Paramount Pictures
bedlam and catastrophes have often been the subject of some of the most electrifying plastic film ever made , with the disaster subgenre bring forth iconic blockbusters that had movie house packed with eager fans . Often showcasing breathtaking spectacles of survival of the fittest and gallantry , disaster flicks can captivate audience by reminding them of how terrifyingly small humanity can be when compare with sweeping raw calamities or even gentleman’s gentleman - made destruction .
From the unsettlingly propheticContagionto the apocalyptic and rivetingThe Day After Tomorrow , the upright disaster movies ever made depict meat - pounding and nail-biting tales featuring characters in terrible spot . These flick can be dreaded , exhilarating , and releasing all at once , especially when they showcase how easily massive systems , body structure , and societies can be wiped out .
Paramount Pictures
10. Deep Impact (1998)
In 1998 , two disaster movies depicted a doomsday scenario of a comet hurtling toward the earth , threatening to do away with all human life . Neither of them was particularly salient nor innovative , but betweenDeep ImpactandArmageddon , the former is undoubtedly the ‘ 90s film deserving watching . aim by Mimi Leder , it follow a kind of storylines as characters react to the imminent apocalypse , including the tales of a bold diary keeper and a heroic spaceman .
Unlike film director Michael Bay ’s more declamatory and action - packed take , Deep Impactopted for a more nuanced human drama . It offered a crimper coaster of emotions throughout its runtime , despite have somewhat uneven pacing . While far from perfect , the moving picture greatly do good from an telling ensemble cast , which features lead like Morgan Freeman as the President of the United States and Elijah Wood as a young amateur astronomer . For a blockbuster , it also was n’t afraid to go to some sullen places , specially toward the inevitable end .
9. San Francisco (1936)
Director W.S. Van Dyke’sSan Franciscois a one - of - a - variety film from Hollywood ’s Golden Age . Featuring that menses ’s most famous leading human race , Clark Gable , as the charismatic saloon proprietor Blackie Norton , it impersonate his budding Latinian language with aspiring Isaac M. Singer Mary Blake ( Jeanette MacDonald ) . Mary is torn between her love for Blackie and her develop attraction to Jack Burley ( Jack Holt ) , a affluent socialite with dream of his own . The tensions mount until a massive earthquake hits the city , forcing everyone to unite .
The 1936 flick is ground on one of the country ’s deadliest natural disaster , the1906 San Francisco temblor , which claimed the lives of more than 3,000 mass and caused crushing fires that burned for days . Its limning in the clear-cut melodious - drama movie is a jarring reminder that calamities can scratch at any moment , dwarfing any personal drama . Despite some superannuated tropes , San Francisco‘s slightly affirmative conclusion stay relevant since it shows how stranger , friends , and enemy can set their differences away to help each other during such bleak times .
8. The Towering Inferno (1974)
The Towering Infernois a music genre classic that highlighted the potential of catastrophe films to become award - winning work . TheOscar - winning movieis lay in the world ’s tallest skyscraper , the Glass Tower , where an extravagant opening party is just about to start . thing take a dangerous turn when an electrical fervency breaks out on the 81st level , quickly open out of control and trapping C of invitee and worker above .
direct by John Guillermin , the 1974 motion picture featured groundbreaking pragmatic effect for its time that made each nail-biting and stressful mo more believable . It at long last postulate home the Oscars for Best Song , Best Cinematography , and Best Editing . The Towering Infernoalso feature a star - studded ensemble cast that include Paul Newman , Steve McQueen , Faye Dunaway , Richard Chamberlain , and Robert Wagner , who all gave incredible performances . McQueen stand out as Chief Mike O’Halloran , the seasoned firefighter who would stop at nothing to bring through as many people as potential from the raging fires .
7. Gravity (2013)
Sandra Bullock star as Dr. Ryan Stone , a brilliant medical engineer on her first space birdie mission in theater director Alfonso Cuarón’sGravity . She works alongside old-timer astronaut Matt Kowalski ( George Clooney ) , who is in charge of this final trajectory before his retreat . During the brace ’s everyday spacewalk , however , debris from a destroyed satellite put down their shuttle , leave them stranded and struggling to hold out in space .
It took three years toperfectGravity‘s ocular gist , with each striking frame meant to amplify the protagonists ’ panic as it ’s contrasted with the vast vacuum of space . This effort would pay off and leave in seven Oscar , including Best Director , Best Cinematography , and Best Visual Effects . The film is also remembered for Bullock ’s tour deforce performance as the panicked , but brave Dr. Stone , whose battle for survival becomes the informant ofGravity‘s most pump - pounding moments . Its minimalist approach to its secret plan means it intemperately trust on its actors to carry believable fear , which the brace pulls off with ease .
6. 2012 (2009)
Perhaps not the skillful , but certainly among themost popular sci - fi cataclysm film from the 2000s,2012depicts the ruinous end of the world predicted by the Mayan calendar . As the twelvemonth approaches , the film present politicians and scientists making elusive decisions as seismal activity around the public increases , hinting at the impending disaster . The story soon focus on struggling author Jackson Curtis ( John Cusack ) , who is determined to take his category to the secret stupendous arks the government construct to save certain soul .
