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Monday, March 7, 2016

Best Disaster Movies of All Time - Based on 40 Online Rankings


Scene from Independence Day (1996) ranked best disaster movie of all time.

Welcome to our Reel Fives pre-launch movie rankings for the best disaster movies of all time. After an extensive online search we found 40 published rankings for disaster movies, which we have aggregated, resulting in a ranked list of the 58 top disaster movies. Reel Fives has taken all of those rankings and aggregated them into definitive rankings for the top disaster movies of all time. For each ranked list of top movies for the disaster film genre we found online, we have taken the top five ranked disaster films. The original sources of rankings on top disaster movies are included at the bottom of this post and include rankings of the best disaster movies created by movie experts as well as disaster movie rankings from polling sites, such as ranker.com.

Disaster strikes, and no one can avoid it. Through a combination of action, romance, and suspense elements, disaster movies disrupt characters’ lives. Not everyone can be saved, and characters are left to play God, deciding who lives and who dies. Captain Steve Hiller (Will Smith) must save the world from the aliens who want to destroy mankind in Independence Day (1996), the all-time best disaster film. Through exciting fighting scenes between the aliens, Hiller manages to save the world on July 4th, just in time to celebrate Independence Day, hence the name. Titanic (1997), ranked second, dramatizes the story of the real Titanic ship that sinks after hitting an iceberg in 1912. Director and writer James Cameron centered the disaster movie on a love story between Rose (Kate Winslet) and Jack (Leonardo DiCaprio). Chief Michael O’Hallorhan (Steve McQueen) and Doug Roberts (Paul Newman) must save those trapped  in a skyscraper fire in The Towering Inferno (1974), ranked third. The chief and architect (Roberts) must decide who to save when they realize they may not be able to save everyone. When a ship capsizes at sea, the passengers and crew struggle to survive in The Poseidon Adventure (1972), ranked fourth. Its Oscar-winning original song “The Morning After” captures the plight of the remaining survivors and their harrowing ordeal. The Day After Tomorrow (2004), ranked fifth, centers on a father-son relationship during the midst of an oncoming ice age. The snowstorms trap people in the midst of their daily lives and force them into a fight for survival. The top five movies demonstrate the genre’s ability to mix elements of other types of movies to create new plotlines.

Nature plays an inevitable role in disaster films, alongside the desire to survive. The characters attempt to survive an ice age (The Day After Tomorrow (2004)), survive in cold waters (Titanic (1997)), or simply work to accept their fate and attempt to survive (Earthquake (1972), ranked tenth). In succumbing to nature, the film industry tells audiences to accept that they do not have power in all aspects of life, but they do have power in how they handle their situations. They can choose to fight the aliens (Independence Day (1996)), fix broken relationships with loved ones (The Day After Tomorrow (2004)), destroy the asteroid or comet (Deep Impact (1998), ranked sixth and Armageddon (1998), ranked ninth), or face the tornado head on (Twister (1996), ranked ninth) in order to survive. Most disaster films center on the notion of survival at an individual level or a species level. No one wants to willingly die, so they fight. Some will die fighting, as not all can be saved. Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) is frustrated when he finally reaches safety in 2012 (2009), ranked seventh, when he sees the size of his bunker, as more people could have been saved.

We found the rankings to be a nice mix of old and new films. While the film industry has greatly improved their techniques, especially with regards to special effects, older movies remain strong. The Towering Inferno (1974) and The Poseidon Adventure (1972) rank third and fourth. We also liked the variety of disasters in the genre; the top 10 films in our rankings do not overwhelmingly favor one type of disaster. From this, we gathered the film industry desires to explore all types of disasters. Space has been an interesting development, as reality is beginning to catch up imagination. Interstellar (2014) has not yet been ranked on our lists and we do expect it to end up on the list in the next few years as the plotline involves going through a wormhole to save humanity. A trend in the top disaster movies is that men always rescue women- strong female leads are largely missing from the top movies. With the film industry diversifying their films, such as the superhero genre, we hope to see similar changes in the disaster genre in the future.
 

