Universal Pictures
The first trailer for Twisters debuted on Sunday night in front of millions. It’s a modern update on the 1996 film Twister that starred Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, and other legends like Cary Elwes Philip Seymour Hoffman.
Did they need to remake this iconic 1996 film that resonated so much with people in the 90s that Universal Studios actually turned it into the most awesome simulator of its era? Probably not. But that won’t stop me and millions of others from getting hyped for this.
Twisters hits theaters this July 19th and it’s technically neither a sequel or a remake. While it will stay true to much of the plot from the original, it’s a modern update according to the filmmakers.
The official tagline on IMDB is “An update to the 1996 film ‘Twister’, which centered on a pair of storm chasers who risk their lives in an attempt to test an experimental weather alert system.” What we don’t have, as of now, is a rundown of who plays what.
The Twisters trailer offers a glimpse of the main cast and we get a sense of Glen Powell playing the Bill Paxton role (maybe?) and Daisy Edgar-Jones playing the Helen Hunt role (maybe?) but beyond that, it’s unclear which characters the other big names in the cast will be playing and if they’ll be the same as in the original.
The Most Glaring Mistake From 1996’s ‘Twister’
Like the original film, it will be set in Oklahoma. Unlike the original film which shot scenes in Kansas, Iowa, and Texas and managed to include an entire sequence of Texas road signs while they were fleeing the tornado with the flying cow, it does appear there’s more attention to detail this time around as the only ‘sign’ comes in the from of a license plate on the truck which is the standard Oklahoma state license plate.
What we see on the truck is the Oklahoma license plate that shows a scissor-tailed flycatcher (bird) in white on a blue background.
We also see the ‘Dorothy’ tracker which releases flying pods into the tornado to track their movement, something that’s full of nostalgia and definitely cool to see included, but with modern tech it seems odd as drones can serve the same purpose. Yes, we also see a drone but it’s unclear which factors more into the plot.
As hyped as I am for this update on the classic film, I’m just as eager to see how much real-life storm footage was used in the making of Twisters or if they’ll rely 100% on CGI. Filming in Oklahoma, it’s very possible they could get some powerful scenery shots from previous tornado seasons.