Twister (1996)
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.
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Plot.
On a rural Oklahoma farm in 1969, young Jo Thornton and her family take shelter from a massive F5 tornado that closes in on their home; Jo watches her father die as he tries to hold down the shelter door, but gets sucked into the twister, and their farmhouse is completely destroyed. Twenty-seven years later, Jo is a meteorologist obsessed with tornadoes and leader of a rag-tag team of storm chasers. She is on the brink of divorce from retired storm chaser-turned-anchorman Bill “The Extreme” Harding. Bill travels to rural Oklahoma to get Jo to sign their divorce papers, also introducing his new fiancé, reproductive therapist Dr. 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 dangerously deployed in the damage path of a tornado.
Jo’s team rushes off to chase a developing storm, while Bill and Melissa are forced to pursue them when Jo packs the unsigned papers.
While getting a damaged tire replaced at a repair shop, he encounters Jonas Miller, a rival storm chaser, who has stolen his idea for a Dorothy-like device and plans to deploy his corporate-sponsored 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, eventually crashing it into a small bridge. They seek shelter under the 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.
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.
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