A disaster movie is a movie that has an impending or ongoing disaster (e.g. a major fire, earthquake, shipwreck, or an asteroid collision with Earth) as its subject. They typically feature large casts and multiple plotlines, and focus on the characters' attempts to avert, escape, or cope with the aftermath of the disaster. One major character, several minor characters, and scores of extras typically die before the story is resolved. Film refers to the celluloid media on which movies are printed. ... It has been suggested that flame be merged into this article or section. ... Global earthquake epicenters, 1963–1998 An earthquake is a sudden and sometimes catastrophic movement of a part of the Earths crust. ... A shipwreck is the remains of a ship after it has sunk or been beached as a result of a crisis at sea. ... Artists impression of a major impact event. ...

Disaster themes are nearly as old as film itself. D. W. Griffith's Intolerance (1916) has disaster elements, as do 1930s dramas such as San Francisco (earthquake) and In Old Chicago (fire). Science-fiction movies such as When Worlds Collide routinely used disasters as plot elements in the 1950s and early 1960s. The heyday of disaster movies began in 1970, however, when the success of Airport generated a flood of "all-star-cast-in-peril" stories. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Intolerance is a silent film directed by D.W. Griffith in 1916. ... 1916 (MCMXVI) is a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January-February January 1 - The Royal Army Medical Corps first successful blood transfusion using blood that had been stored and cooled. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... In Old Chicago is a 1937 dramatic film. ... A collection of well-known science-fiction novels and magazines Science fiction is a genre of fiction in which advances in science, or contact with more scientifically advanced civilizations, create situations different from those of both the present day and the known past. ... When Worlds Collide Book Cover published by Lippincott This article is about the 1932 novel. ... // Events and trends This map shows two essential global spheres during the Cold War in 1959. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday (the link is to a full 1970 calendar). ...

Airport itself qualifies as a disaster movie only in retrospect. It is closer in tone and construction to The High and the Mighty or Zero Hour than to the full-blown disaster films that came after it. The disaster-movie cycle of the 1970s, really began with The Poseidon Adventure (ocean liner capsized by tsunami) in 1972, and continued in 1974 with similar movies such as The Towering Inferno (world's tallest building catches fire) and Earthquake (catastrophic earthquake strikes Los Angeles). The genre was beginning to burn out by the mid-1970s, when movies like The Swarm and Meteor were being produced more and more quickly, with weaker disasters (killer bees, etc.), less production effort and less impressive casts. 1983 saw the TV movie The Day After that dealt with the possibility of a nuclear war. The High and the Mighty is a 1954 disaster movie released through Warner Brothers. ... The 1970s decade refers to the years from 1970 to 1979, inclusive. ... The Poseidon Adventure was a 1972 action film and adventure film based on a novel by Paul Gallico. ... The tsunami that struck Malé in the Maldives on December 26, 2004. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1972 calendar). ... 1974 (MCMLXXIV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (the link is to a full 1974 calendar). ... The Towering Inferno is a 1974 disaster movie adapted by Stirling Silliphant from the novels The Tower by Richard Martin Stern and The Glass Inferno by Thomas N. Scortia and Frank M. Robinson. ... Earthquake is the title of a blockbuster 1974 film that was among several successful so-called disaster movies of the 1970s that places an all-star cast in life and death situations. ... The Swarm was a 1978 horror movie about killer bees that attack in giant swarms. ... Meteor (1979) is a film in which scientists detect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth and struggle with international, cold war politics in their efforts to prevent disaster. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Day After is an American TV-movie aired in 1983 on the ABC network. ...

The disaster movie genre revived, briefly, in the mid-1990s—perhaps because new special effects techniques made more spectacular disasters possible. In 1996 Independence Day merged a science fiction alien invasion plot from the 1950s with disaster movie conventions (most notably, from Earthquake). Daylight, a movie about a collapse of the Holland Tunnel followed, and in 1997 two movies about volcanic eruptions debuted, Volcano and Dante's Peak. Also in 1997 the epic James Cameron film Titanic was released, which combined the disaster genre in the sinking of the ship and the romance genre with the relationship between the main characters. Later, spectacular products of this brief revival were a pair of extraterrestrial object impact movies Deep Impact and Armageddon, both released in the summer of 1998. The movie The Core dealt with the disasters resulting from the stalling of Earth's core. The 1990s decade refers to the years from 1990 to 1999, inclusive. ... Special effects (abbreviated SPFX or SFX) are used in the film, television, and entertainment industry to create effects that cannot be achieved by normal means, such as depicting travel to other star systems. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) was a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... Independence Day is an American action movie about an attempted alien takeover of the Earth. ... Science fiction is a form of speculative fiction principally dealing with the impact of imagined science and technology, or both, upon society and persons as individuals. ... The alien invasion is a common theme in science fiction stories and film, in which a technologically-superior extraterrestrial society invades Earth with the intent to replace human life, or to enslave it under a colonial system. ... Earthquake is the title of a blockbuster 1974 film that was among several successful so-called disaster movies of the 1970s that places an all-star cast in life and death situations. ... Daylight is an action film, released on Friday, December 6, 1996, starring Sylvester Stallone. ... The Holland Tunnel, originally known as the Hudson River Vehicular Tunnel or the Canal Street Tunnel, is one of two highway tunnels under the Hudson River connecting the island of Manhattan with New Jersey on the mainland (the Lincoln Tunnel is the other one). ... 1997 (MCMXCVII in Roman) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Volcano is an action film of 1997. ... Dantes Peak is a 1997 action-adventure film starring Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton. ... Titanic is an Academy Award winning 1997 dramatic film released by 20th Century Fox and Paramount Pictures. ... A genre is a division of a particular form of art according to criteria particular to that form. ... Deep Impact is a 1998 disaster film/science fiction film released by Paramount Pictures and DreamWorks Pictures. ... The album cover Armageddon is a 1998 disaster film/science fiction film about a group of blue-collar deep-core drillers who are sent by NASA to deflect an asteroid on a collision course with Earth. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... The Core (2003) is a science fiction disaster movie very loosely based on the novel Core by Paul Preuss. ...

In 2004, The Day After Tomorrow built upon fear of global warming and climate change with an unlikely (and exciting) assortment of disasters, perhaps setting a record for the most disasters in a single movie. The disasters included ranged from tornadoes and hailstorms to blizzards, storm surges, and hurricanes, and required an assortment of sophisticated computer effects. 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The Day After Tomorrow is a 2004 apocalyptic science-fiction film that dramatically depicts catastrophic effects of global warming and boasts high-end special effects as a strong point, although the science the story is based on has little mainstream credibility. ... Global mean surface temperatures 1856 to 2005 Mean temperature anomalies during the period 1995 to 2004 with respect to the average temperatures from 1940 to 1980 Global warming It mens less snow so less snowboarding is a term used to describe the trend of increases in the average temperature of... Variations in CO2, temperature and dust from the Vostok ice core over the last 400 000 years Climate change refers to the variation in the Earths global climate or regional climates over time. ...

The upcoming stop-motion-animated film Disaster! ([1], [2]) is a genre parody with a style similar to Team America (although it was in production prior to that film). Stop motion is an animation technique which makes things that are static appear to be moving. ... Team America: World Police Team America: World Police is a 2004 movie by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, the creators of the Comedy Central television program South Park. ...

See also

• List of disaster movies
• Doomsday movie