Top 58 Disaster Movies of All Time
Percent of online top fives movies appear in shown 
1 . Independence Day (1996): 45%
2 . Titanic (1997): 42.5%
3 . The Towering Inferno (1974): 40%
4 . The Poseidon Adventure (1972): 37.5%
5 . The Day After Tomorrow (2004): 35%
6 . Deep Impact (1998): 30.0%
7 . 2012 (2009): 25%
8 . Twister (1996): 20%
9 . Armageddon (1998): 17.5%
10 . Earthquake (1974): 12.5%
11 (tied). Jurassic Park (1993): 10%
11 (tied). The Impossible (2012): 10%
13 . Airplane! (1980): 10%
14 . War of the Worlds (2005): 10%
15 . Volcano (1997): 10%
16 . Outbreak (1995): 7.50%
17 . The Core (2003): 5%
18 (tied). Gravity (2013): 5%
18 (tied). Contagion (2011): 5%
20 . World War Z (2013): 5%
21 (tied). The Birds (1963): 5%
21 (tied). The Day After (1983): 5%
21 (tied). The Cassandra Crossing (1976): 5%
24 . Snowpiercer (2013): 5%
25 (tied). The Perfect Storm (2000): 2.5%
25 (tied). United 93 (2006): 2.5%
25 (tied). Black Sunday (1977): 2.5%
25 (tied). Gojira (1954): 2.5%
25 (tied). Take Shelter (2011): 2.5%
25 (tied). The Omega Man (1971): 2.5%
25 (tied). The Swarm (1978): 2.5%
25 (tied). War of the Worlds (1953): 2.5%
33 (tied). Good Earth (1937): 2.5%
33 (tied). Jaws (1975): 2.5%
33 (tied). Airport 1975 (1974): 2.5%
33 (tied). The Hindenburg (1975): 2.5%
37 (tied). Everest (1998): 2.5%
37 (tied). Flight (2012): 2.5%
37 (tied). Fail-Safe (1964): 2.5%
37 (tied). Melancholia (2011): 2.5%
37 (tied). 28 Days Later (2002): 2.5%
37 (tied). Two-Minute Warning (1976): 2.5%
37 (tied). San Francisco (1936): 2.5%
44 (tied). The Dante's Peak (1997): 2.5%
44 (tied). Testament (1983): 2.5%
44 (tied). All Is Lost (2013): 2.5%
44 (tied). Alive (1993): 2.5%
44 (tied). The War of the Gargantuas (1966): 2.5%
44 (tied). Backdraft (1991): 2.5%
44 (tied). The Sweet Hereafter (1997): 2.5%
44 (tied). A Night to Remember (1958): 2.5%
44 (tied). Comradeship (1931): 2.5%
44 (tied). Them! (1954): 2.5%
44 (tied). Everest (1998): 2.5%
55 (tied). The China Syndrome (1979): 2.5%
55 (tied). Miracle Mile (1988): 2.5%
55 (tied). The Money Pit (1986): 2.5%
55 (tied). Day The Earth Caught Fire (1962): 2.5%




Disaster Movie Ranking Sources
Vulture List of top 22 (link)
Hitfix List of top 15 (link)
Movie Film Review List of top 100 (link)
The Top Tens List of top 10 (link)
Reel World Technology List of top 5 (link)
Bill Damon's blog List of top 40 (link)
Best Fan List of top 5 (link)
Movies About List of top 10 (link)
Ranker List of top 392 (link)
AMC List of top 15 (link)
Taste of Cinema List of top 10 (link)
Flick Chart List of top 100 (link)
Letter Boxd List of top 5 (link)
List Challenges List of top 100 (link)
Joblo List of top 10 (link)
Box Office Prophets List of top 5 (link)
Mubi List of top 18 (link)
Ign List of top 10 (link)
Couch Popcorn List of top 10 (link)
Top 10 Films List of top 10 (link)
Movie Pilot List of top 10 (link)
Safety Security Crazy List of top 10 (link)
Filmonic List of top 10 (link)
Movie Fone List of top 17 (link)
All Womens Talk List of top 9 (link)
Age of the Nerd List of top 5 (link)
971 Talk List of top 7 (link)
MSN List of top 17 (link)
Red Online List of top 14 (link)
Extra TV List of top 10 (link)
Crave Online List of top 22 (link)
Film Racket List of top 10 (link)
Rankopedia List of top 25 (link)
OC Register List of top 16 (link)
Reel 2 Reality List of top 10 (link)
Bullz Eye List of top 15 (link)
Nerd Low Down List of top 5 (link)
Female First List of top 5 (link)
Chillopedia List of top 20 (link)
Info Barrel List of top 10 (link)



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