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8.5k voters

The Greatest Disaster Movies of All Time

Originally by Ranker Community

Updated April 7, 2021 76.9k votes 8.5k voters 472.8k views318 items

List RulesOnly disaster movies should be here

These are the most entertaining, the most fun, the greatest disaster movies ever made, ranked by movie experts and film fans alike. There is a long history of these kinds of movies in cinema - never to be taken too seriously, always slightly histrionic - for moviegoers who love to watch action disaster movies that level cities and have populations run screaming for their lives. This list includes thrillers that center around a natural disaster, like a storm, as well as other kinds of catastrophe that might cause an apocalypse.

This list of floods, fires, earthquakes, and alien attacks is built from both your votes and those lists that Rankers have contributed. If you are a die-hard fan of disaster movies, if you know your extreme weather such as F-5 Tornados from your 10.5 Earthquakes, make your own ranking of these to really impact the list order! And if you see a good film that should be amongst these greatest disaster movies of all time, please add it!

Be sure to check out Ranker's list of all disaster films.

Check out more great lists like the Best End of the World Movies, New Disaster Movies, Worst Game of Thrones Characters, Best Horror Anime, and Celebrities With Allergies.

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The Day After Tomorrow
2004
Actors: Emmy Rossum, Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Sela Ward, Ian Holm
Directed by: Roland Emmerich
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1,896
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Twister
1996
Actors: Helen Hunt, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Paxton, Alexa Vega, Jami Gertz
Directed by: Jan de Bont
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Deep Impact
1998
Actors: Morgan Freeman, Robert Duvall, Elijah Wood, Téa Leoni, Vanessa Redgrave
Directed by: Mimi Leder
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Independence Day
1996
Actors: Will Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Vivica A. Fox, Randy Quaid, Harry Connick
Directed by: Roland Emmerich
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Outbreak
1995
Actors: Morgan Freeman, Kevin Spacey, Dustin Hoffman, Cuba Gooding Jr., Patrick Dempsey
Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen
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The Bubonic Plague Ravaged San Francisco In The 1900s—And The Government Tried A Massive Cover Up#4 of 14 The Scariest Fictional Diseases In Movies And TV, Ranked By How Much You Don't Want To Get Them
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Dante's Peak
1997
Actors: Pierce Brosnan, Linda Hamilton, Jamie Renée Smith, Peter Jason, Grant Heslov
Directed by: Roger Donaldson
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2012
2009
Actors: Amanda Peet, Woody Harrelson, Thandie Newton, John Cusack, Danny Glover
Directed by: Roland Emmerich
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Armageddon
1998
Actors: Ben Affleck, Bruce Willis, Liv Tyler, Steve Buscemi, Owen Wilson
Directed by: Michael Bay
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Contagion
2011
Actors: Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Matt Damon, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard
Directed by: Steven Soderbergh
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The Perfect Storm
2000
Actors: George Clooney, Mark Wahlberg, Diane Lane, John C. Reilly, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio
Directed by: Wolfgang Petersen
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The Poseidon Adventure
1972
Actors: Gene Hackman, Stella Stevens, Ernest Borgnine, Leslie Nielsen, Shelley Winters
Directed by: Irwin Allen, Ronald Neame
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Volcano
1997
Actors: Tommy Lee Jones, Don Cheadle, Anne Heche, Keith David, Jillian Barberie
Directed by: Mick Jackson
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Backdraft
1991
Actors: Robert De Niro, Kurt Russell, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Donald Sutherland, Rebecca De Mornay
Directed by: Ron Howard
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War of the Worlds
2005
Actors: Tom Cruise, Morgan Freeman, Channing Tatum, Dakota Fanning, Tim Robbins
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
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The Towering Inferno
1974
Actors: O. J. Simpson, Paul Newman, Faye Dunaway, Steve McQueen, William Holden
Directed by: Irwin Allen, John Guillermin
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28 Days Later
2002
Actors: Cillian Murphy, Christopher Eccleston, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson, Luke Mably
Directed by: Danny Boyle
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#36 of 230 The Best Psychological Thrillers of All Time#12 of 20 Horror Movies That Originally Had Much Darker Endings
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The Core
2003
Actors: Hilary Swank, Stanley Tucci, Aaron Eckhart, Alfre Woodard, Richard Jenkins
Directed by: Jon Amiel
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Planet of the Apes
1968
Actors: Charlton Heston, Linda Harrison, James Whitmore, Maurice Evans, Kim Hunter
Directed by: Franklin J. Schaffner
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Cloverfield
2008
Actors: Odette Annable, Lizzy Caplan, Jessica Lucas, Mike Vogel, T. J. Miller
Directed by: Matt Reeves
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The Stand
1994
Actors: Stephen King, Rob Lowe, Molly Ringwald, Gary Sinise, Shawnee Smith
Directed by: Mick Garris
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Tremors
1990
Actors: Kevin Bacon, Reba McEntire, Fred Ward, Ariana Richards, Michael Gross
Directed by: Ron Underwood
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The Andromeda Strain
1971
Actors: Paula Kelly, David Wayne, Arthur Hill, Eric Christmas, James Olson
Directed by: Robert Wise
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Reign of Fire
2002
Actors: Christian Bale, Matthew McConaughey, Gerard Butler, Izabella Scorupco, Alexander Siddig
Directed by: Rob Bowman
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Night of the Living Dead
1968
Actors: George A. Romero, Duane Jones, Bill Hinzman, Karl Hardman, Judith O'Dea
Directed by: George A. Romero
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#2 of 144 The Best Zombie Movies Of All Time#27 of 88 The Goriest Movies Ever Made
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Earthquake
1974
Actors: Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, Victoria Principal, George Kennedy, Walter Matthau
Directed by: Mark Robson
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