Good news: New Line Cinema is moving forward with a big-budget blockbuster about the devastating effects of a massive tornado. Bad news: It’s not a Twister remake. Good news: The studio is in final negotiations with Steve Quale, second unit director for Avatar and Titanic, to helm the effort. Bad news: It’s still not a remake of the awesome Twister.

Still, if you are going to go ahead with a weather-related spectacle, you best hire a visual-effects wizard like Quale to make the wind and rain as believable (and terrifying) as possible. Vulture says Quale’s close to signing on for Category 6, a “found footage” thriller in the format of Matt Reeves’ Cloverfield. The story would follow a group of high-school teenagers who document the tornado that blasts their town.

This isn’t Quale’s first full-fledged directing gig. He helmed last summer’s Final Destination 5, which actually generated buzz for its creative kills and translated positive momentum into $42M in domestic box office ticket sales.

But it’s his tutelage under James Cameron on Avatar and Titanic that makes him an interesting choice to manage an effects-driven disaster picture. I’m not sure I need it to be a “found footage” picture. That genre seems to be on its last legs creatively, and we still have a handful of pictures on the slate for that format (including a fourth Paranormal Activity film and the superhero picture Chronicle). But adding a few flying cows and luring Twister legend Bill Paxton for a cameo will go a long way toward changing my mind about this developing project. “The extreme! IT'S THE EXTREME!”