MOORE, Okla.– Grace Evans experienced one of the most powerful and deadly twisters in Oklahoma history: a top-notch roar of terror in 2013 that tore through homes, destroyed a school and killed 24 people in the small suburb of Moore.
A hospital and a bowling alley were also destroyed. But not the cinema next door – where almost a decade later, Evans and her teenage daughter had no hesitation this week in buying two tickets for a screening of the blockbuster ‘Twisters’.
“I was looking for that element of excitement and I guess drama and danger,” said Evans.
Her daughter also walked out with a fan. “It was very realistic. I was absolutely scared,” said Charis Evans, 15.
The runaway success of “Twisters” has moviegoers in Oklahoma eager to embrace the summer hit, even in cities scarred by deadly real-life tornadoes. Even long before the film hit theaters, Oklahoma officials had rolled out the red carpet for the film’s makers, authorizing what would likely bring millions of dollars in incentives to film in the state.
During its opening weekend, the action-packed film starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell generated $80.5 million from more than 4,150 theaters in North America. Some of the largest audiences were in the tornado-prone Midwest.
The nation’s top-performing theater during its opening weekend was Regal Warren in Moore, where the film was shown in 10 of its 17 screens during its opening weekend from 9 a.m. to midnight. John Stephens, general manager of the theater, said many moviegoers said they wanted to see the movie in a theater that had survived a massive tornado.
“The people who live in Tornado Alley have a certain resistance to Mother Nature,” he said, “almost like a passion to fight storms, which was depicted by the characters in ‘Twisters.’”
Lee Isaac Chung, who directed the film, felt it was crucial to set the film in Oklahoma.
“I told everyone this is something we have to do. We can’t just have blue screens,” Chung told the AP earlier this year. “We have to take our pick-up trucks on the road and into the green environment where this story actually takes place.”
The film was shot on locations in Oklahoma, with the studio taking advantage of a rebate where the state directly reimburses production companies up to 30% of eligible expenses, including labor.
State officials said the exact amount Oklahoma spent on “Twisters” is still being calculated. But the film is exactly the kind of blockbuster that Sooner State policymakers envisioned when they increased the amount available for the program from $8 million a year to $30 million in 2021, said Jeanette Stanton, director of Oklahoma’s Film and Music Office.
Among the top films and television series to benefit from Oklahoma’s film incentives in recent years are “Reagan” ($6.1 million), “Killers of the Flower Moon” ($12.4 million) and the television shows “Reservoir Dogs” ( $13 million). and “Tulsa King” ($14.1 million).
Stanton said she isn’t surprised by the success of “Twisters,” especially in Oklahoma.
“You love seeing your state on the big screen, and I think locals across the state, when they see the El Reno Water Tower fall, they think, ‘I know where that is!’” she said.
“It’s almost like Oklahoma is a character in the movie,” she added.
In the northeastern Oklahoma community of Barnsdall, where two people were killed and more than 80 homes were destroyed by a tornado in May, Mayor Johnny Kelley said he expects most residents will embrace the film.
“Some do and some don’t. Things affect people differently, you know? said Kelley, a firefighter in nearby Bartlesville. “I never really go to the movies or watch TV, but maybe I will.”
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Follow Sean Murphy at www.x.com/apseanmurphy
