Disaster movies give us an exhilarating viewing experience. The Day After Tomorrow combines all the natural disasters into one, making it one of the best disaster movies of all time. To recap, the movie follows a few survivors after a drastic climate shift that caused a killer wave to destroy everything in its past.
Shortly after, the sub-zero temperatures turn the submerged city into solid ice. The survivors need to find a way to make it to safety.
Movies like The Day After Tomorrow include;
- 2012
- The Core
- Geostorm
- Poseidon
- Dante’s Peak
- Cloverfield
- Twister
- Deep Impact
- Armageddon
- The Perfect Storm
- The Impossible
- San Andreas
- Greenland
- Into the Storm
- Knowing
- 2012: Ice Age
- Arctic Blast
- Age Of Ice
- Hours
- The Wave
- Crawl
Just the thought of a big wave approaching a city or a small town in the way of a destructive tornado is enough to keep you on the edge of your seat! If you are looking for similar movies like The Day After Tomorrow, then look no further.
This article will provide a list of the most fantastic disaster movies ever made!
1. 2012 (2009)
Director: Roland Emmerich
Cast: John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Woody Harrelson, Morgan Lily
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
Movie Plot
The Earth’s inhabitants aren’t aware that their planet will expire shortly. An American scientist sends out emergency warnings, and the world leaders are the first to start a secret plan for survival for a specially selected group of people.
These are highly respected doctors, businessmen, and only high-class citizens. The plan is to save them to start a new world when this one ends.
As the global cataclysm unfolds, Jackson Curtis, a failed writer, must lead his family out of harm’s way as the world as they know it begins crumbling all around them. He has to try and get his family aboard the preservation ships before the rapidly approaching water can reach it.
2. The Core (2003)
Director: Jon Amiel
Cast: Hilary Swank, Aaron Eckhart, Bruce Greenwood, DJ Qualls
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Movie Plot
When the planet’s magnetic field rapidly starts deteriorating, the atmosphere begins coming apart, resulting in catastrophic consequences. Dr. Josh Keyes, a Geophysicist, makes a shocking discovery about the Earth’s inner core; it has stopped rotating!
Dr.Keyes assembles a team of the most highly respected scientist in the world, and together they make the descent deep into the Earth.
They have to drill their way through the layers of the Earth to get to the proper depth where they can set up a device, which will, once detonated, reactivate the Earth’s core rotation.
3. Geostorm (2017)
Director: Dean Devlin
Cast: Gerard Butler, Abbie Cornish, Jim Sturgess, Ed Harris
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Movie Plot
To save the Earth and its people from a complete natural disaster, a group of world leaders comes together as a team to set up a highly intricate network of satellites to stabilize the global climate.
However, things don’t go exactly as planned, and instead of stabilizing the weather, the system starts attacking the Earth instead of saving it. The team needs to uncover the real threat before creating a worldwide Geostorm that will wipe out the entire human race!
4. Poseidon
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Cast: John Lucas, Emmy Rossum, Kurt Russell, Richard Dreyfuss
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller
Movie Plot
A few survivors are trapped in a capsized luxury liner in the North Atlantic Ocean after being hit by a massive tidal wave.
They need to find their way through the dangerous upside-down maze while the water in the ship is rising rapidly. The survivors are put to the ultimate test as they have to push themselves to do things they have never had to do to survive.
5. Dante’s Peak (1997)
Director: Roger Donaldson
Cast: Linda Hamilton, Pierce Brosnan, Jamie Renee Smith, Jeremy Foley
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller
Movie Plot
Mayor Rachel Wando and volcanologist Harry Dalton are racing against time as a volcano threatens to erupt. Despite all the warnings, the people in the town are reluctant to leave after Harry, and the Mayor ordered an immediate evacuation.
When it is time for them to get out of the town, Rachel realizes that her kids have gone up the mountain to fetch their grandmother. With the eruption due any moment, Harry and Rachel must make their way up the mountain to get the children and their grandmother and bring them to safety.
But it is a rough ride to reach them, and soon they need to ditch the car after its wheels have melted in the lava, and their last chance to make it off the mountain is to go over a body of water in a small motorboat.
