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| 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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