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On the surface, Twisters presents as a goldmine, having opened to a surprising $80.5 million in its first weekend while steadily maintaining a sizeable audience thereafter. It’s sparked many viral clips featuring the Twisters cast, and has attracted viewers in multiple quadrants, speaking to its mass-market appeal. The 2024 event movie may seem like it’s printing cash for Universal Pictures, but this isn’t actually the case when it comes to the bottom line.
There’s a lot more financial finagling that goes into a movie’s gross, with tons of hidden costs that help prevent movies as big as Twisters from making a profit. At least from appearing as if they did, for one reason or another.
Twisters reportedly had a budget of $155 million, which is obviously high, but also becoming closer to the average for modern-day blockbusters. Costs don’t end there, and oftentimes, the advertising budget (known as P&L) for a movie this huge is almost double what the production budget is.
Estimates allegedly have P&L for Twisters to be $100 million, which could still be a conservative number. That means that the movie is starting at $255 million just to offset costs, a high mark to hit for a sequel to a movie that’s almost 30 years old. It’s also important to note that not every dollar a movie makes goes to the profit of the studios.
Around half of the ticket sales go to the theaters that are distributing the films. Because of this, it is expected that Twisters will have to make around $500 million to break even, and even more than that to draw a profit. At this point, Twisters has made $244 million domestically, which is fantastic and above expectations. With a movie this size, studios expect to double their profits internationally, which would’ve made Twisters already pretty close to profitability before the movie was released to at-home viewers.
Unfortunately, this didn’t happen for Twisters. The movie was considered a flop on the international front, having taken in $95.1 million overseas to date, making the total Twisters gross at this point around $339.2 million, with a 72/28-percent split between domestic and international. Appealing to international markets is crucial for a movie of this size, which is why many blockbusters prioritize themes that are universally relevant, and don’t ostracize other cultures.
The highest grossing movies of all time like Avatar, Avengers: Endgame, Titanic, etc all achieve this, sometimes even performing better overseas than in the US. Twisters however is deeply American, featuring themes and characters intrinsic to the American south. This could help explain why the movie didn’t translate as well in Asian and European markets.
Due to this, Twisters has yet to be profitable, but it still has staying power at the box office, coming in fourth last week behind Alien: Romulus, Deadpool & Wolverine, and It Ends With Us. Back in the day, a movie not making back all its costs at the box office wasn’t troubling. A movie could make a significant amount of its profits when it was released on DVD or Video On Demand.
This has become less so with streaming, which has muddied a movie’s profitability after a theatrical run and been less transparent about who gets what of backend pay. Twisters is a critically acclaimed blockbuster, and an overall great time at the movies. Hopefully is able to break even and encourage studios to make more fun, summer movies like this one.
Twisters is still playing in theaters, so make sure to check it out on the biggest screen possible while you still can. You can also currently purchase or rent the movie at home on Amazon. For more information on other buzzy titles heading to cinemas this year, make sure to consult our 2024 movie release schedule.