20 Movie Sequels That Took WAY Too Long

1996's iconic disaster film Twister was a massive commercial success, grossing a hair shy of $500 million globally on a budget of "just" $88 million, leaving many to assume that Twister 2 would be fast-tracked into production.

Hollywood wasn't quite so IP-dependent as it is in the more precarious, risk-averse creative climate of today, but even so, a Twister sequel that reunited original stars Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton would've been the easiest sell imaginable.

But Twisters didn't enter early development until 2020 - both a near quarter-century after the original film's release, and sadly three years after Bill Paxton sadly passed away.

All the same, Twisters was originally pitched as a legacy sequel of-sorts co-starring Helen Hunt, but this was ultimately rejected in favour of a standalone sequel focused on an entirely new cast.

Twisters finally released in 2024 and it was... fine, but by taking almost the better part of 30 years to hit screens without either Paxton or Hunt involved, it simply failed to target people's nostalgia receptors and in turn underperformed commercially.

It doesn't require much imagination to see a Twister sequel starring Paxton and Hunt releasing in, say, 2001 and absolutely cleaning up. But alas, it never came to pass.