Universal Plans ‘Twister’ Reboot
It is, once again, headed right for us.
Variety reports that one of the biggest movies of the ’90s is now up for rebootification. That would be Twister, the 1996 thriller about Helen Hunt and the late Bill Paxton as a pair of storm chasers trying to understand the science behind tornados.
Despite the fact that neither Hunt nor Paxton were huge stars at the time, and despite the fact that the movie was based on nothing more than the notion that tornados look cool (and could be portrayed onscreen better than they ever had in the past thanks to digital effects), Twister became a massive blockbuster. It was the second-highest grossing film of 1996 behind only Independence Day. It made more money than the first Mission: Impossible, The Rock, and Jerry Maguire. It even got its own (somewhat hilarious) Universal Studios theme park attraction for a time.
Now it’s getting a reboot, with Top Gun: Maverick’s Joseph Kosinski “in negotiations” to direct it:
Frank Marshall will produce the pic and the studio is currently meeting with writers to pen the script. Plot details are vague on this latest version, but the original film starred Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt, who play storm chasers and a couple on the brink of divorce. They team up to chase tornadoes in order to deliver their advance weather alert system that has to be placed in the path of the Twister.
Paxton passed away in 2017. But Helen Hunt’s still around, and so is original Twister director Jan de Bont. What’s he up to these days?
Gallery — Reboots That Are Also Sequels: