Twister (1996 Film)

''Twister'' is a 1996 American epic disaster film directed by Jan de Bont from a screenplay by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin. It was produced by Crichton, Kathleen Kennedy and Ian Bryce, with Steven Spielberg, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, and Gerald R. Molen serving as executive producers. The film stars an ensemble cast that includes Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jami Gertz, Cary Elwes, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Alan Ruck, Todd Field, and Jeremy Davies as a group of amateur but spirited storm chasers trying to deploy a tornado research device during a severe outbreak in Oklahoma. ''Twister'' was officially released in theaters on May 10, 1996. It is notable for being the first film to be released on DVD in the United States.

''Twister'' grossed $495 million worldwide and became the second-highest-grossing film of 1996; it sold an estimated 54.7 million tickets in the U.S. It received generally positive reviews from critics, as some praised the visual effects and sound design, but others criticized the screenplay. The film received Academy Award nominations for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound, but lost both to '' Independence Day'' and '' The English Patient'' respectively.

Plot

On an Oklahoma farm in 1969, young Jo Thornton and her family take shelter from a massive F5 tornado that closes in on their home, ultimately destroying their farm and killing her father, who sacrifices himself trying to hold the storm cellar door down. Twenty-seven years later, Jo is a tornado-obsessed meteorologist and leader of a rag-tag team of storm chasers, but is on the brink of divorce with Bill Harding, an ex-storm chaser turned- weatherman. Bill travels to rural Oklahoma so Jo can sign their divorce papers, also bringing his new fiancé, reproductive therapist Melissa Reeves. Though Bill has no intention of staying, he discovers that Jo has created "Dorothy", a capsule-like device filled with weather sensors that he conceptualized but never saw realized. Dorothy would be revolutionary for tornado research but has to be deployed dangerously close to a tornado for it to work. Suddenly, Jo's team rushes off to chase a developing storm, forcing Bill and Melissa to pursue them when Jo packs the unsigned papers.

After stopping to repair a damaged tire, Bill encounters Jonas Miller, a rival storm chaser and former colleague of Bill's, who has stolen his idea for a Dorothy-like device and plans to deploy his version first to receive sole credit. Enraged, Bill agrees to give Jo one day for her team to successfully deploy Dorothy. As the team pursues a developing F1 tornado, Bill accidentally gets Jo's vehicle stuck in a ditch. They seek shelter under a wooden bridge as the tornado destroys the truck, along with one of the four Dorothy prototypes. With more storms developing, Bill uses his own truck, a Dodge Ram, and leads the team to pursue an intensifying F2 tornado. They encounter Jonas's team once again, but Bill uses his instinct to accurately predict a sudden change in the tornado's path. While driving across a bridge, they encounter two waterspouts that ambush their truck and thrash it about violently before dissipating. Bill and Jo are unscathed, though Melissa is traumatized.

The team talks Jo into visiting her aunt Meg's house in the nearby town of Wakita. Over steak and eggs, Bill explains Jo's childhood story to Melissa, while Meg infers Jo is still in love with Bill and advises her to stay with him. The team learns of a developing twister and they scramble to pursue it. Jo and Bill intercept the tornado, but it turns out to be a violent F3 with highly unpredictable movements, knocking over powerlines that crush Dorothy II. With the truck damaged, Bill forces them to retreat, but Jo has a mental breakdown over the failure and argues about her motivations, her past, and her father. Bill admits he still has feelings for her, not realizing that their entire conversation is overheard by Melissa through the CB radio.

That night, the crew repair their vehicles in a shop next to a drive-in screening of '' The Shining'', where Jo finally signs the divorce papers to assuage Bill's conflicted feelings. However, the surprise appearance of an F4 tornado forces the team to seek shelter under the garage. The tornado obliterates the theater, destroys two of the team's vehicles, and injures several people, before proceeding directly toward Wakita. Just as the team hurriedly scrambles to Wakita, Melissa gently breaks up with Bill and encourages him to reunite with Jo instead.

