Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday night out of Las Vegas brought more than just excitement for 49ers and Chiefs fans: Universal Pictures debuted the first footage from Lee Isaac Chung‘s “Twisters” during the big game. Check it out below.
The Golden Globe-winning director’s first film since “Minari” serves as a follow-up to Jan de Bont’s 1996 original blockbuster about storm chasers in Oklahoma, led by Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt. “Twisters” is written by Mark L. Smith, the scribe behind “The Revenant” (with Alejandro G. Iñárritu) and director George Clooney’s Netflix sci-fi “The Midnight Sky.” Chung’s film stars Daisy Edgar-Jones, Glen Powell, and Anthony Ramos, with Universal releasing the picture on July 19, 2024 in the United States.
Plans for a “Twisters” follow-up have been in the works for half a decade, with Helen Hunt pitching a sequel about a diverse set of storm chasers that she said the studio rejected. Hunt’s “Blindspotting” co-star Daveed Diggs was said to be co-writing the film with her, but later said it was turned down because the “industry is shady” despite attempts to get a meeting.
Brandon Perea, Daryl McCormack, Maura Tierney, Sasha Lane, Kiernan Shipka, and David Corenswet are also on the cast list for “Twisters.” Shooting commenced around Oklahoma City in May 2023 but halted in July due to the SAG-AFTRA strike. Production resumed and concluded beginning November 2023.
The original film was the coup de box office in summer 1996, beating even Brian De Palma’s “Mission: Impossible” franchise launcher starring Tom Cruise. Looking back, “Twister” remains one of the few of the 1990s to gross more than $500 million as an original standalone, with no sequel, franchise, or remake (until now), or pre-existing IP. Adjusted, Warner Bros. co-financed “Twister” with Universal for $190 million. The budget for “Twisters,” being released internationally by Warner Bros., lands around the same. The film is not said to be a full-blooded continuation of the first film, but rather an extension with characters touching upon the original’s universe. Chung’s iteration will also surely deal more directly with climate change than de Bont’s 1996 action adventure thriller.
Watch the first footage from “Twisters” below.