However, as they approach land, they realize that the water has turned to acid and has eaten a hole in the boat. Will they be able to make it to land in the sinking boat and off the mountain before it’s too late?
6. Cloverfield (2008)
Director: Matt Reeves
Cast: Lizzy Caplan, T.J. Miller, Michael Stahl-David, Odette Annable
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Thriller
Movie Plot
A group of New Yorkers has no idea that their fun going-away party will be interrupted by a creature descending upon the city the size of a skyscraper! Their night turns into horror, and as they struggle to navigate their way through the crumbling city, they film everything with a handheld camera.
7. Twister (1996)
Director: Jan de Bont
Cast: Bill Paxton, Helen Hunt, Jamie Gertz, Philip Seymore Hoffman
Genre: Action, Adventure, Thriller
Movie Plot
The most powerful and destructive storms in decades is approaching. Dr. Jo Harding, a university professor and an underfunded group of students, will race toward the monster tornado for research purposes.
With the use of a ground-breaking tornado data-gathering device, Dorothy, conceived by her estranged husband, Bill, will be able to see into the middle of the tornado and gather data from the prototype’s readings.
There is only one problem, Dr. Jonas Miller has built his own prototype after stealing their idea, and the distant husband and wife need to work together to prove that they had the idea first.
8. Deep Impact (1998)
Director: Mimi Leder
Cast: Tea Leoni, Leelee Sobieski, Robert Duvall, Elijah Wood
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Drama, Thriller
Movie Plot
Humanity is threatened by a massive comet that is headed straight toward Earth! Although the government claims to have the situation under control, reporter Jenny Lerner makes a horrific discovery after uncovering the truth.
Present Beck has no other choice but to announce their plan to the people. Spurgeon “Fish” Tanner, a grizzled astronaut, and his crew will catch up with the comet and lay down powerful explosives upon their landing. The plan is to avert the comet away from Earth to prevent its doomsday.
9. Armageddon (1998)
Director: Michael Bay
Cast: Liv Tyler, Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Steve Buscemi
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Thriller
Movie Plot
An asteroid is speeding straight toward Earth, and the impact will be so severe that it will wipe out the entire human race.
Dan Truman, a NASA honcho, confirms that the only way to stop the deadly collision is by drilling a hole into the surface of the asteroid, positioning a nuclear bomb inside the hole, and detonating the bomb to split the asteroid down the middle so both halves can pass by the Earth.
He will need to assemble a team for the mission and find someone who can drill a hole that will be big and deep enough. He turns to Harry Stamper, a professional, renowned driller, who agrees under one condition; he gets to choose his own crew.
One of his crew members is his daughter’s boyfriend, AJ, who he does not think is good enough for her, but hopefully, this mission will prove Harry wrong.
10. The Perfect Storm (2000)
Director: Wolfgang Petersen
Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane, William Fichtner
Genre: Thriller, Drama
Movie Plot
The Perfect Storm is based on actual events and follows the brave women and men who set out their rescue vessels and fishing boats against the incredible forces of nature every working day. Billy Tyne, captain of a sword-fishing boat, has been experiencing a string of bad luck catching fish.
On Halloween, 1991, his crew has just returned to the port when Billy informs them that he is heading out one more time. Five people join Billy on the trip, and when they don’t have much luck in the one spot, he decides to ignore all the weather warnings and sails east.
The crew will soon face their worst fears as three raging weather fronts collide unexpectedly to produce the mother of all storms, the perfect storm!
11. The Impossible (2012)
Director: J.A. Bayona
Cast: Tom Holland, Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor, Harry Holland
Genre: Action, Thriller, Drama
Movie Plot
When Henry, Maria, and their three boys go on their winter holiday in December 2004, they have no idea of the tragic event that is headed their way. Their lovely vacation turns into an incomprehensible nightmare as a powerful roar rises from the depths of the ocean.
The massive wall of water wipes out everything in its path, followed by a devouring wall of black water. Maria and one of her sons are separated from Henry and their other two sons, and through their fight for survival, they search for each other while expecting the worst.