Wakita, having no warning of the oncoming tornado due to its tornado sirens, is left in ruins. Though her home is flattened, Meg is rescued with minor injuries and encourages Jo to continue her work so that future warnings will be more effective. With a record-breaking F5 tornado forecasted by the National Severe Storms Laboratory to form the next day, Bill and Jo are inspired by Meg's wind vanes to add aluminum "wings" to the last two Dorothy prototype sensors, making them more aerodynamic. The next day, the team pursue the correctly-predicted mile-wide F5 tornado. Their first attempt to deploy Dorothy fails when it is destroyed by an airborne tree. Meanwhile, Jonas attempts to deploy his device, ignoring Bill and Jo's warnings to stay away from the tornado. As a result, his driver Eddie is impaled by a transmitter tower and their vehicle is swept away, killing them both in a fiery explosion. With the last remaining Dorothy affixed to the truck's bed, the two sacrifice Bill's truck by driving it directly at the tornado, setting the cruise control, and jumping out. Dorothy is successfully deployed with immediate results. However, Jo and Bill are forced to outrun the tornado on foot after it shifts toward them. They hide in a nearby pump house and strap themselves to deep pipes, getting an incredible view of the F5's core as it passes over them. After the tornado dissipates, they celebrate their success with the rest of the crew and call off their divorce.

Cast

* Helen Hunt as Dr. Joanne "Jo" Harding, an eccentric meteorologist and storm-chaser. Before Hunt was cast, Laura Dern, Bridget Fonda and Kate Mulgrew were considered.
** Alexa Vega as Young Jo Thornton
* Bill Paxton as Dr. William "Bill/The Extreme" Harding, a former storm-chaser known for his bizarre "tornado whispering" methods, now a TV weather reporter. Before Paxton was cast, Tom Hanks was the original choice for the role, but had to drop out before allowing Paxton, his ''Apollo 13'' co-star, to land in the role. Other actors such as Michael Keaton, Kurt Russell, Mel Gibson, Kevin Costner, Dennis Quaid, John Travolta, Richard Gere, John Cusack, Nicolas Cage, Bruce Willis and Val Kilmer were all considered.
* Cary Elwes as Dr. Jonas Miller, a storm-chasing rival of Jo and Bill's who also leads a team of storm chasers. Before Elwes was cast, Alec Baldwin, Hugh Laurie, Christopher McDonald and Peter Greene were all considered.
* Jami Gertz as Dr. Melissa Reeves, a reproductive therapist and Bill's fiancée. Before Gertz was cast, Mira Sorvino was considered, but she refused to dye her hair brown for the part.
* Lois Smith as "Aunt Meg" Greene, Jo's loving aunt and mother figure to Jo's Team. She also has a golden retriever named Mose who joins the team after she is injured in the F4 Wakita tornado.
* Alan Ruck as Robert "Rabbit" Nurick, Jo's navigator.
* Philip Seymour Hoffman as Dustin "Dusty" Davis, an outgoing and excitable member of Jo's team who operates the team's mobile lab, nicknamed "Barn Burner." Before Hoffman was cast, Garth Brooks, Mark Cuban and Chris Farley were considered.
* Jeremy Davies as Brian Laurence, One of Jo's two photographers and has a timid personality.
* Todd Field as Tim "Beltzer" Lewis, Jo's Doppler radar operator, is similar to Dusty in that he can be equally excitable during tornado chases.
* Zach Grenier as Eddie, Jonas's right-hand man and driver.
* Nicholas Sadler as Kubrick
* Abraham Benrubi as Bubba, the Mobile Lab Driver
* Jake Busey as Mobile Lab Technician
* Scott Thomson as Jason "Preacher" Rowe, a member of Jo's team nicknamed "Preacher" due to his previous profession. One of Jo's two photographers.
* Sean Whalen as Allan Sanders, Rabbit's assistant navigator.
* Joey Slotnick as Joey, Jo's technical advisor.
* Wendle Josepher as Haynes, Beltzer's assistant radar operator.
* Gregory Sporleder as Willie
* Patrick Fischler as Flanders, The Communicator
* Ben Weber as Stanley
* Anthony Rapp as Tony, who communicates with Jonas via radio
* Eric LaRay Harvey as Eric
Richard Lineback and Rusty Schwimmer also appear at the beginning of the film as Mr. & Mrs. Thornton, Jo's parents. Three one-time Oklahoma City television meteorologists—Gary England, then-chief meteorologist at CBS- affiliated television station KWTV; Jeff Lazalier, then a weekend meteorologist at NBC-affiliated television station KFOR-TV; and Rick Mitchell, then-chief meteorologist at ABC-affiliated television station KOCO-TV—all appear as themselves within the movie's local television news reports. The opening scene in which England appears via archival footage provided by KWTV, takes place in 1969, when England was an oceanographer for New Orleans-based A.H. Glenn and Associates; he would not be hired by KWTV until October 1972. Additionally, the weather radio operator heard toward the beginning of the movie was voiced by Andy Wallace, then-chief meteorologist at ABC-affiliated television station KSWO-TV in Lawton.

