List of disaster films

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This list of disaster films represents over half a century of films within the genre. Disaster films are motion pictures which depict an impending or ongoing disaster as a central plot feature. The films typically feature large casts and multiple storylines and focus on the protagonists attempts to avert, escape, or cope with the disaster presented.

Contents

Man-made disasters

See also: List of films about nuclear issues

Natural disasters

End of days

Airplanes

The atomic age

Epidemics and pandemics

Shipwrecks

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>Titanic</i> (1997 film) 1997 American film by James Cameron

Titanic is a 1997 American epic romantic disaster film directed, written, co-produced and co-edited by James Cameron. Incorporating both historical and fictionalized aspects, it is based on accounts of the sinking of RMS Titanic in 1912. Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet star as members of different social classes who fall in love during the ship's maiden voyage. The film also features an ensemble cast of Billy Zane, Kathy Bates, Frances Fisher, Bernard Hill, Jonathan Hyde, Danny Nucci, David Warner and Bill Paxton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Natural disaster</span> Type of adverse event

A natural disaster is the very harmful impact on a society or community after a natural hazard event. Some examples of natural hazard events include avalanches, droughts, earthquakes, floods, heat waves, landslides, tropical cyclones, volcanic activity and wildfires. Additional natural hazards include blizzards, dust storms, firestorms, hails, ice storms, sinkholes, thunderstorms, tornadoes and tsunamis. A natural disaster can cause loss of life or damage property. It typically causes economic damage. How bad the damage is depends on how well people are prepared for disasters and how strong the buildings, roads, and other structures are. Scholars have been saying that the term natural disaster is unsuitable and should be abandoned. Instead, the simpler term disaster could be used. At the same time the type of hazard would be specified. A disaster happens when a natural or human-made hazard impacts a vulnerable community. It results from the combination of the hazard and the exposure of a vulnerable society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Disaster film</span> Film genre

A disaster film or disaster movie is a film genre that has an impending or ongoing disaster as its subject and primary plot device. Such disasters may include natural disasters, accidents, military/terrorist attacks or global catastrophes such as a pandemic. A subgenre of action films, these films usually feature some degree of build-up, the disaster itself, and sometimes the aftermath, usually from the point of view of specific individual characters or their families or portraying the survival tactics of different people.

<i>Twister</i> (1996 film) American film by Jan de Bont

Twister is a 1996 American disaster film directed by Jan de Bont, and written by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin. It was produced by Crichton, Kathleen Kennedy, and Ian Bryce, with Steven Spielberg, Walter Parkes, Laurie MacDonald, and Gerald R. Molen serving as executive producers. The film stars an ensemble cast that includes Helen Hunt, Bill Paxton, Jami Gertz, and Cary Elwes. It follows a group of storm chasers trying to deploy a tornado research device during a severe outbreak in Oklahoma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bill Paxton</span> American actor (1955–2017)

William Paxton was an American actor and filmmaker. He starred in films such as Aliens (1986), Near Dark (1987), Tombstone (1993), True Lies (1994), Apollo 13 (1995), Twister (1996), Titanic (1997), Mighty Joe Young (1998), and A Simple Plan (1998). He had supporting roles in Weird Science (1985), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), and Nightcrawler (2014).

<i>Dantes Peak</i> 1997 disaster film by Roger Donaldson

Dante's Peak is a 1997 American disaster film directed by Roger Donaldson, written by Leslie Bohem, and starring Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton, and Charles Hallahan. The film is set in the fictional town of Dante's Peak where the inhabitants fight to survive a volcanic eruption from a long dormant stratovolcano that has suddenly woken up. The film was released on February 7, 1997, under the production of Universal Pictures and Pacific Western Productions. The release came just weeks prior to the similarly themed film, Volcano, starring Tommy Lee Jones, which came out in April of the same year. It was the last film in which Charles Hallahan starred before his death nine months later in November 1997.

