Obsession with extreme weather has a deep underlying psychology

At first glance, the 2024 remake movie Twisters contains many of the ingredients of the 1996 original, which starred Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton: a catastrophic and rare weather event, the urgency to use new technology to understand it, and central characters battling personality clashes.

However, Twisters (on general release from July 17) does more than confirm Hollywood’s interest in money-making sequels. It suggests movie financiers are convinced that people are fascinated by extreme weather and the devastation it can cause.