Production

Writing and pre-production

''Twister'' was produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin Entertainment, with financial backing from Warner Bros. Pictures and Universal Pictures. In return, Warner Bros. was given the North American distribution rights, while Universal's joint venture distribution company United International Pictures (UIP) obtained international distribution rights. The original concept and 10-page tornado-chaser story were presented to Amblin Entertainment in 1992, written by Jeffrey Hilton under the title ''Catch the Wind''. Steven Spielberg was intrigued by the idea and presented the concept to writer Michael Crichton. Crichton and his wife, Anne-Marie Martin, were paid a reported $2.5 million to write the screenplay, which made ''Twister'' the single most expensive screenplay ever written at that time.

Spielberg himself was originally attached to direct the project, and directors such as James Cameron, John Badham, Tim Burton, and Robert Zemeckis were also in talks to helm the film before Jan de Bont signed on to ''Twister'' after leaving '' Godzilla'' due to creative differences. He recently had a huge hit after directing his first film, '' Speed'', which was released in 1994. The Dutch filmmaker's resume as a director of photography had included '' Die Hard'' and '' The Hunt for Red October''. Also, one of the main characters, Bill Harding, was set to be played by Tom Hanks, however, he dropped out of the film and would later work on '' That Thing You Do!'' as writer and director instead, saying that "an action movie wasn't what I wanted to do at that point in my career." While working on ''Apollo 13'', Hanks suggested the role to his co-star, Bill Paxton. He was hired based in part on the recommendation of his friend and frequent collaborator James Cameron, and De Bont liked that Paxton was actually experienced with Oklahoma. Meanwhile, Helen Hunt chose not to play Terry Carmichael in '' Broken Arrow'' and would instead play Jo Thornton-Harding after Laura Dern declined on playing that role.

Production

The production was plagued with problems: Joss Whedon was brought in to rewrite through the early spring of 1995. When Whedon contracted bronchitis, Steven Zaillian was brought in to work on script revisions. Whedon later returned and worked on revisions right through the start of shooting in May 1995, then left the project after he got married. Two weeks into production, Jeff Nathanson was flown to the set and worked on the script until principal photography ended. After the Oklahoma City bombing occurred on April 19, 1995, filming of ''Twister'' was suspended while the cast and crew worked with relief efforts.

There was a scene where Dusty was laughing heartily and leaning back, lifting one of his legs. The earliest cut of the film had a brief moment where his genitalia were visible. As a result, the CGI crew had to hastily augment the shot.

Filming was to originally take place in the United Kingdom and California, but De Bont insisted the film be shot on location in Oklahoma because he felt that Twister could be "the last great action movie not shot on a soundstage". Shooting commenced all over the state; several scenes, including the opening scene where the characters meet each other, as well as the first tornado chase in the Jeep pickup, were filmed in Fairfax and Ralston, Oklahoma. The scene at the automotive repair shop was filmed in Maysville and Norman. The waterspout scenes were filmed on Kaw Lake near Kaw City. The drive-in scene was filmed at a real drive-in theater in Guthrie, though some of the scene, such as Melissa's hotel room, was filmed in Stillwater near the Oklahoma State University campus. The films played at the drive-in theater were '' The Shining'' and '' Psycho'' as part of the Night of Horrors combo.

The real town of Wakita – serving as the hometown of Lois Smith's character, Meg, in the film – was used during filming, and a section of the older part of town was demolished for the scene showing the aftermath of the F4 tornado that devastates the town. This location was selected after scouts discovered leftover debris from a major hailstorm that occurred two years earlier in June 1993. Most of the residents signed up for extra materials and were paid $100 per day. Additional scenes and B-roll were filmed near Ponca City and Pauls Valley, among several other smaller farm towns across the state. However, due to changing seasons that massively transformed the look of Oklahoma's topography, filming was moved to Iowa. The climactic scene with the F5 tornado was almost entirely shot around Eldora, Iowa, with the cornfield the characters run through located near Ames. The "twister hill" scene was shot on 130th Street near the small town of Pilot Mound. Some additional footage was shot north of Pilot Mound, near the town of Dayton. After primary filming had wrapped, additional pick-up shots and reshoots, which included the opening scene and additional footage of the drive-in tornado, took place in Bolton, Ontario and Schomberg, Ontario.

