Cinema's most dramatic disaster movies (2024)

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'Airport' (1970)-

Generally acknowledged as the originator of the 1970's disaster film genre, 'Airport', which stars Burt Lancaster and Dean Martin, was the first in the Airport series of movies.

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'The Poseidon Adventure' (1972)-

'The Poseidon Adventure' set the bar for the all-star blockbuster disaster movie format. The plot involves a luxury passenger liner that is overturned by a tsunami. Surviving passengers, among them Gene Hackman and Ernest Borgnine, have to figure out a way to escape the ship before it sinks. "Hell, Upside Down" ran the tag line. Indeed.

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'Gravity' (2013)-

Sandra Bullock and George Clooney are the two astronauts stranded in space after debris strikes the Hubble Space Telescope and the space shuttle Explorer. The atmosphere is tense, the visual effects stunning, and the film is deserving of the accolades heaped upon it from numerous critics and guilds.

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'Titanic' (1997)-

"Does this mean size matters?" asked director James Cameron after 'Titanic' won 11 Oscars. His epic romance and disaster film stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. 'Titanic' was the first film to reach the billion-dollar mark.

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'The Rains Came' (1939)-

The fictional town of Ranchipur in India is devastated by an earthquake, which causes a flood, which causes a cholera epidemic, a triple whammy that underpins the film's central themes of romance and redemption. 'The Rains Came' became the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Special Effects, at the 12th Academy Awards in 1940.

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'Armageddon' (1998)-

An enormous asteroid is on a collision course with Earth. The only way to stop it? Send a team into space, land them on the rogue rock, and detonate a bomb below its surface. Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck are among the astronauts attempting to save the world.

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'Twister' (1996)-

Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, and an early film appearance by Philip Seymour Hoffman lend 'Twister' heavyweight acting talent. But it's the realistic visual effects that quite literally lift this movie off the ground.

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'The Perfect Storm' (2000)-

The 1991 monster hurricane that slammed into the east coast of the United States and was later dubbed the "perfect storm" provides the backdrop for this biographical disaster film that centers on the fate of the fishing vessel Andrea Gail, lost at sea with all hands after being caught in the mighty tempest. George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg are among the crew.

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'Contagion' (2011)-

Released eight years before the COVID-19 pandemic, 'Contagion' eerily predicts the spread of a virus across the globe and the introduction of a vaccine to halt its spread. Matt Damon, Marion Cotillard, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, and Gwyneth Paltrow are among the artists imitating life.

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'Independence Day' (1996)-

This science fiction movie takes global destruction to a whole new level, with gigantic extraterrestrial space crafts destroying cities across the world in the flash of a ray. Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum are dispatched into space to spoil the aliens' fun.

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'Deepwater Horizon' (2016)-

Based on the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, this movie dramatically recreates the hours leading up to and during the catastrophe, the worst oil disaster in US history. Mark Wahlberg and Kurt Russell are two of the oilmen involved in the rescue operation.

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'Outbreak' (1995)-

A virus imported from an African jungle emerges in California to threaten the state, the country, and the entire world, unless virologists Dustin Hoffman and Rene Russo can halt its spread. However, the US military has other ideas.

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'San Andreas' (2015)-

The Fault had it coming, and in this blockbuster it's Dwayne Johnson who saves the day after Los Angeles and San Francisco are devastated by a 9.1 magnitude earthquake.

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'The Impossible' (2012)-

Based on the experience of María Belón and her family in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, 'The Impossible' faithfully recreates the terrible flooding that inundated the Khao Lak region of Thailand in the wake of an earthquake. Naomi Watts portrays Maria, a character based on Belón, with Ewan McGregor portraying her husband. A young Tom Holland also stars. The film was a critical and commercial success.

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'Deep Impact' (1998)-

An errant comet is on collision course with the Earth. The only way to stop it is to blow it to pieces. That means landing on its surface and planting a bomb. Sounds familiar? The similarly themed 'Armageddon' fared better at the box office, but the 'Deep Impact' plotline proved more plausible, with astronomers describing the film as scientifically accurate. Robert Duval, Elijah Wood, and Morgan Freeman are among the cast.

