I am very much enjoying the return to a late-nineties-early-aughts-era style of movie promotions (like Dune: Part Two’s questionable-looking popcorn bucket), so I am excited to present to you what I have dubbed the Twisters Tube. According to a post shared on X (formerly Twitter) by Discussing Film, movie theaters will soon have booths you can step into that will simulate being inside a tornado, a promo for the upcoming film Twisters (a sort of sequel to the ‘90s cult classic, Twister).
There’s a lot to unpack here. First, I’m very curious how fast the wind actually blows in this thing. Depending upon their severity, which is measured on the Enhanced Fujita (EF) Scale based on estimated wind speeds and related damage, tornadoes can produce winds anywhere from 65 mph (an EF0) to over 200 mph (an EF5).
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I can’t imagine the Twisters Tube can pump out that kind of power, but I wanted to be certain, so I called up J&M Special Effects, a New York-based SFX company that has a ton of different fans available for rental. An employee told me over the phone that a 25HP electric wind machine can create winds of up to 45 mph at a five-foot difference, and 25 mph at a 10-foot distance. But you need “an enormous amount of energy to move air,” and he wasn’t all that confident that the Twisters Tubes can produce that much wind power.
Then, there’s the naturally hilarious reactions to the Twisters Tubes on social media. From people claiming that this is where they will go to use the bathroom during their next trip to the theater, to one person wondering if they’ll do a Dune one where you get pelted with sand, Twisters is already getting some great free promo from the internet. Here’s a few of my faves.
Lastly, there seems to be a collective cultural memory of these tubes existing at boardwalk arcades across America. My little sister swears we went into a similar one in Ocean City, Maryland, and one of the comments on the original post suggests there used to be one at Citywalk, which is likely referring to the open-air malls associated with Universal Studios theme parks. The commenter also suggests the tube was removed from Citywalk because it was, as you’d expect, a Petri dish for spreading covid-19, which is still very much a thing today.
I spoke to several arcade game distributors over the phone, including a company called simply Hurricane Simulator. Though none of the companies I spoke to were responsible for the Twisters Tubes, a representative for Hurricane Simulator told me that their machines can produce winds of “almost 79 mph” and that the machines are “turnkey,” which means they’re delivered fully built and ready to start blowing as soon as you plug them in. That means you can jump into a booth and experience all the power of an EF0 at your local movie theater this summer. I’ll see you there.