It’s a truly hectic summer story.
After a lackluster April and May, the box office has bounced back thanks to blockbusters like Inside Out 2 and Wolverine & Deadpool. While those two films exceeded expectations (Inside Out 2 is currently the highest-grossing animated film of all time, and Wolverine & Deadpool just made $1 billion), the biggest surprise of the season may be Twisters.
There are no superheroes or Jedi warriors, just regular Americans showing up and doing their duty.
Like the titular tornado that Glen Powell and company chase, this disaster movie’s success seemed to come out of nowhere.
In retrospect, it’s no wonder audiences flocked to this long-delayed sequel to 1996’s “Twister.” A naive, thrilling blockbuster for all ages, with likeable movie stars playing likeable characters, nail-biting action scenes and a heartwarming story. Put your money on it.
But there’s another reason why it’s so beloved, and that’s a little factor I call “The Maverick Effect.”
Let me explain: Two summers ago, another sequel decades in the making, “Top Gun: Maverick,” was released and ticket sales soared.
Maverick has all the good things I admired about Twisters, but besides Glen Powell’s star power, there’s one little thing both films share: American pride.
The film is less overly patriotic than the over-the-top patriotism of classic ’80s films like “Rambo” and “Rocky IV,” and that’s part of its charm.
That said, both films are about real people doing real things and making them into epic films. Whether they’re flying jets at Mach 9 or chasing storms in remote Oklahoma farmland, these people are, at the end of the day, just doing their jobs.
Where they do those jobs matters, too: Maverick takes place at Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, home to the brave men and women who serve our country across the seas and skies, while Twisters takes place in the fictional Midwestern town of Wakita, Oklahoma. Both settings respectfully evoke the kind of hardworking American communities not often seen on the big screen.
There are no superheroes or Jedi warriors, just regular Americans trying to do their duty. Tom Cruise, who may hang off the side of an airplane or scale the world’s tallest building, has a similar workmanlike approach to his movie-star work, and it’s clearly been passed down to his protégé Powell. Like Cruise, the young star professes a desire to entertain “vast swaths of America that are underserved when it comes to the movies they want to see.”
Clearly, if you serve them, they will come. Hollywood isn’t known for learning the right lessons from success (or failure), but here’s hoping that the powers that be realize the Maverick Effect and its endless potential to bring American audiences back to movie theaters.