Halfway through filming, both Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt were temporarily blinded by bright electronic lamps used to make the sky behind the two actors look dark and stormy. Paxton remembers that "these things literally sunburned our eyeballs. I got back to my room, I couldn't see". To solve the problem, a Plexiglas filter was placed in front of the beams. The actors took eye drops and wore special glasses for a few days to recuperate. After filming in a particularly unsanitary ditch (for the first tornado chase scene, in which Bill and Jo are forced to shelter from an approaching F1 tornado under a short bridge), Hunt and Paxton needed hepatitis shots. During the same sequence, Hunt repeatedly hit her head on a low wooden bridge, so exhausted from the demanding shoot that she stood up so quickly her head struck a beam. During one stunt in which Hunt opened the door of a vehicle speeding through a cornfield, she momentarily let go of the door and it struck her on the side of the head. Some sources claim she received a concussion in the incident. De Bont said, "I love Helen to death, but you know, she can be also a little bit clumsy". She responded, "Clumsy? The guy burned my retinas, but I'm clumsy ... I thought I was a good sport. I don't know ultimately if Jan chalks me up as that or not, but one would hope so".

Some crew members, feeling that De Bont was "out of control", left the production five weeks into filming. The camera crew led by Don Burgess claimed De Bont "didn't know what he wanted till he saw it. He would shoot one direction, with all the equipment behind the view of the camera, and then he'd want to shoot in the other direction right away and we'd have to move verythingand he'd get angry that we took too long ... and it was always everybody else's fault, never his". De Bont claims that they had to schedule at least three scenes every day because the weather changed so often, and "Don had trouble adjusting to that".

When De Bont knocked over a camera assistant in a fit of rage who missed a cue, Burgess and his crew walked off the set, much to the shock of the cast. They remained in place for one more week until Jack N. Green's crew agreed to replace them. Two days before principal filming ended, Green was injured when a hydraulic house set (used in the scene in which Jo and Bill rescue Meg and her dog, Mose, from her tornado-destroyed home in Wakita), designed to collapse on cue, was mistakenly activated with him inside it. A rigged ceiling hit him in the head and injured his back, requiring him to be hospitalized. De Bont took over as his own director of photography for the remaining shots.

Because overcast skies were not always available, De Bont had to shoot many of the film's tornado-chasing scenes in bright sunlight, requiring Industrial Light & Magic to more than double its original plan for 150 "digital sky-replacement" shots. Principal photography was originally given a deadline to allow Hunt to return to film the fourth season of her NBC sitcom ''Mad About You'', but when shooting ran over schedule, series creator and actor Paul Reiser agreed to delay the show's production for two-and-a-half weeks so ''Twister'' could finish filming. De Bont insisted on using multiple cameras, which led to the exposure of of film, compared to the usual maximum of . The tornadoes in the film were not real, but were instead computer-animated. To compose the sound effects of these twisters, De Bont had recorded a variety of combined sound effects, including lion roars, tiger growls, camel moans and jet engine wooshes. Other special effects that were animated with CGI included telephone poles, trees, trucks, tractors and whole houses. The crew used a Boeing 707 airplane engine and smaller fans to generate wind throughout the film. The flying cow was perhaps the most famous scene throughout the film. The CGI cow was originally a CGI zebra from the 1995 film ''Jumanji''. During the hailstorm scene after locating a particularly juicy storm cell on the radar, Beltzer says "That's no moon, it's a space station!", which is a reference to Obi-Wan Kenobi's quote from the first '' Star Wars'' movie, ''A New Hope''. Plus, the gasoline truck seen flying around the F5 tornado has the ''Benthic Petroleum'' label, bearing the same name of the company from '' The Abyss'', James Cameron's 1989 20th Century Fox film.

Post-production

De Bont claimed that ''Twister'' cost close to $70 million, of which $2–3 million went to the director. It was speculated that last-minute re-shoots in March and April 1996 (to clarify a scene about Jo as a child) and overtime requirements in post-production and at ILM, raised the budget to $90 million. During post-production of ''Twister'', Spielberg took over directing duties on '' Minority Report'' instead of '' The Haunting''. The film was set to be released on May 17. Warner Bros. eventually made the decision to push forward ''Twister''s release date to May 10 in order to avoid audience cannibalization with the release of Paramount's '' Mission: Impossible'' two weeks later. The premiere took place at the AMC Penn Square 10, then known as General Cinema Theatres at Penn Square Mall in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma a day prior. Jan de Bont, Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt were at the mall for interviews.

