What's happening to Twisters at the box office?

Twisters came out of the blocks very hot indeed at the box office. It looked like a dead cert to be one of the biggest movies of the summer, spinning its way through multiplexes with destructive force and hoovering up cash on the way through.

But has that actually panned out? The Twisters box office story now seems as if it might be a little more complicated than we were originally led to believe. In a crowded summer, Lee Isaac Chung's sequel to the 1996 hit Twister, is still present, but has lost some of its all-conquering power.

In fact, some box office analysts on social media have begun to whisper about Twisters possibly not making very much cash for its studio Universal — Warner Bros handled the non-US rollout — at all. How has this happened?

To begin with, everything was rosy for Twisters. Its opening weekend scored it $123m (£95m) globally, which is quite the start for a blockbuster sequel to a movie that came out almost 30 years ago. And when it comes to the domestic box office in the US, the film has held itself in place pretty well.

The film has currently notched up $196m (£153m) in the US and a further $79m (£62m) from its international release, including the UK and China. That puts its overall total at a very solid $274m (£215m) after four weekends in cinemas.

Read more: The Twisters kiss backlash shows viewers want grand Hollywood romance (Yahoo Entertainment)

For an ordinary movie, these would be fantastic numbers. However, Twisters was made as a blockbuster and had the budget to match, costing around $155m (£121m). Based on the received wisdom that a film has to make back twice its production budget to break even — with advertising costs huge on movies of this size — Twisters has to comfortably crack $300m (£235m) to make any money at all.

Twisters will almost certainly hit that milestone but, given its massive opening weekend, it should be far more comfortable than it is. The problem, such as there is one, is that Twisters has proven to be a very domestic-heavy film. While its numbers in the US are terrific, it hasn't travelled well at all.

In China, especially, Twisters failed to make any impact at all. It has thus far made just $2.6m (£2m) in the crucial market. Given how important China has been to numerous US blockbusters over the years — including Pacific Rim and the Fast and Furious franchise — this is one reason that Twisters has struggled.

Read more: Twisters ending explained: The alternate shot you didn't see — and why (Entertainment Weekly)

There's also the fact that Twisters has swirled right into a summer that, after a slow start, has been very crowded. The film is currently competing with Inside Out 2 ($1.56bn/£1.22bn worldwide), Despicable Me 4 ($752m/£589m worldwide), and Deadpool & Wolverine ($824m/£645m worldwide). Between those three mega-hits, there's not a lot of real estate.

The arrival of Marvel's team-up has been a particularly large problem, given that it has hoovered up a lot of the IMAX and 4DX screens that were powering Twisters. The film broke the 4DX opening weekend record, but will now have lost out on a lot of those screens to Deadpool.

Competition is ultimately the reason for Twisters' box office decline. It's certainly not down to any issues with the movie, which is an absolutely joyous ride — an old-fashioned blockbuster with 21st century visual effects. It simply isn't getting repeat business and has struggled to resonate with overseas audiences who aren't as familiar with the source material.

Read more: How 2024 Twisters Pays Homage to the 1996 Twister Movie (Variety)

However, Twisters is very likely to turn a profit. It will cross that all-important $300m boundary and its home studio Universal is able to keep a larger portion of domestic box office cash, meaning more of that will go towards hitting the profit line.

So while Twisters certainly isn't a tale of doom and its studio backers will be pleased, the last few weeks have taken some of the shine off what looked like being one of the biggest hits of the summer. Add to that the fact US audiences will be able to watch the movie at home on digital platforms from 13 August, according to reports, and it looks unlikely to continue to set the multiplex alight.

It's a sign of several things really. First, international box office is absolutely key to creating a true financial hit for movie studios. And secondly, we need to find a way to make big summer movies that don't cost $150m to produce. That sets the box office bar way too high.

Twisters is still in UK cinemas now.