Twister (1996 film)

Twister is a 1996 American disaster film directed by Jan de Bont, and written 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, and Cary Elwes. Its plot follows a group of storm chasers trying to deploy a tornado research device during a severe outbreak in Oklahoma.

Twister premiered in Westwood on May 8 and was released in theaters on May 10, 1996, by Warner Bros. in the United States and Canada and internationally by Universal Pictures through United International Pictures. The film grossed over $499 million worldwide, becoming the second-highest-grossing film of 1996, and selling an estimated 54.7 million tickets in the United States. It received generally positive reviews from critics and Academy Award nominations for Best Visual Effects and Best Sound. It is also notable for being among the first films to be released on DVD in the United States. A standalone sequel, Twisters, was released in 2024.

On an Oklahoma farm in 1969, young Jo Thornton, her parents, and their dog Toby take shelter from an F5 tornado that destroys their farm and kills Jo's father. 27 years later, Jo is a tornado-obsessed meteorologist leading a team of storm chasers. Her estranged husband, Bill Harding, an ex-storm chaser turned television weatherman, travels to Oklahoma with his fiancée Melissa to obtain Jo's signature on their divorce papers.