Warner Bros’ Twisters is the leading title at this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office, opening in 675 cinemas 28 years after the original film was a hit in the territory.
Twisters stars 2020 Screen Star of Tomorrow Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell, as a meteorologist and social media tornado chaser who team up with a new team and new technologies. The film has over £1m banked already from previews on Wednesday 17 and Thursday 18.
Jan de Bont’s Twister opened to over £3m in July 1996, ending on an impressive £15m total – equivalent to £29.3m today. This new film is not a direct sequel, although makes multiple references to the first title.
Warner Bros will hope that Edgar-Jones and Powell can be a potent box office combination, with both having drawn substantial audiences in recent years. Edgar Jones’ breakthrough came in BBC and Element Pictures series Normal People, an international hit during the pandemic; while she has since appeared in Disney+ release Fresh and led summer 2022 drama Where The Crawdads Sing (£8.4m total).
After minor and supporting roles in films including The Dark Knight Rises (£56.4m) and Hidden Figures (£6.3m), Powell was a key part of the ensemble cast for Richard Linklater’s Everybody Wants Some! (£419,176) in 2016. He came to wider attention as cocky pilot Hangman in 2022’s Top Gun: Maverick (£83.7m), before leading this years box office hit romantic comedy Anyone But You (£11.1m) opposite Sydney Sweeney, and starring in, writing and producing Linklater’s Netflix title Hit Man.
The film is directed by Lee Isaac Chung, who broke out with Minari (£267,659), which secured six Oscar nominations and one win in 2021.
Universal is opening Josh Margolin’s action-comedy Thelma in 195 sites. A Sundance premiere in January this year, the film is a first leading role for 94-year-old US actress June Squibb as a woman who gets duped by a phone scammer pretending to be her grandson, so sets out on a quest to reclaim what was taken from her.
Although born in 1929 and a stage performer since the 1950s, Squibb didn’t make her film debut until Woody Allen’s 1991 Alice (£342,848), and had her breakthrough in Alexander Payne’s Nebraska (£674,110), for which she was nominated for the best supporting actress Oscar at the age of 84.
Blur lines up
In a weekend of diverse releases, Altitude is starting music documentary blur: To The End – the first of two films about the UK indie band, ahead of concert film blur: Live At Wembley Stadium on September 6.
To The End depicts the recent chapter in the band’s career of over 30 years, as they make their first record in eight years. It debuted in the Rhythms strand at Sheffield DocFest last month.
Previous documentaries about the band include 2010’s Blur: No Distance Left To Run (£45,518) and 2015’s Blur: New World Towers (£20,879).
Mubi is starting Levan Akin’s Crossing in 66 cinemas. The opening title of the Panorama sidebar at this year’s Berlinale, Crossing follows a retired teacher on a search for her long-lost niece, who meets a lawyer fighting for trans rights. The film won the independent Teddy award for best queer film at the Berlinale.
It is Swedish director Akin’s fourth feature film; he achieved international success with his previous title, 2019’s And Then We Danced, despite protests from right-wing and religious groups in Georgia, where the film is set.
Further independent releases this weekend include Chuck Chuck Baby, the debut feature of 2008 Screen Star of Tomorrow Janis Pugh, in 20 sites through Studio Soho. The film has 29 further bookings across the coming weeks; it is a musical about a young woman working in a chicken factory in Wales who finds a new chance at love.
A24 is opening Annie Baker’s Janet Planet, about a young girl in 1991 living with her mother in rural Western Massachusetts, when three visitors enter their lives. Starring Zoe Ziegler and Julianne Nicholson, the film debuted at Telluride Film Festival last summer, going on to play New York, San Francisco, Berlin and Melbourne.
Indian cinema continues its strong recent run in UK-Ireland venues with Anand Tiwari’s romantic comedy Bad Newz on 142 screens through Moviegoers Entertainment; and Sreejith Vijayan’s Idiyan Chandhu through Yash Raj Films.
Vertigo Releasing is starting Noora Niasari’s Sundance 2023 drama Shayda, which counts Cate Blanchett among its executive producers; while Paramount is re-releasing Robert Zemeckis’ 1994 classic Forrest Gump in 243 cinemas this week, for its 30th anniversary.
Twisters will battle with Universal’s Despicable Me 4 at the top of the charts this weekend, with other key holdovers including former number one Inside Out 2 from Disney, and Black Bear’s horror Longlegs which started with a strong £1.4m last time out.
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