From 'Twister' to 'Titanic,' these are the 20 best disaster movies ever
Pick a method of destructive devastation – runaway asteroid, out-of-control inferno, ginormous iceberg or a whole bunch of avian menaces – and Hollywood has likely made a movie out of it.
While the thought of trying to survive a doomsday scenario or extreme weather event doesn't sound like a lot of fun, watching a disaster movie makes for a better experience: all the thrills, none of the cleanup. Some are over-the-top B-movies, some are Oscar-bait, and some are excellent finding a balance of both.
The latest throws back to a fan favorite: The original 1996 "Twister" starred Bill Paxton and Helen Hunt as storm-chasing exes in the center of deadly tornadoes, and the new sequel "Twisters" ups the windy threats alongside Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones.
In honor of this cinematic return to Tornado Alley, we're ranking the 20 best disaster movies ever:
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20. 'The Day After Tomorrow' (2004)
Got an appetite for destruction of the environmentally conscious sort? Climate change gets its revenge in this thriller, where Jake Gyllenhaal co-stars as a climatologist alongside a nasty hailstorm that pelts Tokyo, tornadoes that hit LA and a flood that makes New York City a swimming pool, all leading to a sudden new ice age.
19. 'Deep Impact' (1998)
It would have had more of an, ahem, impact if the similarly themed (and better) "Armageddon" hadn't come out the very same summer. This one, which centers on a pair of comets headed toward Earth, doles out plenty of property damage but leans more thoughtful, with a commanding presidential performance by Morgan Freeman.
18. 'Twister' (1996)
Aside from the flying cow, the blockbuster holds up for two reasons. Bill Paxton is fantastic in an energetic yet still soulful role as a storm chaser opposite Helen Hunt. And even nearly 30 years later, those increasingly gnarly "Twister" tornadoes are still freaky as they ever were, roaring like angry beasts.
17. 'Seeking a Friend for the End of the World' (2012)
Lorene Scafaria's big-hearted pre-apocalyptic comedy follows an insurance salesman (Steve Carell), dumped by his wife three weeks before an asteroid hits Earth, who takes a road trip with his neighbor (Keira Knightley) to track down the high school sweetheart who got away.
16. 'Deepwater Horizon' (2016)
The ultra-intense action flick revisits a harrowing real-life 2010 oil-rig explosion and spill in the Gulf of Mexico, with Mark Wahlberg's electrician heading up a working-class crew fighting to rescue each other amid the complete onslaught of mud, fire and deadly circumstance.
15. 'Airplane!' (1980)
While the movies it spoofs rank higher on this list, surely you can't leave out this pitch-perfect comedy sending up Hollywood's 1970s disaster-flick golden era. (Don't call me Shirley.) From Robert Hays' flop-sweaty pilot to Peter Graves asking that kid if he's ever seen a grown man naked, it crash-lands every choice gag.
14. 'Cloverfield' (2008)
True, monster movies are their own thing – when Godzilla steps on a building, it's pretty disastrous – but the innovative found-footage thriller made its audience viscerally feel the chaos and terror of a giant creature causing widespread carnage and decapitating the Statue of Liberty.
13. 'The Perfect Storm' (2000)
George Clooney and Mark Wahlberg play embattled sailors in this white-knuckle thriller based on an actual 1991 maritime incident. After a lackluster fishing season, a boat captain (Clooney) puts a crew together for a last haul that ends up heading right into a hurricane with raging seas and one deadly serious wave.
12. 'The Day After' (1983)
The most infamous TV movie ever, and one many parents wondered if their kids should watch. Amid cold war tensions, the Emmy-winning drama graphically imagined a nuclear attack on America, with disturbing scenes of people and buildings being vaporized. A bleak cautionary tale no one alive in that era will forget.
11. 'The Towering Inferno' (1974)
Steve McQueen and Paul Newman were on fire back in the '70s, especially with this suspenseful thriller. As a San Francisco fire chief and an architect respectively, they team up to save a bunch of partygoers in a blazing skyscraper played by Fred Astaire, Faye Dunaway, Richard Chamberlain, Robert Vaughn and more.
10. 'Melancholia' (2011)
Director Lars von Trier veered artsy with his end-of-the-world drama, which stars Kirsten Dunst and Charlotte Gainsbourg as sisters and a narrative about a rogue planet smashing into Earth. The film deftly explores people's wildly varying mindsets when such a situation arises, plus doesn't skimp on its doomsday denouement.
9. 'Contagion' (2011)
This one definitely hits different after COVID-19. Steven Soderbergh's thriller follows the quick spread of a virus that turns into a disruptive global pandemic (sound familiar?) starring Gwyneth Paltrow as the patient zero, Matt Damon as her husband, Jude Law as a conspiracy theorist and Laurence Fishburne as a Fauci-esque physician.
8. 'Greenland' (2020)
Speaking of COVID, this entertaining gem got a bit lost when the movie industry was in turmoil. Gerard Butler is rather terrific as an Everyman dude trying to get his family back together in the action thriller, which takes a realistic and intimate perspective on the crisis that would unfold if a comet was speeding directly toward us.
7. 'Take Shelter' (2011)
Michael Shannon is an Ohio construction worker wracked by apocalyptic nightmares and waking visions of dark storms and black birds, so much so that he worries his wife (Jessica Chastain) when souping up their tornado bunker. The quasi-horror drama is a thoughtful exploration of mental illness, with an emotional gut-punch ending.
6. 'The Poseidon Adventure' (1972)
A massive ocean luxury liner goes out for her last voyage – and things do not go swimmingly. When a tsunami capsizes the ship and ruins the New Year's party aboard, a preacher (Gene Hackman) and a cop (Ernest Borgnine) try to lead the survivors to safety amid hazardous conditions and much melodrama in the ensemble film.
5. 'Armageddon' (1988)
Director Michael Bay was at his Bay-est with this action-adventure sending a bunch of roughnecks (led by Bruce Willis but don't forget Ben Affleck) to space so they can nuke an incoming, planet-killing asteroid the size of Texas before it can crash into Earth. To quote Aerosmith, you don't want to miss a thing in this machismo-fest.
4. 'Airport' (1970)
A weary airport manager (Burt Lancaster) has enough problems on his plate – from a snowstorm to a ticked-off wife – before he learns there's a bomb on a flight. It's an entertaining melange of all-stars, including Dean Martin as a sass-spouting pilot, Helen Hayes as a feisty stowaway and George Kennedy as the coolest mechanic ever.
3. 'The Birds' (1963)
A flying mass of attacking feathered fiends pecking at people's faces sounds like a disaster scenario to us. Alfred Hitchcock drove audiences more than a bit psycho with his freaky narrative, where Tippi Hedren and Rod Taylor are among the poor unfortunate souls traumatized by multiple bird species working together for maximum mayhem.
2. 'Independence Day' (1996)
Sure, it turns into pretty much a patriotic sci-fi action film. But hoo boy, it nails being a disaster-piece early, with the aliens arriving and waiting a bit before just brilliantly unleashing hellfire on major cities (including blowing up the White House in memorable style). All that, alongside the popularity of "Twister," sparked a major '90s resurgence in the calamitous genre that included ...
1. 'Titanic' (1997)
James Cameron's mega blockbuster (and Oscar best-picture winner) checks all the appropriate disaster-movie boxes, from soap opera to big names. (And Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio were the biggest around then.) "Titanic" goes hardest with the spectacular sinking of the iconic boat, a special-effects bonanza as key as the emotional love story to why this three-hour-plus epic works so well (even today).
