Lee Isaac Chung Up to Direct Twister Sequel

Oscar-nominated director Lee Isaac Chung is in talks to direct Twisters, a sequel to the 1996 disaster movie. Deadline reports Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment are in discussions with Lee Isaac Chung to helm the Twister sequel from a script by Mark L. Smith. Frank Marshall is also attached to produce through his Kennedy/Marshall studio. Chung is mainly known for directing 2020’s Minari, the A24 Oscar-nominated drama starring Steven Yeun, Yeri Han, Alan Kim, Noel Kate Cho, Scott Haze, Yuh-Jung Youn, and Will Patton. 

Lee Isaac Chung’s background of growing up on a rural Arkansas farm reportedly played a role in executives narrowing in on his pitch. After Chung reportedly met in person with executives last week, he rose to the top of the directorial wish list. Back in 2020 talks emerged that a reboot of Twister was being developed by TRON: Legacy and Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski, but now it appears Lee Isaac Chung will be directing the flick.

Will Helen Hunt Return for Twisters?

At this time, insiders claim no stars are currently attached to Twisters. The first film starred the late Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt, and there are reports Universal would love to bring Helen Hunt back and have her character’s daughter be one of the main protagonists. The idea would be the daughter of Hunt and Paxton would begin chasing storms just like her parents, continuing the tradition and keeping the franchise alive.

The original Twister was co-written by Michael Crichton and produced by Kathleen Kennedy – it was directed by Jan de Bont, who had blown up thanks to his work on Speed two years earlier. Twister was a blockbuster spectacle that heralded a lot of upcoming trends in movie-making, including CGI post-production (courtesy of Industrial Light & Magic), and a global box office haul of $494.5 million, making it the second-highest-grossing movie of 1996. 

IMDb has a pretty dramatic retelling of the original Twister, which you can read below:

The year is 1969. In Oklahoma County, thunderstorms roll across an open plain, and in a remote farmhouse young Jo and her family are about to go to sleep, but her father is watching a tornado warning on TV. The TV warns that the imminent tornado may be an F5, the strongest known. Not long after the family reaches the storm cellar the huge twister hits, passing right over top of them & killing her father. 27 years later, Jo is now a storm scientist, trying to develop a tornado warning system with her soon-to-be-ex, Bill Harding. Multiple attempts fail for one reason or another, and their team sees a tremendous amount of damage & death. Then, one time, they find themselves In the damage path of a huge F5 tornado. Can they succeed in launching their test equipment, then escape the deadly storm in time?

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