The hidden detail that connects Twister to Terminator 2

The origins of Benthic Petroleum date back to Cameron’s excellent 1989 film The Abyss. The crew of an experimental deep-sea drilling rig led by Virgil “Bud” Brigman (Ed Harris) and a team of Navy SEALs under the command of the increasingly unhinged Lieutenant Hiram Coffey (Michael Biehn) come to an undersea clash over a salvaged Trident missile. That’s all interrupted by an encounter with a bizarre, water-based, possibly alien life form — all while a gathering storm on the surface threatens to strand them all. If you haven’t seen it, we’d recommend you remedy that as soon as possible. If you have, you may now remember that the company that owns the drilling rig so central to The Abyss is none other than Benthic Petroleum.

Just in case you’re curious, “Benthic” may sound like a made-up word, but it isn’t. It means “of, relating to, or occurring at the bottom of a body of water,” which makes it a pretty appropriate name for a company which specializes in deep-sea drilling. As a matter of fact, Cameron isn’t the only one who thinks so: in 2001, a real company called Benthic was established in Australia, one which manufactures deep-sea drilling rigs not unlike the one featured in The Abyss.

It’s a pretty cool case of life imitating art, but it also means that we’re very unlikely to see the fictional Benthic Petroleum pop up in any more films. That’s a bummer, because obviously, it was meant to connect these films to each other, implying that they all take place in the same universe… right? Well, not exactly.