More than two decades after the cult disaster film “Twister”, its sequel is on the right track and its production should begin soon! A director is about to be appointed, and the studios are counting on a return of Helen Hunt in her role.
Twister26 years later
1996 was a big year for disaster movies with independence day and Twister. Two films that together topped this year’s worldwide box office, Twister accumulating nearly $500 million in revenue, behind the 817 million of Roland Emmerich’s film. Directed by Jan De Bont, Twister tells the story of Jo (Helen Hunt) and Bill Harding (Bill Paxton), a divorcing couple of meteorologists and “tornado chasers”. 27 years after seeing her father swept away by an F5 tornado (maximum power already measured for a tornado), Jo will have to face a new meteorological “monster”.
Twister was a huge success, financially and critically. Produced notably by Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, with a screenplay co-written by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin, his story as its unique special effects delighted the audience. 26 years later, while the development of a new film has started since 2020, the planets are finally aligned for the production of a sequel, titled Twisters. As revealed by DeadlineUniversal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment indeed hope start filming in spring 2023.
A shortlist of directors in negotiations
The director of Top Gun : Maverick, Joseph Kosinski, was attached to the project as a director from the earliest stages of development. But he withdrew from Twisters in June 2022 to support the film on Formula 1 with Brad Pitt, on the side of Apple. There is currently a director or director missing, but we should know his name very soon. Indeed, according to Deadline, Steven Spielberg was very convinced by the screenplay by Mark L. Smith (the Revenant) and insisted that the production of Twisters become a priority.
To take over from Joseph Kosinski, Dan Trachtenberg is one of the names mentioned. We owe him the recent and very successful film Preyas well as 10 Cloverfield Lane. On the television side, he directed an episode of Black Mirror in 2016 and an episode of The Boys in 2019.
Perhaps less well-known but terribly talented, documentary filmmakers Jimmy Chin and Elizabeth Chai Vaserhelyi, much noted for their Oscar-winning documentary in 2019 Free Solo.
Finally, very active in animation, Travis Knight is also in this shortlist. In particular, he made Kubo and the Magic Armor and, in real shots, Bumblebee. A few other filmmakers are also said to be in the running, but have not been named.
Helen Hunt back?
Another ongoing effort on the studio side: bring back actress Helen Hunt. This would resume for Twisters her role as Jo Harding in a storyline that would focus on the daughter she had with Bill. The continuity would be perfect and would also make it possible to tribute to actor Bill Paxtonsadly disappeared in 2017.
Finally, with the world going through a dramatic environmental crisis with unprecedented and increasingly frequent natural disasters, it is very likely that this sequel will take the side of a realism as spectacular as it is chilling. To be continued.
