(Updated 4/08/2024)
There weren't always a wide array of TV shows about storm chasers and tornado experts. That programming niche developed in large part thanks to the success of the 1996 movie TWISTER, which featured Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton as an estranged couple whose dream of developing a storm warning system is close to fruition. But they have to get dangerously close to a tornado in order to test it — and that's where the thrills begin.
A sequel has been in development since the '90s, with the movie's possible path taking many, well, twists, along the way. Now TWISTERS has been filmed and is set for release in July. Here's everything you need to know about TWISTERS, including the first trailer.
The Twisters Release Date
Universal Pictures will release TWISTERS in movie theaters on July 19, 2024.
Watch the First Twisters Trailer
This trailer leans way in to the center of the storm. The look of TWISTERS is clearly tied to that of the original movie even if we don't know that the stories are connected by more than superficial ties. It's great to see Glen Powell's star power develop even further, too!
Who's in the Cast of Twisters?
TWISTERS stars Daisy Edgar-Jones (WHERE THE CRAWDADS SING) and Glen Powell (ANYONE BUT YOU, TOP GUN: MAVERICK) as two very different storm chasers. She retired from the game after a brush with death; he's a fame-chasing influencer whose reckless behavior props up his social-media image. Anthony Ramos (TRANSFORMERS: RISE OF THE BEASTS, IN THE HEIGHTS) plays a friend of Edgar-Jones's character who pulls her back into the storm-chasing life.
TWISTERS also features the new Superman, David Corenswet; TV on the Radio singer Tunde Adebimpe; and Brandon Perea, Daryl McCormack, Maura Tierney, Harry Hadden-Paton, Sasha Lane, Kiernan Shipka, Nik Dodani, and Katy O'Brian.
Is Twisters a Direct Sequel to Twister?
Right now, we don't know how connected this sequel is to the original movie. Right now it looks like a standalone sequel that carries forward the concept of the original movie without any character links.
There have been pitches for movies featuring characters who were the children of the characters played by Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton. Hunt even pitched a sequel where she would write and direct — and in which her character would be killed by a storm early in the movie. That's not what TWISTERS is, however.
Who Directed Twisters?
The director of TWISTERS is somewhat surprising: It's Lee Isaac Chung, who made the terrific movie MINARI.
That film was semi-autobiographical, and a relatively sedate family drama. That's not what we expect from TWISTERS, but what we can see in MINARI is that Chung has a great talent for creating memorable characters with quick bold strokes. He's also deft when it comes to creating memorable images even in the context of a small-scale drama — so we're looking forward to seeing what he does with the much more overwhelming circumstances of a movie like TWISTERS.
TWISTERS opens on July 19.
All images courtesy of Universal Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures.