End-of-the-world movies
Take a look at how these films imagined our impending doom (or survival after it), from alien invasions to natural disasters and viral plagues.
The Terminator (1984)
In the "Terminator" series, the artificial intelligence network Skynet becomes self aware in the near future and tries to wipe out the human race. The machines send a cyborg assassin (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) back in time to prevent a man named John Connor from starting a human resistance against them.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Dennis Quaid star in this film, in which global warming leads to a series of natural disasters around the world. Among them, New York is hit by a tidal wave, a hailstorm destroys Tokyo and a series of tornadoes devastate Los Angeles.
Aliens who want to invade and destroy Earth start attacking the world's major cities. On July 4, a group of survivors plan to fight back. (Spoiler alert: We win.) Will Smith, Bill Pullman and Jeff Goldblum star in this Roland Emmerich-directed action flick.
A trio of astronauts crash land on a distant planet where apes have mastered speech and technology, and humans are treated as slaves. Charlton Heston, Kim Hunter and Roddy McDowall starred in the film, which was remade into a nowhere-near-as-good version in 2001. A prequel, "Rise of the Planet of the Apes," will come out in 2011.
We don't ever find out what cataclysmic event scorched the Earth and killed off most of the population in this film, based on the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name, but what we do get to see is how a man (Viggo Mortensen) and his son (Kodi Smit-McPhee) fight to survive in the deserted wasteland, where they must scrounge for food, find shelter and avoid bands of cannibals.
Earth is invaded by aliens in this adaptation of H.G. Wells' famous science fiction novel. As a battle for the planet is waged, a divorced dad (Tom Cruise) tries to protect his children and reunite with his ex-wife.
Civilization hasn't ended yet in this film, but it's getting close - worldwide infertility means that new children haven't been born anywhere on Earth for more than 18 years. In Britain, where one of the few organized societies still remain, a government worker (Clive Owen) helps an underground group (Julianne Moore among them) transport a lone pregnant refugee to safety.
Through the eyes of an adorable little robot, we see that future humans have rendered the Earth unlivable and have gone off to live in space.
An asteroid the size of Texas is on a collision course for Earth, and will destroy the planet and its inhabitants when it hits in 18 days. NASA sends a team of blue-collar oil drillers into space to destroy the asteroid and save the planet.
After a plague kills most of the population, a man immune to the virus (Will Smith) struggles to find a cure while living in New York City, which is inhabited by mutant victims of the plague.
In 2012, the Earth's crust becomes unstable and a series of cataclysmic events unfold as humanity fights to survive. John Cusack plays a science fiction writer to who tries to save his family from the disaster. Woody Harrelson, Amanda Peet, Thandi Newton and Oliver Platt also star.
In this remake of the 1951 sci-fi flick, Keanu Reeves plays an alien who lands in New York City and says he has come to save the Earth - but his idea of "saving" the planet is exterminating the human race. Jennifer Connelly and Jaden Smith also star.
This British horror film, directed by Danny Boyle, focuses on a group of survivors who must find sanctuary after a highly contagious and incurable virus ravages the population, leaving those infected in a permanent state of murderous rage.
In the future, a virus has devastated the population and forced survivors to live underground. A convicted criminal (Bruce Willis) allows scientists to be sent back in time to gather information about the virus, thought to be released by a mysterious organization. Brad Pitt also stars in the film.