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Grace Evans lived through one of the most\u00a0powerful and deadly twisters<\/a>\u00a0in Oklahoma history: a roaring top-of-the-scale terror in 2013 that plowed through homes, tore through a school and killed 24 people in the small suburb of Moore.<\/p>\n A hospital and bowling alley were also destroyed. But not the movie theater next door \u2014 where almost a decade later, Evans and her teenage daughter this week felt no pause buying two tickets to a showing of the blockbuster \u201cTwisters.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI was looking for that element of excitement and I guess drama and danger,\u201d Evans said.<\/p>\n Her daughter also walked out a fan. \u201cIt was very realistic. I was definitely frightened,\u201d said Charis Evans, 15.<\/p>\n The smash success of \u201cTwisters\u201d has whipped up moviegoers in Oklahoma who are embracing the summer hit, including in towns scarred by deadly real-life tornadoes. Even long before it hit theaters, Oklahoma officials had rolled out the red carpet for makers of the film, authorizing what is likely to wind up being millions of dollars in incentives\u00a0to film in the state<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 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 have been in the tornado-prone Midwest.<\/p>\n The top-performing theater in the country on opening weekend was the Regal Warren in Moore, which screened the film in 10 of its 17 auditoriums on opening weekend from 9 a.m. to midnight. John Stephens, the theater\u2019s general manager, said many moviegoers mentioned wanting to see the film in a theater that survived a massive tornado.<\/p>\n \u201cThe people who live in Tornado Alley have a certain defiance towards mother nature,\u201d he said, \u201calmost like a passion to fight storms, which was depicted by the characters in \u2018Twisters.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Lee Isaac Chung<\/a>, who directed the film, considered placing the movie in Oklahoma to be critically important.<\/p>\n \u201cI told everyone this is something that we have to do. We can\u2019t just have blue screens,\u201d\u00a0Chung told the AP<\/a>\u00a0earlier this year. \u201cWe\u2019ve got to be out there on the roads with our pickup trucks and in the green environments where this story actually takes place.\u201d<\/p>\n The film was shot at locations across Oklahoma, with the studio taking advantage of a rebate incentive in which the state directly reimburses production companies for up to 30% of qualifying expenditures, including labor.<\/p>\n State officials said the exact amount of money Oklahoma spent on \u201cTwisters\u201d is still being calculated. But the film is exactly the kind of blockbuster Sooner State policymakers envisioned when they increased the amount available for the program in 2021 from $8 million annually to $30 million, said Jeanette Stanton, director of Oklahoma\u2019s Film and Music Office.<\/p>\n Among the major films and television series that took advantage of\u00a0Oklahoma\u2019s film incentives<\/a>\u00a0in recent years were \u201cReagan\u201d ($6.1 million), \u201cKillers of the Flower Moon\u201d ($12.4 million), and the television shows \u201cReservoir Dogs\u201d ($13 million) and \u201cTulsa King\u201d ($14.1 million).<\/p>\n Stanton said she\u2019s not surprised by the success of \u201cTwisters,\u201d particularly in Oklahoma.<\/p>\n \u201cYou love seeing your state on the big screen, and I think for locals across the state, when they see that El Reno water tower falling down, they think: \u2018I know where that is!\u2019\u201d she said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s almost as if Oklahoma was a character in the film,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n In the northeast Oklahoma community of Barnsdall, where two people were killed and more than 80 homes were\u00a0destroyed by a tornado in May<\/a>, Mayor Johnny Kelley said he expects most residents will embrace the film.<\/p>\n \u201cSome will and some won\u2019t. Things affect people differently, you know?\u201d said Kelley, who is a firefighter in nearby Bartlesville. \u201cI really don\u2019t ever go to the movies or watch TV, but I might go see that one.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n