Whirlwinds is officially the first major live-action blockbuster of the summer, as it debuted this past weekend with $80.5 million at the domestic box office. The film stars Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones as storm chasers in the modern disaster film, which is a sequel to the 1996 film VortexThe cast was careful not to make phone calls Whirlwinds a sequel. But given the success of the film, is the cast open to a next chapter?
“I’m not sure,” Edgar-Jones told Yahoo Entertainment, joking, “They should keep adding S‘s to the end of the word whirlwind.”
Days before Whirlwinds premiered in theaters, Powell seemed willing to leave the answer to that question up to moviegoers.
“That’s really up to the audience on a film like this,” he told Yahoo Entertainment. “If the audience proves there’s a hunger, then we have a great team of people who will always find a way to make a different story.”
The hunger is there, like Whirlwinds had the third-biggest opening weekend of the year, behind only Inside Out 2 And Dune: Part Two. And there’s definitely one more plot point left to discuss, should Daisy-Jones reprise her role as Kate, a brainy meteorologist, and Powell don a cowboy hat (and wet T-shirt) for another ride as Tyler, the reckless social media influencer. But actress Katy O’Brian, who plays Dani on Tyler’s tornado squad, felt pretty strongly when asked about the possibility of a new film.
“What would it be called?” O’Brian told Yahoo. “I always feel like if a movie is just really well done and doesn’t need a sequel, then we probably shouldn’t make it.”
O’Brian, however, seemed to already know the likely answer, Whirlwinds doing well at the box office: “I know people follow the money.”
Actor Brandon Perea, who plays Boone on Tyler’s team of extreme storm chasers, had an idea in case acclaimed director Lee Isaac Chung wanted to return for another film.
“What if we do a prequel?” Perea suggested. “I’d like to know more about the wranglers in a sense…how did Tyler and Boone meet?”
“[A prequel] would be cool,” O’Brian added. “I just feel like this movie was really complete.”
After a series of hits such as Top Gun: Maverick, Everyone but you, Hitman and now Whirlwinds, Powell has established himself as the movie star of the moment. If a sequel were to happen, he would probably be on board. The actor is at the top of studios’ wish lists, in part because of his business acumen in which projects to pursue and which not.
“Like with this movie, you have to go with your instincts, you know, it’s part science, part instinct, and I think the science aspect of this is the team around it,” Powell told Yahoo about the reason Whirlwinds was a yes for him. “You’ve got Daisy, you’ve got Lee Isaac Chung, [executive producer] Steven Spielberg… Then I think the instinct is that the world is craving this flavor.”
Powell continued: “I try, at this point career-wise, to trust my gut and my instincts and think, if I want to see this movie, I think other people want to see it, too. And I think that’s the gut feeling I go with.”
So you’re saying there’s a chance…
Whirlwinds is showing in cinemas everywhere.
