After filming wrapped in 1995, Warner Bros. told the Wakita, Oklahoma, to expect a few visitors. They haven’t stopped showing up yet.
John Wetter refers to himself as part of “ theTwistergeneration . ”
He ’s referring , of course , to the 1996 moving-picture show that exposed millions of Americans to the thrill — and the art — of violent storm chasing . The smash hit follow an underfunded tempest chasing squad led by Jo Harding ( Helen Hunt ) and her shortly - to - be x Bill Harding ( Bill Paxton ) as they pursue severe conditions on theGreat Plains . Backed by a remarkable roster of brook actors — including Philip Seymour Hoffman , Cary Elwes , and Alan Ruck — the team go wherever the weather takes them , driven by the desire for scientific discovery .
Wetter get down chasing storms in 1997 , and as the President of the United States of theSpotter internet , a non - net income that coordinates data from live pursuit , he tends to go wherever the weather condition takes him . But like many otherTwisterfans , he sometimes heads toward the tinyOklahomatown of Wakita — universe 307 . The farming community is an hour and a one-half from the nearest airport and 40 minutes west of the nearest interstate highway , but about 1,000 people each year take the roundabout way in tribute to their preferred ‘ XC picture . bedwetter , who know in suburbanMinneapolis , holler visiting Twister The Movie Museum — located in the town where the movie was filmed — a “ bucket list item ” for folks like him .
Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt in the iconic 1996 blockbuster ‘Twister’.|Getty Images/Hulton Archive
After filming wrapped in 1995 , production clothes designer Joseph C. Nemec III tell apart the little community to look a few sojourn from lover . That ’s when Linda Wade , who was then president of the local garden club , spring into action . “ We thought visitors might be a petty bit disappointed if they drove all this way and all they could see would be awater column , ” Wade say .
To remedy this , her club developed a walking tour that stopped at different motion-picture photography sites , the most famed being the lot that was once dwelling house to character Aunt Meg ’s sign . With the help of Nemec , they put together a small-scale museum in the edifice used for the studio apartment ’s location offices . It showcased rubble from the set and props from the film , including one of the measurement devices — aptly named Dorothy — used by pursuer in the picture . It also hosted a collection of early promotional materials and an exhibit of behind - the - prospect exposure that showed how the studio prepped Wakita for take the summer of 1995 .
The museum come together quickly and opened before the film was released . “They leave in August and we opened in September , ” Wade says , adding that admission has been barren since day one . The first wave of visitors mostly consisted of local anesthetic who were peculiar to learn about the film process . But pursuit grew when the picture show hit theaters in May 1996 , and thousands of annual visitors constellate to Wakita in the first few years . ( Several iconic motion-picture show come out the same twelvemonth asTwister , includingIndependence Day , Space Jam , Scream , andFargo . But none of them seems to have develop a alike fandom . )
Wakita is a town of about 300 people that’s about two hours north of Oklahoma City.|Discover Oklahoma
visitor amount for birthdays , day of remembrance , and honeymoon — but also as part of violent storm - chasing tours . troupe like violent storm Chasing Adventure Tours , ground out ofWichita , Kansas , also pop up to ride the undulation of the movie ’s winner . More tour party follow causa in the following year , including Oklahoma - based Extreme Tornado Tours , founded by meteorologist Reed Timmer of the reality showStorm Chasers . These tour of duty supply to brave holidaymaker who pay a few thousand dollars to join experient chasers in Hope of run across a crack cocaine . But when the weather is n’t inclement enough to warrant a following , many of these tours make full the down time with other activities — including trips to the museum . “ It ’s been good for the thriftiness , ” says Town Clerk Kathy Morrison of the production that came to Wakita more than 20 years ago . “ It brings a lot of visitor to town still after all these years . ”
She ’s right that interest has n’t fade in the ensuing decades . Wade says that over the retiring few week , she ’s had international visitor from France , the Netherlands , the UK , and Pakistan — some of whom are in the area hop to spot a crack . But for others , the museum is a worthy diaphragm in and of itself , even though Wakita itself has minimum overnight agreeableness for visitors . Besides the Twister Cafe ( no coition to the museum ) , which do Burger and breakfast , there ’s also a low grocery store and a brace of Airbnbs . on occasion , cast member from the film break by for a dose of nostalgia , too .
Wendle Josepher , who plays the apprentice violent storm chaser Haynes inTwister , was surprised by Wade ’s invitation to come to Wakita for the movie ’s 25th anniversary . But when Josepher finally made it to Wakita — first in 2021 , then again in 2022 — she was blow off by that same sense of camaraderie . “ Their Ithiel Town is so felicitous with theTwistermuseum , ” Josepher say .
Wakita is a town of about 300 people that’s about two hours north of Oklahoma City.|Discover Oklahoma
For these visit , she was unite by conscientious objector - asterisk Sean Whalen to sign autographs for lover . “ I was in tears the whole first prison term because so many hoi polloi came to the board and read , ‘ You Guy inhale me to study the weather , ’ ” Josepher says . child made her presents , families asked her to beg with them , and many citizenry — cleaning woman in particular — thanked her for introducing them to meteorology .
Meanwhile , Wade seem forward to welcoming visitor for their one-year celebration in September , which will admit a tempest - chaser car show with vehicle from the movie . Although she hop to retreat someday , she expects this twelvemonth ’s upshot to see a rush of interest due to the forthcoming sequelTwisters , which is set to come to theaters this July .
A lot has shift since the original film add up out , both in terms of the museum and in the world of storm spotting . The museum ’s centre artifact have remained the same , but Wade will now and then receive donations from collector — including a SEGATwisterpinball machine that was donated by Bill Paxton before his unexpected passing in 2017 , and a tornado simulator booth similar to those pose to be installed in some movie field this summertime as promotion forTwisters . Plus , these solar day , give chase is much more approachable , thanks to 5 G networks and apps like RadarScope . Although tornados may have been something to fear back in the quaint old times of 1996 , some newer chaser will even put themselves in the path of a rickety twister so as to make content .
Linda Wade wants to retire but an upcoming sequel to ‘Twister’ will surely bring more visitors to Wakita.|Photos courtesy of Linda Wade
“ It ’s more like an X - game character of a thing than it is about the love of nature and the power of the atmosphere , ” Wetter say .
Meanwhile , movie fandom is n’t quite the same as it used to be , either . The originalTwisterbanked almost $ 500 million worldwide — a telephone number delimitation unfathomable for anything other than superhero movies these day . Given the cinematic climate , it ’s undecipherable whether any continuation could potentially beat up the quasi - spiritual fantasticism that its forerunner inspired . ( When Bill Paxton died , Wetter organized a tribute by take in spotter write out Paxton ’s initial on the Spotter web GPS . )
For this part , Wetter , who plans to go seeTwisterson its opening night , is “ guardedly optimistic . ” It ’s not hard to guess why , given the original picture show played such a big part in his lifetime . He watches it about a dozen times a year , he say . While he does n’t expect the continuation to live up to that standard , he ’s uncoerced to give it a chance . “ That die hard caliber is stillTwister , ” Wetter say . “ That ’s what multitude identify with . ” No matter what the reception to the subsequence ends up being , the cult classic will proceed to bring fans back to Wakita — the original middle of the violent storm .
Tour companies catering to wealthy would-be storm chasers have popped up to capitalize on the film’s success.|Erik Burns
Some weather-heads call visiting Twister The Movie Museum—located in the town where the movie was filmed—a “bucket list item."|Discover Oklahoma
