IMDb Staff: What is your favourite end-of-the-world or world-in-peril movie?
Each of these suggestions comes from a different IMDb staff member in honor of the end of the Mayan Calendar. Note that the world doesn’t have to actually end in the movie as hopefully a bunch of unlikely heroes will band together in unusual circumstances to overcome insurmountable obstacles and save the day (as if anyone would make a movie like that ). Also will accept answers where the planet is one other than earth.
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- DirectorVal GuestStarsEdward JuddJanet MunroLeo McKernWhen the U.S. and Russia unwittingly test atomic bombs at the same time, it alters the nutation (axis of rotation) of the Earth.I am going to go with a classic of British science fiction in The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961) which is neatly summarized by our plot summary: “Hysterical panic has engulfed the world after the United States and the Soviet Union simultaneously detonate nuclear devices and have caused the orbit of the Earth to alter, sending it hurtling towards the sun.” I don’t want to reveal too much but this movie has one of the best endings of any type of movie ever made. Also look quickly for an early appearance by an up-and-coming actor of the time playing the role of a policeman; mostly recognizable from his voice.
- DirectorDon McKellarStarsDon McKellarSandra OhRoberta MaxwellA group of very different individuals with different ideas of how to face the end come together as the world is expected to end in six hours at the turn of the century.There’s so many contenders here but for me it has to be Last Night (1998), in which a disparate group of Torontonians face an unspecified apocalypse by asking, you know, what it really means to them.
It’s the kind of sci-fi I love, where the sci is incidental to the fi.
[Also: David Cronenberg cameo.] - DirectorTim BurtonStarsJack NicholsonPierce BrosnanSarah Jessica ParkerEarth is invaded by Martians with unbeatable weapons and a cruel sense of humor.
- DirectorAndrew MartonStarsDana AndrewsJanette ScottKieron MooreA dying scientist pushes forward his project to tap through to the Earth's magma layer, with results that threaten to destroy the Earth as we know it.
- CreatorsJonathan GlassnerBrad WrightStarsRichard Dean AndersonMichael ShanksAmanda TappingA secret military team, SG-1, is formed to explore other planets through the recently discovered Stargates.my first thought was the numerous earth saving stories of Stargate SG-1
- DirectorPeter HyamsStarsArnold SchwarzeneggerGabriel ByrneRobin TunneyAt the end of the century, Satan visits New York in search of a bride. It's up to an ex-cop who now runs an elite security outfit to stop him.I do love a good bad movie and this definitely fits in that category…
My pick is End of Days. The Boston Globe summed it up nicely:
“It seems endless. It's also unusually crude and stupid, even for an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie.” - DirectorStanley KubrickStarsPeter SellersGeorge C. ScottSterling HaydenA mentally unstable American general orders a hydrogen bomb attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to global nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.One of my all-time favorite movies probably qualifies…. can it be a man-made end of world?
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964) - DirectorsRichard C. SarafianArthur MarksStarsTim MathesonCharlton HestonPeter BoyleA huge solar flare is predicted to fry the Earth. Astronauts must fly toward the sun to drop a talking bomb at the right time for the flare to be aimed elsewhere.
- DirectorYoshihiro NakamuraStarsAtsushi ItôKiyohiko ShibukawaNoriko EguchiSeveral seemingly unrelated but surprisingly intertwined tales reveal how a Japanese band that independently invented punk rock in 1975 is, 37 years later, connected to a comet that is about to destroy the world.For fave world-in-peril I’ll vote for Fish Story directed by the versatile Yoshihiro Nakamura. Set in 2012 with a comet about to hit the world a series of flashbacks tell the story of the punk rock song that saves the world. Yep, the punk rock song that saves the world. If you really need more of a description to see this film there’s not much I can do to help. ;-)
- DirectorThom EberhardtStarsCatherine Mary StewartKelli MaroneyRobert BeltranA comet wipes out most of life on Earth, leaving two Valley Girls fighting against cannibal zombies and a sinister group of scientists.The first end-of-world-as-we-know-it movie I can remember seeing was Night of the Comet. I’m pretty sure it wouldn’t hold up to another viewing now, but it really captured my 13yo imagination. Special point for movie people: one of the survivors made it through the comet’s tail because he was inside the solid steel projection booth at a movie theater.
- DirectorLars von TrierStarsKirsten DunstCharlotte GainsbourgKiefer SutherlandTwo sisters find their already strained relationship challenged as a mysterious new planet threatens to collide with Earth.A recent film that I Loved, Melancholia (2011).
[crying into her meatloaf]
Justine: It tastes like ashes! - DirectorWim WendersStarsWilliam HurtSolveig DommartinPietro FalconeIn 1999, Claire Tourneur's life is forever changed after she survives a car crash. She rescues Sam and travels the world with him. Writer Eugene Fitzpatrick follows and writes their story as a method of recording dreams is being developed.My first inclination is Until the End of the World (1991) though the world doesn’t actually end in the movie (oops…spoiler). ). I was fortunate enough to see Wim Wender’s 3-part 4 ½ hour director’s cut at a 1996 UW screening and have been wanting to see that version again ever since. Unfortunately, the full director’s cut has never been issued in the US due to complicated rights issues.
