In June 2020, a remake of Twister (1996) was announced to be in development from the original film's international distributor
Universal Pictures, with
Joseph Kosinski in early negotiations to serve as both writer and director.
Frank Marshall and Sara Scott were set to serve as producers on the project.[6] In June 2021,
Helen Hunt expressed interest in developing a sequel to the original film.[7] The studio rejected Hunt's plans to write and direct a sequel.[8]
In October 2022, Twisters was announced to be in the works with a script written by
Mark L. Smith, and produced by Marshall, while directors
Jimmy Chin and
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi,
Dan Trachtenberg, and
Travis Knight were in talks to helm the project; there was hope that Hunt would reprise her role, and it was reported that it would focus on the daughter of her and
Bill Paxton's characters.[9] The film incorporates
climate change into the plot. Smith explained: "That's one of the things that we kind of tapped, and it's true. I talked to so many storm experts, tornado experts, storm chasers, and rode around with some. Even the tornado season itself, because of climate change, what used to be tornado alley going through a certain stretch. It now extends so further east, and it's moving across, and the dates are wider, and the numbers are higher, and the storms themselves are more violent. So we did use elements of that just to shine a light on it, as well, the causes and effects of climate change".[10] In December,
Lee Isaac Chung was hired to direct.[11] The
standalone sequel is a joint-venture production between Universal Pictures,
Warner Bros. Pictures,
Amblin Entertainment, and
the Kennedy/Marshall Company, with Universal and Warner Bros. switching distribution positions with the former taking North America and the latter to foreign continents.[10][9][11]
On April 23, 2024, it was announced that
Benjamin Wallfisch would compose the film's score.[3]
Visual Effects
Industrial Light & Magic serves as the main visual effects vendor, as they did on Twister, with
Ben Snow as the overall visual effects supervisor.
Release
Twisters is scheduled to be released in theaters in the United States by Universal Pictures on July 19, 2024, and internationally by Warner Bros. Pictures.[22]