MOORE, Okla. — Grace Evans made one of the most powerful and deadly tornadoes in Oklahoma history: a rampaging, top-tier terrorist attack in 2013 that destroyed homes and a school and killed 24 people in the small suburb of Moore.
A hospital and a bowling alley were also destroyed. But not the movie theater next door — where Evans and her teenage daughter, nearly a decade later this week, had no hesitation in buying two tickets to a screening of the blockbuster “Twisters.”
“I was looking for that element of excitement and I think drama and danger,” Evans said.
Her daughter also walked out as a fan. “It was very realistic. I was definitely scared,” said Charis Evans, 15.
The runaway success of “Twisters” has galvanized Oklahoma moviegoers who are embracing the summer hit, even in cities scarred by deadly real-life tornadoes. Even before the film hit theaters, Oklahoma authorities had rolled out the red carpet for the film’s makers, approving what will likely be millions of dollars in incentives filming in the state.
In its opening weekend, the action film starring Daisy Edgar-Jones and Glen Powell grossed $80.5 million from more than 4,150 theaters across North America, with some of the biggest draws in the tornado-ravaged Midwest.
The best-performing theater in the country on opening weekend was the Regal Warren in Moore, which showed the film in 10 of its 17 auditoriums from 9 a.m. to midnight on opening weekend. John Stephens, the theater’s general manager, said many moviegoers expressed a desire to see the film in a theater that had survived a massive tornado.
“The people who live in Tornado Alley have a certain resentment toward Mother Nature,” he said, “almost like a passion for fighting storms, which was portrayed by the characters in ‘Twisters.’”
Lee Isaac Chungwho directed the film felt it was crucial that the film be set in Oklahoma.
“I’ve told everyone that this is something we have to do. We can’t just have blue screens,” Chung told the AP earlier this year. “We need to be on the road with our pickup trucks and in the green spaces where this story takes place.”
The film was shot on locations throughout Oklahoma, with the studio taking advantage of a rebate program in which the state directly reimburses production companies for 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 major films and television series that have used this Oklahoma Film Incentives in recent years were “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’s not 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 collapse, 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, two people were killed and more than 80 homes were destroyed. destroyed by a tornado in MayMayor Johnny Kelley 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 don’t really go to the movies or watch TV, but I might go see that movie.”
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Follow Sean Murphy on www.x.com/apseanmurphy