Twisters

Production company

Universal Pictures
Warner Bros. Pictures
Amblin Entertainment
The Kennedy/Marshall Company

Distributed by

North America:
Universal Pictures
International:
Warner Bros. Pictures

Release date(s)

July 8, 2024 (London Premiere); July 19, 2024 (U.S.)

Running time

122 minutes

Country

United States

Language

English

Budget

$200 million

Gross

$123,200,000

Chronology

Preceded by

Twister

Other

External links

Internet Movie Database
Wikipedia

Twisters, also commonly known as Twister 2, is an American epic disaster film produced by Universal Pictures, Warner Bros. Pictures and Amblin Entertainment. The sequel to Twister (1996), the film was produced by Frank Marshall and the screenplay was written by Mark L. Smith.

Twisters first premiered in London on July 8, 2024. It was then released by Warner Bros. Pictures on July 10, 2024 and by Universal Pictures in the United States on July 19, 2024.

Synopsis[]

A retired tornado-chaser and meteorologist is persuaded to return to Oklahoma to work with a new team and new technologies.

Cast & Characters[]

Plot Summary[]

Kate Carter works in Oklahoma with storm chasers Javi, Addy, Praveen, and her boyfriend, Jeb. Alongside a Dorothy V doppler, the team launches barrels of sodium polyacrylate beads into a tornado in hopes of reducing its intensity and securing funding for further research. However, the crew is caught in the middle as it grows into an EF5. Addy, Praveen, and Jeb are killed, while Kate and Javi survive.

Five years later, Kate now works for NOAA in New York City. She left Oklahoma after the tragic accident and rarely calls or goes home. Javi, her old teammate, is the co-founder of Storm Par, a company that researches tornados. Javi reaches out and invites Kate to rejoin storm chasing for a week to test new scanning technology in Oklahoma. Initially hesitant due to the traumatic event from five years earlier, Kate ultimately agrees after seeing news of recent tornado devastation.

She joins Javi in Oklahoma where she meets the rest of the Storm Par team, including Scott. Another storm chaser (and YouTuber) is also there- Tyler Owens and his team, in addition to a journalist, Ben, who is writing a story about storm chasing. Kate seems unimpressed by Tyler and his team who don't seem to take tornado research seriously.

The teams pursue a tornado at a wind farm. While Storm Par sets up their scanners, Kate experiences a PTSD episode and needs to unexpectedly drive away from the tornado, failing to help Javi with the last scanner. Javi is disappointed but understands. The team gears up for the next tornado, where they successfully deploy the scanners. However, one is destroyed by the storm. They manage to escape and go to assist in a nearby town's recovery efforts. Kate finds out that Tyler's team use their YouTube profits to help tornado victims. She also discovers that Storm Par investor Marshall Riggs is exploiting the disaster for profit by buying up land from locals for a low price after their homes are devastated.

Later, at a motel, Tyler invites Kate to a rodeo, where he reveals that he previously worked as a rodeo cowboy before becoming a meteorologist. An unexpected tornado hits. They try to help others and run to take shelter in an empty pool. They survive but several die. After the storm, Kate confronts Javi about Riggs and the true intentions of his investors but Javi snaps back at her. Kate walks away.

Kate decides to go back to her mother’s farm in Sapulpa. Tyler finds out where she is going and he shows up unexpectedly. He learns about her past research and persuades her to retry the tornado disruption experiment. They attempt the experiment with a passing tornado, but it fails. With new data from Javi, Kate adjusts the experiment. As another tornado forms near El Reno, Kate and Tyler's teams collaborate. Javi and Scott’s truck nearly gets overturned, but they escape with their lives. Scott tries to pressure Javi into continuing the mission for Riggs, but Javi leaves him to go help the people in El Reno.

In El Reno, Kate, Tyler, and their teams help evacuate residents to safety. However, Tyler gets trapped by debris but is rescued by Kate and Javi. They hide in a movie theater. Kate decides to drive straight into the tornado and successfully launches the solution from Tyler’s truck, dissipating the tornado. However, the truck she's in gets overturned- however she survives. The tornado damages the theater, but Tyler saves Lilly just as the tornado dissipates. The team celebrates their success and rescues Kate.

At the end of the film, Javi brings Kate to the airport. He promises her that more research will be done. Tyler eagerly hopes Kate will consider staying in Oklahoma, but she plans to return to New York. Tyler goes after Kate and an announcement comes on that flights are delayed due to strong winds. Kate and Tyler look at each other, smile, and walk out of the airport together.

Production[]

Development[]

In June 2020, it was announced that a new feature-film, this time a reboot to the original film was to be in active development with Joseph Kosinski in early negotiations to work as a director while Frank Marshall and Sara Scott would be producing the film.^[1] In June 2021, Helen Hunt expressed interest in working and developing on a sequel, around the time when the reboot was first revealed, stating that she could "barely get a meeting". Also, the studio rejected Hunt's plans for writing and directing the feature, mainly due to her own character being killed off for the sequel.

In October of 2022, it was officially announced that the feature-film will be repurposed into a legacy-sequel. It was also revealed that the title for the sequel would be Twisters, plus shortly after being presented upon its completion, Steven Spielberg personally angled to get the project fully green-lit. In December 2022, it was reported that Lee Isaac Chung was in the talks to direct the film.

On December 20, it was announced that the film would released in theaters on July 19, 2024.^[2] The project will be a joint-venture production between Universal Pictures, Amblin Entertainment, and Warner Bros. Pictures.^[3]^[4]