Tornado Alley is an explosive giant-screen adventure that takes viewers on an epic chase through the “severe weather capital of the world” and it arrives exclusively on the enormous 15/70 IMAX Theatre at Palisades Center screen on August 24 and will be available for general audiences and school trips through December 2012.
Narrated by Bill Paxton (Twister, Titanic), the film follows Storm Chasers star Sean Casey and the scientists of VORTEX2, the largest tornado-research project ever assembled, on separate missions to encounter one of Earth’s most awe-inspiring events—the birth of a tornado. Whirling above the human drama are the storms themselves, magnificent forces of nature revealed in breathtaking detail through the magic of the giant screen, making this heart-pounding film one of the most eagerly anticipated IMAX® releases of the decade.
Filmed across America’s Plains states where three quarters of the world’s tornadoes occur, Tornado Alley follows veteran storm chasers on two unprecedented missions. Carrying a ninety-two-pound IMAX camera that belonged to his father, filmmaker Sean Casey and his crew race after storms in TIV-2, a seven-ton armored “tornado intercept vehicle” engineered and built by Casey to withstand the impact of the gale force winds at a tornado’s core. The goal that drives Casey into relentless supercell storms? To navigate the TIV-2 directly into the heart of a tornado and capture its beauty and destructive power on film—at point blank range. The overall goal of the film is to better predict where and when tornadoes will strike, and to provide warnings that give those at risk a few more minutes to protect themselves and their families.
Tornado Alley is a production of Giant Screen Films and Graphic Films. The film is directed by Sean Casey and co-written by Sean Casey and Paul Novros. Major funding has been provided by the National Science Foundation, with additional support from the Giant Dome Theater Consortium.
ABOUT IMAX THEATRE AT PALISADES CENTER
The IMAX Theatre at Palisades Center is home to the largest movie screen in the Rockland/Bergen area and features the incredible sharp detail that can only be provided by 1570 format film. The IMAX Theatre at Palisades Center has the capacity to display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems bringing movies to life in a way that is simply not possible in many movie theatres. Add to that the spectacular 3D images created by IMAX and you have a movie experience unlike any other. For last minute news and information, people are encouraged to sign up to follow IMAX on Twitter by visiting www.twitter.com/imaxpalisades and on Facebook. IMAX Theatre at Palisades Center is located on the top floor in the Palisades Center Mall in West Nyack near Target. For information on tickets and showtimes, visit www.imax.com/palisades.
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TORNADO FACTS
- Tornadoes have occurred on every continent, except for Antarctica.
- About 1,000 tornadoes hit the United States every year.
- Most of these touch down in America’s Plains states, an area known as Tornado Alley, which is generally considered to be Oklahoma, Kansas, the Texas Panhandle, Nebraska, eastern South Dakota, and eastern Colorado. Tornadoes, however, can occur almost anywhere in the United States, including west of the Rockies and east of the Appalachians.
- Current tornado warnings have a 13-minute average lead time and a 70% false alarm rate.
- Tornadoes have been known to destroy houses, but leave light objects like plates, glasses, lamps, and even paper undisturbed on tables.
- They have also been known to pluck the feathers from chickens.
- Tornadoes can last from several seconds to more than an hour. Most last less than 10 minutes.
- The deadliest tornado in American history was invisible. In 1925, the Tri-State Tornado ravaged a mile-wide path for 220 miles across Missouri, Illinois, and Indiana at 60 to 70 mph—twice the forward speed of the average tornado. It lacked the classic funnel cloud, but the damage was catastrophic: nearly 2,000 people were injured, property losses totaled more than $16 million, and over 700 people died. This event also holds the known record for most tornado fatalities in a single city or town: at least 234 in Murphysboro, Illinois.
