As ‘Twister’ turns 30, Hollywood pines for its big box office glory days

There’s a scene in the movie “Twister” in which Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character, blasting hard rock music and driving a tricked-out, storm-chasing bus called “Barn Burner” toward a fast-forming funnel, hollers out: “It’s the wonder of nature, baby!”

This month marks 30 years since “Twister” pulled audiences into the cinematic “suck zone” (Hoffman’s character’s term for when a tornado, well, “sucks you up”). And for Hollywood, the movie was a wonder indeed, “sucking up any summer box-office dollars that are not tightly screwed down,” as former Times film critic Kenneth Turan wrote on its opening day, May 10, 1996.

“Twister” had what was then the biggest nonholiday weekend ever in May, showing in 2,414 theaters nationwide and grossing more than $41 million domestically on its opening weekend — about $87 million today, when adjusted for inflation.

Happy 30th to “Twister,” and rest in peace to the glory days of film production.

Hollywood’s struggles

Nowadays, a big opening weekend is a relief in Hollywood, which is in the midst of a production crisis.

Over the four-day Memorial Day weekend — traditionally the kickoff for the summer blockbuster season — the biggest earner was Disney’s “The Mandalorian and Grogu,” which pulled in an estimated $100 million in the U.S. and Canada, where it played in 4,300 theaters, according to the film performance tracker Box Office Mojo. Globally, it earned $163 million.

Its performance exceeded studio predictions but “stopped short of shattering expectations,” my colleagues Samantha Masunaga and Meg James reported. Its opening weekend was on par with the 2018 opening of “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” which, they wrote, was considered a disappointment.

“Still, as cinemas struggle to recover from pandemic-era shutdowns, a film that generates more than $100 million in its opening weekend is typically seen as a success,” they wrote.

Film shoot days have fallen nearly 50% in the Los Angeles region since 2019, according to reporting in The Times this month by Masunaga and Stacy Perman. Over the last four years, the local motion picture industry has lost some 57,000 jobs.

“The Mandalorian and Grogu,” which used state tax credits to film in California, is the first “Star Wars” movie to be made entirely in the Los Angeles area.

The town ‘Twister’ saved

“Twister” was filmed in my home state of Oklahoma, where its 30th anniversary celebration was big news.

Thousands of people came to the mid-May celebration in teensy Wakita, Okla. — population 300 or so — where much of the movie takes place.

Linda Wade, 76, runs the “Twister” The Movie Museum in downtown Wakita, which is filled with movie props and memorabilia and housed in a space that was used as an office by film crews. I spoke with Wade on a Tuesday afternoon this month, and she already had been visited that day by storm chasers from England, France, Germany, Ireland and Scotland.

Wade said Hollywood saved her little town.

In 1993, a storm with baseball-size hail wiped out the local wheat harvest, depressing incomes and leaving the town too poor to remove damaged buildings. Moviemakers used the abandoned, dilapidated structures as on-screen tornado debris, tore them down after filming wrapped up, then paid to restore old buildings and repave damaged roads.

Locals worked as extras and raved about the Hollywood catering, said Wade, who’s known as a real-life Aunt Meg (a beloved character in the movie). And everyone adored the lead actor, Bill Paxton, who liked to toss a football with Wakita kids between shoots.

“We’re in our third generation of fans,” Wade said. “The parents watched it. And their kids are watching it. And now their kids are watching it.”

‘Twister’ was a marketing juggernaut

Filmmakers timed its release for the tornado season in the Great Plains and Midwest, when local TV broadcasts regularly are interrupted by severe weather alerts and terrifying footage of actual tornadoes — the perfect tie-in to on-air chatter and newspaper write-ups about the film.

Among those in the theater audience in Stillwater, Okla., that summer of ‘96 was 8-year-old me. On June 4, I wrote in my little diary: “We went home, changed and took baths and went to see a movie called ‘TWISTER!’ It was exelent [sic]! … Then we drove home in a tornado watch!”

Today’s top stories

Near-catastrophe in O.C.

Mayor Karen Bass’ reelection fight

• Bass’ campaign has acknowledged she will be pushed into a runoff. She says she will ultimately win the race.
• Elected on a promise to tackle street homelessness, Bass now faces criticism that her Inside Safe program is too costly and not effective.

DOJ sues UCLA for the third time

• The Trump administration is suing UCLA again, saying it allowed an antisemitic environment against Jewish and Israeli students to fester.
• The complaint centers on a 2024 pro-Palestinian encampment and pro-Palestinian rallies through the current year.

What else is going on

Commentary and opinions

This morning’s must-read

Other must-reads

For your downtime

Beachgoers enjoy nice weather at El Matador State Beach in Malibu.

(Allen J. Schaben/Los Angeles Times)

Going out

Staying in

Question of the day: Memorial Day kicked off the unofficial start of summer. What’s your favorite summer beach getaway?

Email us at [email protected], and your response might appear in the newsletter this week.

And finally … the photo of the day

A drone image shows the proximity of homes to the storage tanks at the GKN Aerospace facility.

(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)

Today’s photo is from Times photographer Kayla Bartkowski in Garden Grove, where a chemical crisis highlights the danger of living near industrial companies.

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Hailey Branson-Potts, staff reporter
Hugo Martín, assistant editor, Fast Break desk
Kevinisha Walker, multiplatform editor
Andrew J. Campa, weekend writer
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to [email protected].