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'The Core' (2003)-

A series of mega-lightening strikes and other incidents involving the planet's magnetic field convince scientists that the planet's molten core has stopped rotating. The solution? Build a vessel that can drill to the core and release nuclear weapons to restart the rotation. Aaron Eckhart and Hilary Swank sit back and set the controls for the center of the Earth.

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'Geostorm' (2017)-

When climate-controlling satellites malfunction the result, predictably, is the formation of a storm of epic proportions. Gerald Butler is the satellite designer who has to figure out why his mechanical orbiters went AWOL.

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'Dante's Peak' (1997)-

A long dormant volcano decides to wake up the sleepy town of Dante's Peak by blowing its top. Volcanologist Dr. Harry Dalton (Pierce Brosnan) is sent to investigate and ends up getting the hots for mayor Rachel Wando (Linda Hamilton).

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'Unstoppable' (2010)-

A near disaster is averted after Denzel Washington and Chris Pine manage to rein in a runaway freight train before it derails and crashes. 'Unstoppable' is based on the real-life CSX 8888 incident in 2001 when a locomotive pulling 47 cars, including some loaded with hazardous chemicals, ran uncontrolled on tracks in Ohio.

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'2012' (2009)-

The title refers to the so-called 2012 phenomenon, a range of eschatological beliefs that cataclysmic or transformative events would occur on or around December 21, 2012. And guess what? That's exactly what happens, with a series of global catastrophes threatening to annihilate humanity. Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) is just one of thousands trying to save himself and his family before a megatsunami engulfs everything in sight.

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'Daylight' (1996)-

Sylvester Stallone is the disgraced former New York City emergency first responder who leads a group of civilians trapped in a flooding tunnel to safety, but not before they encounter a series of life-threatening situations.

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'Pompeii' (2014)-

Essentially a big-budget sword-and-sandal adventure, 'Pompeii' relies on elaborate 3D special effects to recreate the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 CE that destroyed the Roman city.

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'Volcano' (1997)-

This time it's a huge lava flow that threatens Los Angeles, the result of an angry volcano erupting at the La Brea Tar Pits on the outskirts of the city. Geologist Amy Barnes (Anne Heche) believes a secondary volcano is forming under the city. Emergency responder Mike Roake (Tommy Lee Jones) hopes she's wrong.

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'Greenland' (2020)-

A wayward interstellar comet named Clarke threatens the Earth. Scientists predict that when it collides, the entire planet will be bombarded with hundreds of fragments expected to cause an extinction-level event. Can Gerard Butler and family reach the relative safety of Greenland in time?

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'The Towering Inferno' (1974)-

Paul Newman and Steve McQueen head the ensemble cast in what highly respected film critic Roger Ebert called "a brawny blockbuster of a movie, by far the best of the mid-1970s wave of disaster films." Indeed, 'The Towering Inferno' was the highest-grossing film of 1974.

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'The Day After Tomorrow' (2004)-

'The Day After Tomorrow' works on the premise that the North Atlantic thermohaline circulation has been disrupted, a catastrophic climatic event that results in a series of extreme global weather occurrences. Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, and more try not to freeze to death.

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'Earthquake' (1974)-

Also released in 1974, 'Earthquake' follows various Los Angeles residents in their efforts to survive the chaos and confusion visited upon Los Angeles after an earthquake of unimaginable magnitude strikes the city. Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and George Kennedy are among the survivors.

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'The Andromeda Strain' (1971)-

More science fiction picture than disaster movie, 'The Andromeda Strain' nonetheless touches on the theme of potential global annihilation, its plot surrounding the investigation by a team of scientists of a deadly organism of extraterrestrial origin that threatens humanity's very existence.

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'Airport 75' (1974)-

The first sequel to the successful 1970 film 'Airport,' this follow-up concerns the dramatic events aboard an airborne Boeing 747 when a small aircraft crashes into the co*ckpit, leaving no one on board to fly the plane. Charlton Heston takes the controls to save the day and help make the film one of the highest grossing of 1974.

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'A Night to Remember' (1958)-

Critically acclaimed upon its release, 'A Night to Remember' is a British docudrama recounting the final night of RMS Titanic. Noted for its authentic sets, the film is highly regarded by Titanic historians for its accuracy.

Sources: (ABC News) (History) (Roger Ebert)(Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences)

See also: The worst natural disasters of this millennium

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