Synopsis

Storm chasers Jo Harding and her estranged husband, Bill, reunite during an unprecedented outbreak of tornadoes across Oklahoma. Racing against a rival research team, they attempt to deploy Dorothy, a device designed to release sensors into a tornado and improve warning systems. As the storms intensify, their dangerous mission forces them to confront both nature's power and the unresolved tensions between them.

Factoids & Trivia

• Dorothy was inspired by TOTO, a real tornado-observation device developed by scientists at the National Severe Storms Laboratory in the 1980s. Unlike the movie's sensor capsules, TOTO was a heavily instrumented barrel intended to measure conditions near a tornado.

• Industrial Light & Magic created the film's tornadoes digitally. A custom particle-based system called Dynamation allowed the effects team to build controllable funnels and fill them with computer-generated debris, including the famous flying cow.

• The production filmed extensively in Oklahoma and Iowa. Shooting lasted 98 days in the tornado belt, while the cast and crew also had to work around severe weather and the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

• The movie's tornado sound was created partly by slowing down a recording of a camel's moan. Its unusually powerful bass-heavy soundtrack became notorious for damaging theater surround speakers.

• Twister was among the earliest major American DVD releases in the United States. Warner Home Video used the film as a prominent early showcase for the format when its U.S. rollout began in 1997.

• The film became the second-highest-grossing movie of 1996 worldwide, behind Independence Day, and received an Academy Award nomination for its visual effects.