Everything We Know So Far About Twisters, The Long-Awaited Sequel To Twister
"Twister," one of the most successful disaster movies of all time, is finally getting a sequel set to release in 2024, more than twenty-five years after its debut in 1996 (per Deadline). Legacy sequels made long after the original entries are still going strong as ever, if the wild critical and financial achievements of "Top Gun: Maverick" weren't proof enough, so it was only a matter of time before the highest-grossing movie about a natural disaster got a chance to return to its former glory.
"Twister" was an epic, big-budget production from Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment and a joint venture from Universal Pictures and Warner Bros., the same bodies that will be producing the sequel entitled "Twisters." Frank Marshall, husband of Kathleen Kennedy (who co-produced the first entry) and co-founder of the Kennedy/Marshall Company, is also producing. The original film was written by "Jurassic Park" author Michael Crichton and directed by Jan de Bont of "Speed" fame, though the new film will bring on two new talents for those duties. Although the cultural impact of "Twister" seems like it didn't last long, the film was a huge hit when it was first released and inspired a theme park attraction at Universal Studios Florida and a touching GPS-coordinated tribute from storm chasers to star Bill Paxton upon the actor's death.
What is Twisters about?
For all its jaw-dropping, Oscar-nominated visual effects, the heart of "Twister" was a romance between storm chasers Bill "The Extreme" Harding, played by Bill Paxton, and Dr. Jo Harding, played by Helen Hunt. Even though the film begins with the two in the middle of a divorce, the couple learn to reignite their love and passion for each other through their shared obsession with tracking deadly tornadoes. Sadly, Paxton has since passed, but Hunt is returning to star in a story about their daughter, who unsurprisingly is following in her parents' footsteps to become a storm chaser herself.
Interestingly, there was a previously rejected pitch that Hunt shopped around revolving around a multi-racial cast of storm chasers. She claimed in an interview with Andy Cohen on "Watch What Happens Live" that she was planning on co-writing the script with Daveed Diggs and Rafael Casal, both of whom she works with on Starz's "Blindspotting" television series. But the studio rejected the idea, according to Hunt.
Who is working on Twisters?
Mark L. Smith, screenwriter of "The Revenant," has penned the script and reportedly received the excited approval from Spielberg. At first, it looked as if Joseph Kosinski, who already has deep experience in directing legacy sequels due to his work on "Tron: Legacy" and "Top Gun: Maverick," was going to translate Smith's story to screen. However, he decided to direct an Apple Studios-produced film about Formula One racing starring Brad Pitt instead, and Lee Isaac Chung is reportedly in talks to take over the role, according to Deadline.
The transition from the intimate indie exploration of the American dream that was "Minari" to a Hollywood spectacle is quite a leap, but Chung seems like he's an appropriate choice. The filmmaker experienced tornadoes first-hand while growing up in the rural Arkansas community that served as the inspiration for "Minari," and even hid in the type of storm cellars like the one that appears in the very first scene in the original "Twister." So "Twisters" seems to have assembled a solid roster of creative forces that should whip up a great new film.