark will be incumbent upon Deadpool doing well in its second weekend. It will hit big next week, just like Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania did. However, that film dropped precipitously in its second weekend and never recovered, ultimately becoming a box office bomb. I’m not saying this will happen with Deadpool, but the MCU isn’t what it once was. Here’s hoping this projection I’m throwing into this space will be proven wrong, and Deadpool & Wolverine will become the hit of the summer.

Here is the full list of the top ten films of the weekend:

1. Twisters (Universal): $80.5M – 4,151 theatres
2. Despicable Me 4 (Universal): $23.8M (-45%) – 4,112 theatres
3. Inside Out 2 (Disney): $12.8M (-36%) – 3,625 theatres
4. Longlegs (NEON): $11.7M (-48%) – 2,850 theatres
5. A Quiet Place: Day One (Paramount): $6.1M (-46%) – 2,913 theatres
6. Fly Me to the Moon (Sony/Apple TV+): $3.3M (-65%) – 3,356 theatres
7. Bad Boys: Ride or Die (Sony): $2.7M (-37%) – 1,716 theatres
8. Bad Newz (Moviegoers Entertainment Ltd): $1.1M – 477 theatres
9. MaXXXine (A24): $819.242 (-60%) – 1,038 theatres
10. The Bikeriders (Universal): $700.000 (-75%) – 308 theatres

Source: Comscore