12. San Andreas (2015)
Director: Brad Peyton
Cast: Alexandra Daddario, Dwayne Johnson, CarlaGugino, Paul Giamatti
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Movie Plot
A beautiful day turns into a deadly disaster when California’s San Andreas fault triggers a magnitude nine earthquake. This is the biggest earthquake in recorded history, causing the Earth to crack open literally.
LAFD search and rescue helicopter pilot Ray Gaines must navigate through the crumbling buildings and total destruction, from LA to San Francisco to find his daughter and his estranged wife and get them to safety.
13. Greenland (2020)
Director: Ric Roman Waugh
Cast: Gerard Butler, Morena Baccarin, Scott Glenn, King Bach
Genre: Action, Thriller
Movie Plot
After receiving two-day-late warnings of a planet-killing comet headed towards Earth, John Garrity, his wife, and their young boy go on a terrifying journey to find sanctuary. Apparently, some planes are taking people to Greenland, where the comets won’t hit.
As the global apocalypse approaches zero, the family has to make their way to the aircraft in order to be taken to safety. But everybody is desperate for a spot on the flight, causing them to battle it out for the ultimate plane ticket to a safe haven.
14. Into The Storm (2014)
Director: Steve Quale
Cast: Alycia Debnam-Carey, Sarah Wayne Callies, Richard Armitage, Jeremy Sumpter
Genre: Action, Thriller
Movie Plot
The residents of Silverton have no idea what is headed their way. In just a few hours, an onslaught of ravaging tornadoes will rip through and destroy their entire town. Storm trackers warn the people to take cover and seek shelter as fast as they can.
While everyone else is running in the opposite direction of the storm, professional storm-chasers hope to study the unbelievable phenomenon up close by running toward the danger.
15. Knowing (2009)
Director: Alex Proyas
Cast: Nicolas Cage, Rose Byrne, Chandler Canterbury, Lara Robinson
Genre: Sci-Fi, Thriller
Movie Plot
Fifty years ago, schoolchildren buried a time capsule that the new generation will get to find. However, when professor John Koestler’s son, Caleb, finds a schoolgirl’s cryptic document, John decides to decipher it.
He makes the terrifying discovery that the decoded message is a list of every big disaster that has occurred over the past five decades. If that isn’t strange enough, the message also predicts three more calamities that will cause a global cataclysm.
Despite his warnings, nobody believes John, so he turns to a prophetic author’s daughter and grandchild for help to avert the deadliest disaster this world will ever experience.
16. 2012: Ice Age (2011)
Director: Travis Fort
Cast: Patrick Labyorteaux, Julie McCullough, Nick Afanasiev, Katie Wilson
Genre: Action, Adventure, Drama, Thriller, Sci-Fi
Movie Plot
When an eruption of a volcano in Iceland occurs, it causes a 200mph glazier, resulting in climate change and freak weather that threatens to destroy North America. Bill must get his family out of the deadly sub-zero conditions before they freeze to death.
17. Arctic Blast (2010)
Director: Brian Trenchard-Smith
Cast: Indiana Evans, Michael Shanks, Bruce Davidson, Saskia Hampek
Genre: Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller, Drama
Movie Plot
After a solar eclipse sends a blast of freezing air towards the Earth, it sets off a disastrous chain of events resulting in a new ice age.
18. Age Of Ice
Director: Emile Edwin Smith
Cast: Bailey Spry, Jules Hartley, Barton Bund, Emile Edwin Smith
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action, Thriller
Movie Plot
An American family on holiday in Egypt finds themselves caught in deadly arctic conditions due to wild, unexpected weather.
A chain of powerful earthquakes ruptures the Arabian tectonic plate, which results in the dawn of a new ice age that threatens humanity. The family needs to make their way to a safe place before dark; otherwise, they will freeze to death!
19. Hours (2013)
Director: Eric Heisserer
Cast: Paul Walker, Genesis Rodriguez, TJ Hassan, Shane Jacobson
Genre: Thriller, Drama
Movie Plot
After losing his wife during labor, a new father feels indifferent towards his baby girl as she lies inside her incubator. When Hurricane Katrina hits, she knocks out all power in a New Orleans hospital, forcing Nolan to stay behind and keep his daughter alive.
