‘Twisters’ Box Office Success Should Tell Studios What We Want

It is easy to look at a movie’s success and think it won’t happen again, but when a sequel finds success on its own, it is something we should study. This is why the opening weekend success of Twisters is so important to look at. 

The Twister (1996) sequel, after almost 30 years, had many people wondering if it would actually work. Sure, at its core, the original was about a divorced couple realizing they do love each other, but it was also about storms. Twisters captured a similar feel through an enemies-to-potential lovers story with Kate (Daisy Edgar-Jones) and Tyler (Glen Powell), who chase storms together. But what we should really learn from Twisters’ box office success is that we want good sequels. 

The opening box office for Twisters put it at #1 in America, raking in a total of roughly 80.5 million. That kind of success hasn’t happened in a while, and it is exciting to see! Also, it rules since Twisters is genuinely such a fun movie. Part of the problem with sequel culture is that studios rely too heavily on the nostalgia and not enough on the quality of the story being told. So when a movie like Twisters finds success, you have to look at why.

That success could be caused by a couple of things. The other incredibly successful sequel no one thought we really needed was Top Gun: Maverick, which, again, was a movie that was wildly successful not just because of name recognition but because it was good. If you want to, call it the Glen Powell effect, but he has talked about the movies he makes, saying that he wants to make movies he would want to see. That includes these remakes and sequels, and if you have people involved who want these movies to succeed, they’re more likely to have the heart that fans are looking for. 

These movies succeed because they are good movies!

You can bank on nostalgia to get people into seats, but that won’t last long if the movie itself isn’t worth telling people to go back for. Making a movie because you think the name behind it will automatically make money doesn’t work. We have learned that in recent years (primarily with some superhero movies). But when you make a movie with a purpose that does already have a built in fan base, you have the added advantage of people wanting to see it just because. 

For me, I would see any movie that pulls from the Twister universe, but if I didn’t find joy in Twisters, I wouldn’t have gone back three times now. I would have simply said “got it” and moved on. Instead, movies like Twisters have fans excited to go back to theaters, and it feels like the movies are so back because of it. We could have let this movie blow by, but instead, we can’t stop talking about it, and it is reflecting in the box office numbers. 

What I am hoping is that the box office reports for Twisters send a clear message to studios that quality is what matters the most.