Prints of ''Twister'' came with a note from De Bont, suggesting that exhibitors play the film at a higher volume than normal for full effect.

Soundtrack

''Twister'' featured both a traditional orchestral film score by Mark Mancina, and a soundtrack of rock music singles, many of which were exclusive releases for the film. Both the soundtrack and the orchestral score featured an instrumental theme song ("Respect the Wind") composed and performed for the film by Alex and Eddie Van Halen. The film's music was released on CD and cassette tape formats.

Twister: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack

There is also some other music, such as Deep Purple's "Child in Time" (heard when the team takes the road at the beginning and the assistant maximises the volume in his truck). It's later in the scene mixed and beat synced with William Tell Overture.

The song queued up on a TV in Dusty's van is Eric Clapton's "Motherless Child".

Twister: Motion Picture Score

There are some orchestrated tracks that were in the film but were not released on the orchestral score, most notably the orchestrated intro to "Humans Being" from when Jo's team left Wakita to chase the Hailstorm Hill tornado. Other, lesser-known tracks omitted include an extended version of "Going Green" (when we first meet Jonas) and a short track from when the first tornado is initially spotted.

Twister: Expanded Archival Collection

In January 2017, La-La Land Records released a limited edition remastered and expanded album containing Mark Mancina's entire score plus four additional tracks.

Reception

Box office

''Twister'' opened on May 10, 1996, earning $41.1 million from 2,414 total theaters during its opening weekend, and ranked in the number one spot at the North American box office, taking the spot off of '' The Craft''. Upon its release, it topped ''The Birdcage'' to have the biggest 1996 opening. At that time, it had the sixth largest opening weekend of any movie, behind ''The Lion King'', '' Batman'', ''Batman Returns'', ''Jurassic Park'' and ''Batman Forever''. Moreover, the film had the largest May opening weekend, dethroning ''Lethal Weapon 3'' and '' The Flintstones''. The success of ''Twister'' helped the blockbusters of May officially begin the summer season. It would follow similar openings of '' Deep Impact'' in 1998 and ''The Mummy'' in 1999. Two years later in 2001, ''The Mummy Returns'' set a new precedent for the frame by unleashing an opening weekend of $68.1 million. Then in 2002, '' Spider-Man'' took the summer starter films to the next level with its $114.8 million opening weekend.

During its second weekend, ''Twister'' managed to dominate '' Flipper'' with an additional $38.5 million. The film would suffer a 10% second weekend drop, making it the smallest decline for a non-holiday film. For 15 years, ''Twister'' would achieve that record until it was surpassed by DreamWorks' '' Puss in Boots'' in 2011. By May 21, it reached the $100 million mark. Not too long after, the number one spot was taken by '' Mission: Impossible'', putting ''Twister'' into second place. Like its predecessor, the film would also have the largest May opening weekend. It would go on to hold this record until 1997 when it was taken by '' The Lost World: Jurassic Park''. As for ''Twister'', it would continue to stay in second place while beating out '' Dragonheart''. When '' The Rock'' was released that June, the film was put into third place. It would then approach $200 million by June 19. ''Twister'' plunged into fifth place shortly after the releases of ''The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' and '' Eraser''. After '' Independence Day'' was released in July, the film crossed over '' Ghostbusters'' to become the thirteenth-highest domestic grossing film of all time. It would continue to dominate the box office, especially during the Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia.

After twelve weeks of release, the film earned $231.3 million. By this point, it had become twelfth-highest domestic grosser, surpassing '' The Empire Strikes Back''. ''Twister'' went on to earn a total of $241.7 million at the North American box office, and a worldwide total of $494.5 million during its theatrical run. It became the second-highest-grossing film of 1996, behind ''Independence Day'', and was the tenth-highest-grossing film in history at the time of its release, making it the most successful Warner Bros. film release, surpassing ''Batman''. In 2001, ''Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone'' took ''Twister''s record for becoming the highest-grossing Warner Bros. film of all time. The A-level disaster movie right before Hollywood went all-in for a few years to offer the likes of ''Independence Day'', '' Dante's Peak'', '' Volcano'', '' Titanic'' (which also starred Paxton), ''Deep Impact'', ''Armageddon'', ''The Core'', ''The Day After Tomorrow'' and '' War of the Worlds''. As of 2020, ''Twister'' ranks at #76 among the highest-grossing North American movie releases of all-time; worldwide, it places #105 on the all-time earners list, not adjusted for inflation.