Director Roland Emmerich ’s movie was an instant collision , with audiences flock to cinemas to see the Revelation of Saint John the Divine playact out on the big sieve . Its lustreless plot of ground was overshadow by epic scenes of mega tsunamis , volcanic eruptions , monumental earthquakes , and a destructive globular flood that destroyed everything in its path . From one adrenaline - fueled curing piece after another,2012offered a glimpse at the oddment that never came on an unprecedented scale that would influence succeeding entry in the genre .
5. The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
Before2012 , managing director Roland Emmerich was responsible for another successful sci - fi tragedy film based on Art Bell and Whitley Strieber ’s 1999 book , The come Global Superstorm . Released in 2004,The Day After Tomorrowportrays a chilling future where climate alteration wreaks mayhem around the Earth , whether in the form of dangerous tornadoes or deadly flash halt . As these freak weather upshot claim countless life , climatologist Jack Hall ( Dennis Quaid ) races against time to bring through his son , Sam ( Jake Gyllenhaal ) , and humanity itself from a raw Ice Age triggered by a sudden flop of global weather patterns .
Emmerich once again usher his domination of the genre throughThe Day After Tomorrow‘s gripping events that escalate to show the globe teeter on the threshold of annihilation . The awe - inspiring power of nature in all its fury is convincingly portrayed by cutting - edge special force , which make its more intimate story more credible and riveting . Quaid andGyllenhaal‘s surprising chemistry as forefather and boy here is just the cherry red on top .
4. Contagion (2011)
Anyone whobinge - watched pandemic movieswhen COVID-19 hit is in all probability already conversant with 2011’sContagion . Directed by Steven Soderbergh , the medical thriller tracks the rapid feast of a highly contagious computer virus that originates from a bat – sound familiar ? As the virus , nickname MEV-1 , spreads across the orb , panic and revere grip community , leave to widespread chaos . The plastic film follow an ensemble roll , including Dr. Erin Mears ( Kate Winslet ) , an epidemiologist enquire the eruption ’s origins , and Dr. Leonora Orantes ( Marion Cotillard ) , a World Health Organization investigator line the cattle ranch of the virus .
The meticulously researched movie aimed to showcase the real - world effects of a worldwide pandemic , and though it was base on the smaller 2002 SARS and 2009 flu outbreak , it feel spookily prescient play along the much more late COVID pandemic . Its enactment of anxiety around new vaccines and the misinformation and conspiracies that would come with it is uncomfortably accurate , withContagionwidely praised for its exploration of the interconnectedness of modern smart set and its interplay with a global health crisis .
3. The Impossible (2012)
free-base on an unbelievable true story of a sept ’s endurance during the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami , The Impossiblefollows Maria ( Naomi Watts ) , Henry ( Ewan McGregor ) , and their three sons during their vacation in Thailand , where they ’re shortly caught in the thick of one of the worst instinctive disasters in history . The family line is class following the lethal tsunami , which sneak up circumstantially along the beach . The film then primarily revolves around Maria and her firstborn Logos , Lucas ( futureSpider - Man actorTom Holland ) , as they move through the murky water system to ascertain assistance and explore for their loved 1 .
Directed by J. A. Bayona ( Society of the Snow ) , the 2012 disaster drama picture enamor the visceral intensity level of being in the middle of a post - tsunami landscape that is strewn with debris and full of dangers . It becomes evident toward the end of the film that it ’s a story of one family ’s unbelievable survival , and it ’s guaranteed to have viewers welling up with tears before the credits roll .
2. Airplane! (1980)
Airplane!is one of thegreatest movies to ever come up out of the 1980s , with the spoof film taking aim at the catastrophe motion picture that command the ’ 70s . Directed by Jim Abrahams and brothers David and Jerry Zucker , it follows traumatize former hero pilot Ted Striker ( Robert Hays ) , who must overcome his fear of fell to salve the rider and crew of a disaster - plagued plane . One of these passengers is his ex-husband - lady friend turned flight attendant .
The 1980 film has continued to gain decisive acclaim over the days , thanks to its excellent manipulation of slapstick humor , speedy - fire gags , and deadpan delivery that cleverly bemock the motion-picture show industriousness ’s fixation with the disaster genre . It uproariously skewers tropes with faultless comedic timing and witty dialog . Airplane!is also famed for featuring Leslie Nielsen ’s vocation - set performance as the rider Dr. Rumack , which act with his simulacrum as a serious actor .
1. Titanic (1997)
Director James Cameron’sTitanicis a film that needs no foundation . A wholesale epic poem , romance , drama , and catastrophe film all in one , it render the ill - fated maiden voyage of the RMS Titanic . It particularly home in on the intimate dearest tarradiddle between Jack Dawson ( Leonardo DiCaprio ) , a penniless artist , and Rose DeWitt Bukater ( Kate Winslet ) , a young socialite trapped in a loveless engagement . Their new relationship blossoms on the luxurious ship , but is cut short by the Titanic ’s hit with an iceberg .
Cameron used one of the vainglorious maritime tragedies in history to set a novel measure for epic filmmaking , and realise vital acclamation and box seat office winner on an unprecedented scale . The world was captivated by Jack and Rose ’s passionate , yet heart - wrenching tarradiddle , capture with pioneer impression that made the climactic moment all the more jaw - dropping . Titanicwould become thehighest - gross pic of all timeand confine that record until Cameron ’s next film , Avatar , would surpass its earnings in 2010 .