He needs to keep generating power manually; otherwise, her incubator will switch off, and the baby will die. However, the generator only provides power for three minutes at a time, requiring him to run back and forth to work the hand-operated machine and make sure the baby receives enough oxygen until an ambulance reaches them.
20. The Wave (2015)
Director: Roar Uthaug
Cast: Kristoffer Joner, Ane Dahl Torp, Jonas Hoff Oftebro, Edith Haagenrud-Sande
Genre: Action, Thriller
Movie Plot
When a huge landslide from a scenic mountain pass in Norway occurs, it creates a 250-foot wave that descends upon a small town. A Norwegian geologist and his entire family will need to fight for survival as they make their way up the mountain to reach higher ground.
However, his wife and son are trapped in a building, and he has to rush back down the mountain to save their lives.
21. Crawl (2019)
Director: Alexandre Aja
Cast: Kaya Scodelario, Barry Pepper, Morfydd Clark, Ami Metcalf
Genre: Horror, Thriller, Action
Movie Plot
Haley completely ignores all the evacuation orders because her father David was at home when a massive hurricane hit Florida, and she is going back to get him.
When she arrives at their family home, she finds her father critically injured and unable to make it out of the flooding house on his own. Both of them are trapped by incredibly powerful floodwaters, and the storm is far from over.
Hayley and her father need to find a way out. Otherwise, they will drown for sure. However, the floodwater is the least of their problems as a pack of enormous alligators are headed their way.
22. Destruction Los Angeles (2017)
Director: Tibor Takacs
Cast: Cynthia Watros, Emmanuelle Vaugier, Romeo Miller, Craig Sheffen
Genre: Adventure, Action
Movie Plot
The entire city of Los Angeles is shaken due to an unprecedented volcanic eruption. Volcanic rocks shoot out from the core of the Earth, obliterating the whole city and covering it in a hot ash blanket.
John Benson sees the perfect opportunity to further his career as a reporter, but he needs to choose between risking his life for the sake of a once-in-a-lifetime story or to fight with everything he has to save his family.
23. The Mist (2007)
Director: Frank Darabont
Cast: Laurie Holden, Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Jeffrey DeMunn
Genre: Thriller, Horror
Movie Plot
A powerful storm has completely destroyed David Drayton’s home in Maine. To stock up on supplies, he takes his son and heads into town. While they are in the store, a mysterious thick fog moves in, engulfing the entire town.
The Drayton’s and all the other shoppers are trapped inside, and everyone is terror-stricken when deadly creatures appear outside. However, the outside may just be the least of their problems because a zealot is calling for a sacrifice inside!
24. The Happening (2008)
Director: M. Night Shyamalan
Cast: M. Night Shyamalan, Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo
Genre: Thriller, Horror
Movie Plot
When a chain of inexplicable, violent death occurs across the entire country, they fear it might be an apocalyptic threat that will wipe out the entire human race.
No one knows what is causing this horrifying phenomenon, so Elliot Moore, a teacher, his wife, Alma, and his colleague, Julian, try to uncover the mystery by eluding the unknown killer in Pennsylvania’s farmland. No one is safe, and they need to hurry before it is too late to save humanity.
25. Volcano (1997)
Director: Mick Jackson
Cast: Anne Heche, Gaby Hoffmann, Tommy Lee Jones, Don Cheadle
Genre: Action, Thriller
Movie Plot
An emergency management department head, Mike Roark, has to cut his vacation short to assist with the city’s response call regarding a severe earthquake in Los Angeles. After Dr. Amy Barnes, a geologist, warns that there are signs of sewer tunnels forming by a volcano.
When a massive earthquake causes lava to flow underfoot, it threatens to destroy the entire city. The lava begins to flow through the city’s streets, and Barnes and Roark have to find a way to divert it.
References:
Reel Rundown: Movies Like Day After Tomorrow
Looper: Movies Like Day After Tomorrow Disaster Fans Need to See
Taste Dive: The Day After Tomorrow Movie
Popcorn Match: 10 Catastrophic Movies Like The Day After Tomorrow
Vulture: 22 Greatest Disaster Movies of All Time