Critical response

''Twister'' received generally positive reviews, with many critics praising the jaw-dropping special effects that brought the storms to life. On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 63% "Fresh" based on 70 reviews, and an average rating of 6.1/10. The site's critics consensus read: "A high-concept blockbuster that emphasizes special effects over three-dimensional characters, ''Twister''s visceral thrills are often offset by the film's generic plot." On Metacritic the film had a weighted average score of 68 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert gave the film two-and-a-half stars out of four and wrote, "You want loud, dumb, skillful, escapist entertainment? ''Twister'' works. You want to think? Think twice about seeing it". In her review for '' The New York Times'', Janet Maslin wrote, "Somehow ''Twister'' stays as uptempo and exuberant as a roller-coaster ride, neatly avoiding the idea of real danger". '' Entertainment Weekly'' gave the film a "B" rating and Lisa Schwarzbaum wrote, "Yet the images that linger longest in my memory are those of windswept livestock. And that, in a teacup, sums up everything that's right, and wrong, about this appealingly noisy but ultimately flyaway first blockbuster of summer". In his review for the '' Los Angeles Times'', Kenneth Turan wrote, "But the ringmaster of this circus, the man without whom nothing would be possible, is director De Bont, who now must be considered Hollywood's top action specialist. An expert in making audiences squirm and twist, at making us feel the rush of experience right along with the actors, De Bont choreographs action and suspense so beautifully he makes it seem like a snap." '' Time'' magazine's Richard Schickel wrote, "when action is never shown to have deadly or pitiable consequences, it tends toward abstraction. Pretty soon you're not tornado watching, you're special-effects watching". In his review for the '' Washington Post'' Desson Howe wrote, "it's a triumph of technology over storytelling and the actors' craft. Characters exist merely to tell a couple of jokes, cower in fear of downdrafts and otherwise kill time between tornadoes".

Awards

Release

Home media

''Twister'' was released on LaserDisc and VHS by Warner Home Video on October 1, 1996. The VHS release contains a '' Space Jam'' trailer, as well as a '' Looney Tunes'' cartoon with Bugs Bunny and Taz. As soon as the film finishes, there is a message by Federal Emergency Management Agency with James Lee Witt. By November 1996, it topped the number one spot in ''Billboard''s top sales. However, that spot was soon taken by '' Toy Story'', which put ''Twister'' into third place. The film was released on DVD on March 26, 1997. It is considered to be the first home release of a movie to use this now widely-used optical media technology. This is also the first THX certified DVD release. The viewer is given the option of viewing the film in widescreen on one side of the disc and pan and scan full screen on the other side. The DVD release occurred eleven days before ''Twister'' made its pay-cable debut on HBO on April 5, deviating from the then-standard film release "window" that normally placed a four- to six-month gap between a movie's initial home video release—which typically overlapped with its pay-per-view availability period—and premium cable distribution window. ''Twister'' was then released on VHS by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment through CIC Video in the UK on March 10, 1997 and July 14, 1997.

The film was released on DVD once again on June 6, 2000. Eight years later on May 6, 2008, a two-disc special edition DVD and Blu-ray were released. An HD DVD was then released on May 27, becoming one of the last HD DVDs to be ever released.

Legacy

On May 24, 1996, a tornado destroyed Screen No. 3 at the Can-View Drive-In, a drive-in theater in Thorold, Ontario, which was scheduled to show ''Twister'' later that evening, in a real-life parallel to a scene in the film in which a tornado destroys a drive-in during a showing of the film '' The Shining''. The facts of this incident were exaggerated into an urban legend that the theater was actually playing ''Twister'' during the tornado.Commentary at Snopes.co

On May 10, 2010, a tornado struck Fairfax, Oklahoma, destroying the farmhouse where numerous scenes in ''Twister'' were shot. J. Berry Harrison, the owner of the home and a former Oklahoma state senator, commented that the tornado appeared eerily similar to the fictitious one in the film. He had lived in the home since 1978.

