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.
Man-made disasters
Ablaze (2001) Backdraft (1991) The Burning Sea (2021) City on Fire (1979) The Core (2003) Crack in the World (1965) Dante's Inferno (1935) Daylight (1996) Deepwater Horizon (2016) Fire! (1977) Firestorm (1998) In Old Chicago (1937) Ladder 49 (2004) Pandora (2016) Red Skies of Montana (1952)Maclean, Norman. Young Men and Fire. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. 1972. p.155 The Tower (2012) The Towering Inferno (1974) Trapped (2001)
Natural disasters
10.0 Earthquake (2014) 10.5 (2004) 13 Minutes (2021) 2012 (2009) 2012: Doomsday (2008) After the Shock (1990) Aftershock: Earthquake in New York (1999) Armageddon (1998) Asteroid (1997) Avalanche (1978) Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) California Firestorm (2002) Christmas Icetastrophe (2014) Christmas Twister (2012) Cyclone (1978) Dante's Peak (1997) The Day After Tomorrow (2004) Deep Impact (1998) Deluge (1933) "the first studio produced narrative disaster picture." Devil Winds (2003) Disaster Zone: Volcano in New York (2006) Earthquake (1974) Earthquake in New York (1998) Fire Twister (2015) Flood (2007) Flood! (1976) Flood: A River's Rampage (1997) Geostorm (2017) The Great Los Angeles Earthquake (1990) Greenland (2020) Hard Rain (1998) Heatwave! (1974) The Hurricane (1937) Hurricane (1979) Ice (1998)Ice The Impossible (2012) Into the Storm (2014) Killer Flood: The Day the Dam Broke (2003) Krakatoa, East of Java (1969) Magma: Volcanic Disaster (2006) Meteor (1979) Nature Unleashed: Avalanche (2004) Nature Unleashed: Earthquake (2005) Nature Unleashed: Fire (2004) Nature Unleashed: Tornado (2005) Night of the Twisters (1996) The Night the World Exploded (1957) NYC: Tornado Terror (2008) On Hostile Ground (2000) The Perfect Storm (2000) Pompeii (2014) Poseidon (2006) The Poseidon Adventure (1972) The Quake (2018) The Rains Came (1939) Raise the Titanic (1980) S.O.S. Titanic (1979) San Andreas (2015) San Francisco (1936) Seattle Superstorm (2012) St. Helens (1981) Storm (1999) Super Cyclone (2012) The Happening (2008)https://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-happening-am19217 AllMovie. Retrieved January 21, 2024 Tidal Wave (1973) Tidal Wave (2009) Tidal Wave: No Escape (1997) Titanic (1953) Titanic (1996) Titanic (1997) Titanic: The Legend Goes On (2000) Tornado! (1996) Tornado Warning (2002) Twister (1996) Twisters (2024) Tycus (1998) Volcano (1997) The Volcano Disaster (also known as Nature Unleashed: Volcano, 2005) Volcano: Fire on the Mountain (1997) The Wave (2015)The Wave, Magnolia Home Entertainment, DVD, 2016, film released 2015 When Time Ran Out (1980)
End of days
The Day After (1983) Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea (1961) When Worlds Collide (1951) Knowing (2009)
Aircraft
Airport (film series), 1970s series of four airplane-themed disaster films Airport (1970 film), a film based on Arthur Hailey's book Airport 1975, sequel to the 1970 film Airport '77, sequel to Airport 1975 The Concorde ... Airport '79, 1979 sequel to Airport '77 Airspeed (1998) Alive (1993) The Doomsday Flight (1966) Fire and Rain (1989) The Flight of the Phoenix (1965) Flight of the Phoenix (2004) The High and the Mighty (1954) The Hindenburg (1975) Sully (2016) Survive! (1976) Turbulence (1997) United 93 (2006) Zero Hour! (1957)
The atomic age Atomic Train (1999) Atomic Twister (2002) Control (1987) Friend of the World (2020) The Lost Missile (1958) Miracle Mile (1988) On the Beach (1959) Panic in Year Zero! (1962)
Epidemics and pandemics The Andromeda Strain (1971) The Cassandra Crossing (1976) Contagion (2011) Outbreak (1995) Perfect Sense (2011) Plague (1979) The Stand (1994) Virus (1980) Virus (1995) Warning Sign (1985)
Shipwrecks Beyond the Poseidon Adventure (1979) Britannic (2000) The Finest Hours (2016) Gray Lady Down (1978) K-19: The Widowmaker (2002) The Last Voyage (1960) The Legend of the Titanic (1999) A Night to Remember (1958) Poseidon (2006) The Poseidon Adventure (1972) The Poseidon Adventure (2005) Raise the Titanic (1980) S.O.S. Titanic (1979) Titanic (1953) Titanic (1996) Titanic (1997) Titanic: The Legend Goes On (2000)
See also Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic fiction Cultural significance of tornadoes § Motion pictures with a tornado theme List of apocalyptic films List of firefighting films List of monster movies List of natural horror films List of zombie films Survival film
References
Bibliography