Weekend Box Office : ‘Twister’ Levels the Competition

“Twister” obliterated the competition at the box office over the weekend, bringing in more than $41 million to launch the summer movie season. “I was hoping it would do in the mid-to-high-20s,” said Rob Friedman, Warners’ president of worldwide advertising and publicity.

“Twister,” co-produced by Warners and Universal Pictures, not only created long lines outside movie theaters in big cities across the country, but also drew large crowds in the “tornado alley” states of Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas, Friedman said. (The film actually appeared on about 3,000 screens but the studio uses the number of theaters, 2,414, in calculating its per-screen average.)

The success of “Twister” undercuts the conventional wisdom that blockbuster movies help other films because they bring so many people to the theaters. Second-place finisher, “The Truth About Cats & Dogs,” garnered only $3.9 million.

“There wasn’t much else out there that the public paid to see,” said John Krier, president of Exhibitor Relations, a company that tracks box-office results. Krier said “Twister” had the biggest three-day, non-holiday May opening ever and the total box office for the weekend was 28% higher than the same period last year.

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Weekend Gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “Twister” $41.1 2,414 1 (Warner Bros.) $41.1 $17,009 2. “The Truth About Cats & Dogs” $3.9 1,651 3 (Fox) $20.1 $2,351 3. “The Craft” $3.6 1,762 2 (Sony/Columbia) $12.3 $2,050 4. “Primal Fear” $2.4 1,887 6 (Paramount) $48.4 $1,275 5. “The Quest” $2.1 2,092 3 (Universal) $16.3 $1,025 6. “The Birdcage” $1.6 1,281 10 (MGM/UA) $115.3 $1,254 7. “The Great White Hype” $1.32 1,499 2 (Fox) $5.6 $883 8. “James and the Giant Peach” $1.3 1,590 5 (Disney) $24.7 $819 9. “Original Gangstas” $1.16 474 1 (Orion) $1.15 $2,442 10. “The Pallbearer” $1 829 2 (Miramax) $3.9 $1,225

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SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.