“Twisters” blew away opening weekend box office expectations, bringing in a whopping $80.5 million.

Early projections estimated that the action flick sequel to the 1996 movie “Twister” would earn between $40 million and $50 million, with some guessing high at around $70 million, per The Hollywood Reporter. But audiences flocked to see the movie beginning on July 19, leading to a record-breaking opening weekend for any natural disaster film.

That record was previously held by “The Day After Tomorrow” (2004), which brought in $68.44 during its first weekend.

The massive success gave theaters a much-needed boost after a slow start to the year and a string of box office disappointments. “Twisters” has the third-highest opening of the year, THR noted.

The original “Twister” (1996), starring the late Bill Pullman and Helen Hunt, also scored big at the box office. It had a $41 million opening weekend, which, adjusted for inflation, is closer to $82 million. It ended with $494.5 million globally, or the equivalent of $992.08 million in today’s dollars.

“Twisters” follows Kate Cooper (Daisy Edgar-Jones) as she attempts to test a new type of tornado tracking system and forges a partnership with Tyler Owens (Glen Powell), a popular storm chaser who documents his experiences on social media. The movie currently has a 77% critic score and 92% audience score on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.

Despite the movie’s subject matter of dangerous tornadoes, filmmaker Lee Isaac Chung told CNN that the film isn’t meant to preach or push climate change hysteria.

“I just wanted to make sure that with the movie, we don’t ever feel like (it) is putting forward any message,” he told the outlet, as The Daily Wire recently reported. “I just don’t feel like films are meant to be message-oriented.”

“I think what we are doing is showing the reality of what’s happening on the ground … we don’t shy away from saying that things are changing,” Chung added. “I wanted to make sure that we are never creating a feeling that we’re preaching a message, because that’s certainly not what I think cinema should be about. I think it should be a reflection of the world.”