It has been released in foreign locales, though. - StarsJane BadlerMichael DurrellFaye GrantA seemingly peaceful alien race, arrives at earth and asks for help to ensure their own planets survival. However, the visitors agenda turns out be much darker.I think my original End Of The World experience may have been with TV movies way back in the 80’s, I recall watching both The Day After and V – The Movie.
- DirectorAlfonso CuarónStarsJulianne MooreClive OwenChiwetel EjioforIn 2027, in a chaotic world in which women have somehow become infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.With all the great EOTW movies to choose from, I’d have to say my favorite is Children of Men.
- DirectorKatsuhiro ÔtomoStarsMitsuo IwataNozomu SasakiMami KoyamaA secret military project endangers Neo-Tokyo when it turns a biker gang member into a rampaging psychic psychopath who can only be stopped by a teenager, his gang of biker friends and a group of psychics.
- DirectorRoland EmmerichStarsWill SmithBill PullmanJeff GoldblumThe aliens are coming and their goal is to invade and destroy Earth. Fighting superior technology, mankind's best weapon is the will to survive.Look at that cast list!
- DirectorRobert WiseStarsJames OlsonArthur HillDavid WayneTop scientists work feverishly in a secret, state-of-the-art laboratory to discover what killed the citizens of a small town and how the deadly contagion can be stopped.Given that I’ve been sick for the past three days, I’m going to pick The Andromeda Strain (1971).
- DirectorJohn HillcoatStarsViggo MortensenCharlize TheronKodi Smit-McPheeIn a dangerous post-apocalyptic world, an ailing father defends his son as they slowly travel to the sea.gritty, realistic, gruesome, and bleak. But compared to the book, it’s a light-hearted wacky romantic comedy.
- DirectorGeoff MurphyStarsBruno LawrenceAlison RoutledgePete SmithA scientist awakens to find himself alone in the world. In a desperate attempt to search for others, he finds only two who have their own agenda.– small-budget art film from New Zealand that concentrates on the psychology of loneliness at the end of the world rather than action or special effects. By no means perfect, but unfolds deliciously to an hauntingly beautiful ending.
- CreatorFrank DarabontStarsAndrew LincolnNorman ReedusMelissa McBrideSheriff Deputy Rick Grimes wakes up from a coma to learn the world is in ruins and must lead a group of survivors to stay alive.Honorable Mention: I’m really enjoying The Walking Dead on TV.
- DirectorMichael BayStarsBruce WillisBilly Bob ThorntonBen AffleckAfter discovering that an asteroid the size of Texas will impact Earth in less than a month, NASA recruits a misfit team of deep-core drillers to save the planet.I had no idea this was co-written by J.J. Abrams. From now on, I’m going to call it “J.J. Abrams’ Armageddon”
- CreatorGlen A. LarsonStarsKent McCordBarry Van DykeRobyn DouglassWhen the Battlestar Galactica finally arrives at Earth, they find they must subtly raise its tech level while protecting it from the Cylons.I just remembered another great one from my youth…
In Battlestar Galactica 1980, Dr. Zee prepares this incredible simulation of what would happen if the cylons discovered Earth.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jw0sVNuBjNQ
Fun facts:
• Most of the Los Angeles destruction footage is actually from Earthquake (1974) with menacing cylon ships added in
• Dr. Zee is played by Robbie Rist who also played Cousin Oliver (that jinx!) in the final season of The Brady Bunch - DirectorTodd BergerStarsRachel BostonLaura AdkinKevin M. BrennanFour couples meet for Sunday brunch, then discover they are stuck in a house together as the world may be about to end.Saw this at the LA Film Festival and loved its quirky take on the end-of-the-world for us folks in LA.
- DirectorRichard FleischerStarsCharlton HestonEdward G. RobinsonLeigh Taylor-YoungA nightmarish futuristic fantasy about the controlling power of big corporations and an innocent cop who stumbles on the truth.Definitely +1 for Children of Men but the choice does raise an interesting question of dystopian future vs. EOTW. You could say that in most dystopian future movies, the world (as we know it) has ended, but life still goes on, just very differently. If by the world ending, you mean the physical planet being (or under the threat of being) obliterated, then I pick any movie featuring a comet/cosmic threat. If by the end of civilization as we know it, then here are some additional movies in no particular order (Soylent Green through Wall-E):
- DirectorFranklin J. SchaffnerStarsCharlton HestonRoddy McDowallKim HunterAfter being kept in hypersleep during a long expedition into deep space, an astronaut crew crash-lands in the 40th century on a planet where highly intelligent non-human ape species are dominant and humans are enslaved.
