A friend asked me the other day, “What city has been the site for the most disaster movies?” I immediately thought of New York City, with its tempting Statue of Liberty, but then I second-guessed myself with Los Angeles, home of the industry itself and thus convenient for filming. Let’s take a look at this burning (heh) question.
Given that new movies are coming out all the time, and that the lines between disaster and, say, science fiction are blurry (see also: The Avengers trashing NYC), no list will ever be definitive. So here is a completely arbitrary analysis of the 50 top-rated theatrical releases in TheDisasterArea’s database to date.
Turns out the most common place for a disaster movie isn’t a city at all. It’s the Atlantic Ocean (7 of the 50 movies), which appears to be lethal for cruise ships. As you might expect, three of the seven movies are about the RMS Titanic going down, with one more copycat movie to boot. Ships in two other films ships get torpedoed during the World Wars, and the last is hit by a gigantic rogue wave. Guess which one that is?
- A Night to Remember, Roy Ward Baker, 1958
- Lifeboat, Alfred Hitchcock, 1944
- Titanic, James Cameron, 1997
- Titanic, Jean Negulesco, 1953
- Morning Departure, Roy Ward Baker, 1950
- The Poseidon Adventure, Ronald Neame, 1972
- Whom the Gods Destroy, Walter Lang, 1934
New York City does rank #1 for actual cities, though, with four entries.
- King Kong, Ernest B. Schoedsack, Merian C. Cooper, 1933
- Sully, Clint Eastwood, 2016
- Cloverfield, Matt Reeves, 2008
- Independence Day, Roland Emmerich, 1996
Chicago, San Francisco, and Bhopal, India each have two entries, with a scattering of others around and orbiting the globe.
To be sure, there are some classics missing: The Towering Inferno (San Francisco), the various Godzillas (most often Tokyo), 2012 (multiple cities), Armageddon (Paris, among others), and let’s not forget poor Pompeii. These movies just weren’t ranked high enough to make the cut.
What’s your favorite city to be destroyed? I admit a fondness for San Francisco—seeing the Golden Gate bridge twist and snap is spectacular, especially when accompanied by a tsunami (San Andreas).
Related Content- Titanic (1953)
- Titanic (1997)
- A Night to Remember (1958)
- Lifeboat (1944)
- Morning Departure (Operation Disaster) (1950)
- The Poseidon Adventure (1972)
- Whom the Gods Destroy (1934)
- King Kong (1933)
- Sully (2016)
- Cloverfield (2008)
- Independence Day (1996)
- The Towering Inferno (1974)
- Armageddon (1998)
- San Andreas (2015)
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