Twisters controversial ending: You can blame Steven Spielberg for the lack of a kiss

After a century of Hollywood movies, we have been conditioned to expect certain things.

One of the fundamentals is the kiss. You know the one. It comes as the reward at the end after two hours spent marinating in the will-they-won’t-they chemistry of two impossibly attractive leads.

That was certainly where Twisters felt like it was going.

The follow-up to the 1996 disaster movie Twister pushes together its two stars, Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones, for most of the film.

He seems like a reckless blowhard, at first, and she has to get over the obstacle of past trauma to allow herself to open up to another person.

SPOILERS FOR TWISTERS AHEAD

Huzzah! They do. They’re sparkling, making googly eyes at each other and after surviving a dramatic tornado event, the final scene is one in which Powell’s character Tyler chases after Edgar-Jones’ Kate through an airport as she’s about to board the plane to New York City.

Then, an announcement: her flight is delayed.

They exchange a look and… no kiss. No locked lips, not even a graze of the cheek. Instead, he picks up her suitcase and together they head out of the airport terminal. Roll end credits.

The lack of a kiss has been a feverish talking point since the film was released in international markets including Australia more than a week ago, and has now been supercharged after its premiere in the US this past weekend.

Behind-the-scenes footage making the rounds on social media revealed a kiss was shot for the movie but the filmmakers ultimately opted to cut it.

Now we know why – and Steven Spielberg, whose production Amblin is involved in the movie, is to blame.

In an interview with Collider, Edgar-Jones said, “I think it’s a Spielberg note, wasn’t it? I think it stops the film feeling too cliched, actually. I think there’s something really wonderful about it feeling like there’s a continuation. This isn’t the end of their story. They’re united by their passion for something.”

Powell added that Twisters isn’t predominantly a romance but a story in which Kate rediscovers her love for storm chasing.

“So, that’s what you have at the end of the movie. They share this thing, and her passion is reinvigorated, and her sense of home is reinvigorated,” he said.

“I feel like a kiss would be sort of unrepresentative of the right goal at the end of the movie. And it is a good Spielberg note. It’s what that kid is still in the game. It’s amazing.”

Earlier, director Lee Isaac Chung had told Entertainment Weekly that the production had tested the scene with a kiss and audiences were polarised in their reaction to it.

“I feel like audiences are in a different place now in terms of wanting a kiss or not wanting a kiss,” he said.

“(The no-kiss shot) was the other option that I filmed on the day, and I have to say, I liked it better. I think it’s a better ending. And I think that people who want a kiss within it, they can probably assume that these guys will kiss someday.”

Twisters is set in the same universe as the original 1996 film although it shares no characters. The film follows Kate, a meteorologist who returns to the storm front after a trauma in her past. She meets Tyler, a YouTube storm chaser. Many, many tornadoes ensue.

The film also stars Anthony Ramos, Sasha Lane, David Corenswet and Maura Tierney.

Twisters’ first two weeks in Australia grossed $7.6 million at the box office. In the US, the movie has defied projections and took in more than $US80 million in ticket sales. It was predicted to open at $US50 million. Globally, it’s done $US132.2 million.

This coming week is expected to be another big one for the cinema industry with the release of Deadpool & Wolverine, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman. It’s the only Marvel movie on the slate for 2024 and is projected to open in North America in the $US160 million range.