Doomsday film

A Doomsday film is a motion picture which tells the story of an actual or fictitious doomsday event and/or its aftermath. The true Doomsday film chronicles an event that is global in scale. A more localized catastrophe, such as the destruction of a city, which can serve as a dramatic microcosm of a full-scale doomsday event is more accurately categorized as a disaster film, although the line is flexible, and in many cases it is not known to the characters (or the viewer) whether the cataclysm is local or global. Alternatively, a Doomsday film may tell a suspenseful story in which a doomsday event is narrowly averted. The doomsday theme can be regarded as defining a distinct sub-genre of such broader film genres as suspense, thriller, horror, science fiction, fantasy, action, disaster, war, adventure, or even comedy.

List of noteworthy Doomsday films in chronological order

Before 1950

*"Things to Come" (1936, UK)
*"The Beginning or the End" (1947, US)

1950s

*"When Worlds Collide" (1951, US)
*"Above and Beyond" (1952, US)
*"The War of the Worlds" (1953, US; remade in 2005)
*"Godzilla" (1954, JA; remade in 1998.)
*"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" (1956, US; remade in 1978, 1995 and 2007)
*"Earth vs. the Flying Saucers" (1956, US)
*"On the Beach" (1959, US)
*"The World, the Flesh and the Devil" (1958, US)

1960s

*"The Time Machine" (1960, US; remade in 2002)
*"Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" (1961 US)
*"The Day the Earth Caught Fire" (1961, UK)
*"The Day of the Triffids" (1962, UK)
*"Panic in Year Zero!", (1962, US)
*"This is Not a Test" (1962, US)
*"The Birds" (1963, US)
*"" (1964, US)
*"Fail-Safe" (1964, US)
*"The Last Man on Earth" (1964, US; Remade in 1971 as "The Omega Man"; Remade in 2007 as "I Am Legend")
*"Crack in the World" (1965, US)
*"The End of August at the Hotel Ozone" (1966, Czech)
*"The War Game" (1965, UK)
*"Doomsday Machine" (1967, US)
*"Night of the Living Dead" (1968, US)

1970s

*"The Bed-Sitting Room" (1970, UK)
*"" (1970, US)
*"No Blade Of Grass" (1970, US)
*"Beneath the Planet of the Apes" (1971, US)
*"The Omega Man" (1971, US)
*"The Andromeda Strain" (1971, US)
*"The Crazies" (1973, US)
*"A Boy and His Dog" (1975, US)
*"Damnation Alley" (1977, US)
*"Deadly Harvest" (1977, Canada)
*"Dawn of the Dead" (1978, US; remade in 2004)
*"Mad Max" (1979, AU)
*"Meteor" (1979, US)

1980s

*"The Last Chase" (1980, Canada)
*"" (1981, AU)
*"When the Wind Blows" (1982, UK)
*"Special Bulletin" (1983, US)
*"Testament" (1983, US)
*"The Day After" (1983, US)
*"Night of the Comet" (1984, US)
*"The Terminator" (1984, US)
*"Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind" (1984, JA)
*"Threads" (1984, UK)
*"Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" (1985, AU)
*"The Quiet Earth" (1985, NZ)
*"Maximum Overdrive" (1986, US)
*"Miracle Mile" (1988, US)

1990s

*"By Dawn's Early Light" (1990, US)
*"" (1991, US)
*"The Stand" (1994, US)
*"Twelve Monkeys" (1995, US)
*"Waterworld" (1995, US)
*"Independence Day" (1996, US)
*"Mars Attacks!" (1996, US)
*"The Postman" (1997, US)
*"The End of Evangelion" (1997, JA)
*"Armageddon" (1998, US)
*"Deep Impact" (1998, US)
*"Last Night" (1998, CA)
*"The Matrix" (1999, US/AU)

2000s

*"Titan A.E." (2000, US)
*"Reign of Fire" (2002, US)
*"Resident Evil" (2002, US)
*"Returner" (2002, JA)
*"The Sum of All Fears" (2002, US)
*"28 Days Later" (2002, UK)
*"" (2003, US)
*"The Core" (2003, US)
*"Dawn of the Dead" (2004, US)
*"Dirty War" (2004, UK)
*"The Day After Tomorrow" (2004, US)
*"Shaun of the Dead" (2004, UK)
*"" (2004, US)
*"Hellboy" (2004, US)
*"Land of the Dead" (2005, US)
*"A Sound of Thunder" (2005, US)
*"War of the Worlds" (2005, US)
*"Children of Men" (2006, US/UK)
*"Sinking of Japan" (2006, JA)
*"Sunshine" (2007, UK)
*"28 Weeks Later" (2007, UK)
*"" (2007, US)
*"The Invasion" (2007, US)
*"Mulberry Street" (2007, US)
*"Tooth and Nail" (2007, US)
*"I Am Legend" (2007, US)
*"Cloverfield" (2008, US)
*"Doomsday" (2008, UK)
*"Day of the Dead" (2008, US)
*"The Happening" (2008, US)

2010s

*"" (est. 2010, US)

Television series

Several television series have also been based upon Doomsday or post-Doomsday scenarios:
* "Survivors" (1975-77, UK)
* "Battlestar Galactica" (1978-79 and 2003-present, US)
* "Buck Rogers in the 25th Century" (1979-81, US)
* "Jericho" (2006-08, US)
* "" (2008-present, US)

Doomsday scenarios have also been featured or referenced in many science fiction television series, often as part of the show's backstory, including ' and its spinoffs (particularly '), "Doctor Who", "Dark Angel" and "The Twilight Zone". Throughout the "Futurama" series, professor Farnsworth boasts about his nine different doomsday devices and they are often referred to or a part of the plot.

ee also

*Alas, Babylon, episode 131 (S4.E14) of Playhouse 90
*Apocalyptic literature
*Apocalyptic and post-apocalyptic science fiction
*Disaster film