<i>The Poseidon Adventure</i> (1972 film) 1972 film by Ronald Neame

The Poseidon Adventure is a 1972 American disaster film directed by Ronald Neame, produced by Irwin Allen, and based on Paul Gallico's 1969 novel of the same name. It has an ensemble cast including five Oscar winners: Gene Hackman, Ernest Borgnine, Jack Albertson, Shelley Winters, and Red Buttons. The plot centers on the fictional SS Poseidon, an aging luxury liner on its final voyage from New York City to Athens, before it is scrapped. On New Year's Day, it is overturned by a tsunami. Passengers and crew are trapped inside, and a preacher attempts to lead a small group of survivors to safety.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami</span> Earthquake and subsequent tsunami in the Indian Ocean

On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 Mw struck with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake, known by the scientific community as the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, was caused by a rupture along the fault between the Burma plate and the Indian plate, and reached a Mercalli intensity up to IX in some areas.

<i>Category 6: Day of Destruction</i> 2004 television film directed by Dick Lowry

Category 6: Day of Destruction is a 2004 four-hour television miniseries that was broadcast in the United States on CBS in two parts, with the first part aired on November 14 and the second on November 17. It was later released to DVD on February 15, 2005. The miniseries focuses primarily on the city of Chicago as three unusual storm systems approach from the west, north and south and combine over the city to form a massive hurricane. At the same time a hacker-induced power outage cuts communications leaving a journalist and power officials scrambling to find the cause.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1980 Grand Island tornado outbreak</span> 1980 windstorm in Grand Island, Nebraska, USA

The 1980 Grand Island tornado outbreak, also known as The Night of the Twisters, was a tornado outbreak that produced a series of destructive tornadoes that affected the city of Grand Island, Nebraska, on Tuesday, June 3, 1980. Seven tornadoes touched down in or near the city that night, killing five people and injuring 200.

<i>When Time Ran Out</i> 1980 film by James Goldstone

When Time Ran Out... is a 1980 American disaster film directed by James Goldstone and starring Paul Newman, Jacqueline Bisset and William Holden. The supporting cast features James Franciscus, Ernest Borgnine, Red Buttons, Burgess Meredith, Valentina Cortese, Veronica Hamel, Pat Morita, Edward Albert and Barbara Carrera.

<i>Titanic</i> in popular culture Overview of the RMS Titanic in popular culture

The Titanic has played a prominent role in popular culture since her sinking in 1912, with the loss of almost 1,500 of the 2,224 lives on board. The disaster and the Titanic herself have been objects of public fascination for many years. They have inspired numerous books, plays, films, songs, poems, and works of art. The story has been interpreted in many overlapping ways, including as a symbol of technological hubris, as basis for fail-safe improvements, as a classic disaster tale, as an indictment of the class divisions of the time, and as romantic tragedies with personal heroism. It has inspired many moral, social and political metaphors and is regularly invoked as a cautionary tale of the limitations of modernity and ambition.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Look Studios</span> American film distributor

First Look Studios, Inc. was an American independent film and home video distributor based in Los Angeles, California. The company specialized in the acquisition and direct distribution of, and worldwide license and sale of distribution rights to, independently produced feature films and television series.

<i>Twister</i>...Ride It Out Defunct theme park attraction

Twister...Ride It Out was an indoor special effects attraction based on the 1996 film Twister, located in the New York themed area at Universal Studios Florida. It replaced Ghostbusters Spooktacular and opened to the general public on May 4, 1998. Hosts Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt, stars from the original film, were featured in recorded video footage and audio narrations throughout the attraction. Guests experienced a life-like encounter with a simulated tornado in the main show area which included water, fire, and the movement of objects across the stage among other audio and visual effects. Declining popularity due to a lack of long-term cultural significance led to the attraction's permanent closure on November 2, 2015. Race Through New York Starring Jimmy Fallon opened in its place two years later in 2017.

<i>Titanic II</i> (film) 2010 film by Shane Van Dyke

Titanic II is a 2010 American drama disaster film written, directed by and starring Shane Van Dyke and distributed by The Asylum. Despite the title, it is not a sequel to the 1997 critically acclaimed film, but is a mockbuster of it. The film is set on a fictional replica Titanic that sets off exactly 100 years after the original ship's maiden voyage to perform the reverse route, but global warming and the forces of nature cause history to repeat itself on the same night, only on a more disastrous and deadly scale.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nature Unleashed: Earthquake</span>

Nature Unleashed: Earthquake, or simply known as Earthquake, is a 2005 American-British-Canadian-Lithuanian direct-to-video disaster film that is directed by Tibor Takács and written by Andy Hurst. It stars Fintan McKeown, Jacinta Mulcahy, and Michael Zelniker.

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Bibliography

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