Box Office Battle: “Twisters” wins weekend with record $80.5M opening

“Box Office Battle” is The Fly’s weekly roundup of what movies topped the weekend’s box office.

Comcast (CMCSA) subsidiary Universal’s “Twisters” won the domestic box office this weekend with a huge $80.5M debut, making it the best opening ever for a natural disaster movie. The Lee Isaac Chung’s film sports also the third biggest start of the year behind “Inside Out 2” and “Dune: Part Two.” “Twisters” has a 77% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics and a 92% score from audiences, while holding an A- from CinemaScore.

Overseas, the movie came in slightly behind expectations with $27.1M from 76 markets for a total of $42.7M after opening in some markets ahead of its domestic debut.

BOX OFFICE RUNNER-UPS: Universal’s “Despicable Me 4” fell to number 2 with another $23.8M as it moved past the $500M mark globally. Behind it was Disney (DIS) and Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” with $12.8M in its sixth outing. The serial killer chiller “Longlegs” placed number 4 with another $11.7M for a 10-day domestic total of $44.7M. Rounding out the top five, Paramount’s (PARA) “A Quiet Place: Day One” grossed an estimated $6.1M.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE:

1. “Twisters” – $80.5M
2. “Despicable Me 4” –$23.8M
3. “Inside Out 2” – $12.8M
4. “Longlegs” – $11.7M
5. “A Quiet Place: Day One” – $6.1M

Other publicly traded companies in filmmaking include Sony (SONY), Warner Bros. (WBD), Lionsgate (LGF.A), Apple (AAPL), and Amazon (AMZN).