Bill Paxton would later narrate storm chaser Sean Casey's 2011 documentary ''Tornado Alley''. After the death of Paxton in February 2017, hundreds of storm chasers and users of the Spotter Network used their markers to spell out his initials across the states of Texas, Kansas and Oklahoma in tribute to the actor, citing that the movie was the inspiration for many of them to pursue storm-chasing and meteorology.

A ''Twister'' museum located in Wakita, Oklahoma, where much of the particularly destructive scenes of the movie were shot, contains various memorabilia and artifacts related to the film.

On May 15, 2021, a 25th anniversary party was held in Wakita. Many events included a car show, a "look like a star" contest and several kids games. The lunch break included walking tacos at the Citizens by Community Health Center, sloppy joe sandwiches at Wakita Foodland and hamburgers at the Gazebo. There were several other snacks, such as beef jerky, cinnamon rolls, ice cream, popcorn and snow cones. A week later, the Rodeo Cinema in Oklahoma City played ''Twister'' on May 22 during the evening.

In other media

Pinball

On April 3, 1996, Sega Pinball released Twister, a pinball machine themed to the same name of the film. It features modes including Canister Multiball, Chase Multiball, Multibull and more.

Theme park attraction

The film was used as the basis for the attraction ''Twister...Ride It Out'' at Universal Studios Florida, which features filmed introductions by Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt. The attraction opened on May 4, 1998 and closed on November 1, 2015 to make way for ''Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon''. In the windows of the New York facade lies a tribute to Twister...Ride it Out with references to the film and Bill Paxton.

Book tie-in

The original screenplay, written by Crichton and then-wife Anne Marie Martin, was released as a mass-market paperback in conjunction with the film.

Video games

The story of Bill's drunken encounter with a tornado is referenced in '' The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim - Dragonborn'' downloadable content when asking the bartender of the Retching Netch in Raven Rock, Geldis Sadri, about how the inn got its name. He explains about a Dark Elf (Dunmer) that was one of his regular customers and very drunk, and naked, offering his drink to a , before tossing the bottle at the . The apparently caught and swallowed some of the alcohol as the bottle never hit the ground, but this caused the to become intoxicated itself, floating crookedly, and this resulted in it throwing up due to the drink making it very sick, releasing a very foul stench from its maw.

Sequel

In June 2020, a remake was announced to be in development from the original film's international distributor Universal Pictures, with Joseph Kosinski in early negotiations to serve as director. Frank Marshall and Sara Scott were set to serve as producers on the project. In June 2021, Helen Hunt expressed interest in developing a sequel to the original film. The studio rejected Hunt's plans for writing and directing it, due to her character being killed off for the sequel. In October 2022, it was announced that the project will be repurposed into a legacy-sequel. Officially titled ''Twisters'', the script was written by Mark L. Smith with a plot that revolves around Hunt's Dr. Joanne "Jo" Harding character, and the daughter that she had with Dr. William "Bill The Extreme" Harding (portrayed by Bill Paxton), who has also become a storm chaser like her parents. After Steven Spielberg read the script, his enthusiasm contributed to getting the project green-lit. The project will be a joint-venture production between Universal, Amblin, and Warner Bros. Pictures. Lee Isaac Chung was in talks to direct the film with Marshall producing through The Kennedy/Marshall Company banner. The film is set to be released on July 19, 2024.

See also

* ''Night of the Twisters'': A 1996 telemovie based on the 1984 novel of the same name by Ivy Ruckman
* '' Into the Storm'': A film released in 2014, with a similar film plot to ''Twister''.
* 1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak
* TOtable Tornado Observatory: A device used to monitor tornadoes in the 80's that was the inspiration for Dorothy 1-4.

References

External links

*
*
*

{{DEFAULTSORT:Twister
1996 films
1996 drama films
1996 action thriller films
1990s disaster films
1990s road movies
Amblin Entertainment films
American action thriller films
American disaster films
American road movies
BAFTA winners (films)
Films about tornadoes
Films set in 1969
Films set in 1996
Films set in Oklahoma
Films shot in Iowa
Films shot in Kansas
Films shot in Oklahoma
Films directed by Jan de Bont
Films produced by Kathleen Kennedy
Films scored by Mark Mancina
Films with screenplays by Michael Crichton
Films with screenplays by Joss Whedon
Golden Raspberry Award winning films
Universal Pictures films
Warner Bros. films
Films produced by Ian Bryce
1990s English-language films
1990s American films