2012 came out at an interesting time. Just three years before the Mayan prediction of the apocalypse, the movie used every trick in the book to tell a story about the world coming to an end. The film earned over $65 million during its domestic opening weekend, and nearly $800 million worldwide. While it did get really poor reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, it remains an interesting take on the end-times that felt relevant to a topical discussion.
Fortunately, other movies exist out there that are similar to 2012. Whether comedic or close to predicting the future, these are the ones worth watching if you want to see a film that closely depicts what could happen in a real-life apocalypse, whilst having some to real-life discussion.
10. This Is The end
Let’s start with something comedic; 2013’s This is the End, which depicts a scenario where a group of celebrities try to survive the end of the world. From betrayals, gangs, and demonic possession, the main takeaway is that no one is safe, even the rich and famous. The characters you’ve seen in action movies and buddy-cop comedies are all a facade that won’t help when your life is on the line.
9. Don’t Look Up
Another film that’s somewhat close to home – yet with a comedic twist – is Netflix’s Don’t Look Up. The movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio and Jennifer Lawrence, who tries to convince everyone that the world is about to end, but both the media and the government ignore their warning. Oddly enough, it was brought up a lot in the UK in 2022 due to ongoing heatwaves and how news anchors tried to downplay the situation. If you want apocalyptic satire reminiscent of what we see in the news, this is one for you.
8. Tomorrow, When the War Began
Based on the best-selling novel by John Marsden, Tomorrow, When The War Began is about a group of young teenagers who discover that their country is at war. Yes, it’s not very apocalyptic in a sense, but the events that unfold are close to what could happen in the real world. It may not be about natural disasters, but it tells a story of how young people could survive in a suddenly conflicted world, using everyday items and their knowledge of their hometown to their advantage.
7. Deep Impact
If you enjoy watching big names like Morgan Freeman, Jon Favreau, and Elijah Wood, then Deep Impact is the movie for you. The thinking person’s Armageddon is about a comet big enough to wipe out humanity that is about to hit the Earth. Unfortunately, not everyone can be saved, which to be completely honest, doesn’t sound far from the truth if something like this were to happen in real life. This film mixes post-apocalyptic drama with various portrayals of romance, whether patriotic, familial, or even young love.
6. Maze Runner: The Death Cure
Out of all the movies released during the peak of young adult dystopian stories, Maze Runner: The Death Cure has to be the closest one to tell a story close to real life while using tropes from the genre. The third and final installment of the Maze Runner series that finds young teenagers make their way to “the last city” to confront WCKD, an organization torturing immune children to find a cure for a disease that’s killing humanity.
While it’s still a YA dystopian tale, it doesn’t negate the fact that something like this could happen, and this is just one scenario where leaders abused their powers for the greater good. However, it’s up to you if you want to watch the other two movies to fully understand the events of the final installment.
5. Volcano
If 2012 was too much due to the natural disaster covering all over the globe, here is something that’s much more “local.” Volcano is about how a volcano suddenly emerges in Los Angeles, California. While this is very, very unlikely to happen in real life, let’s not forget that California sits on top of a fault line. The film showcases the panic and quick thinking that everyday people and rescue teams had to exhibit to save a city from an event that was never supposed to happen in the first place. Because without these people working together, millions of lives would have been lost, just like in real life.
4. The Day After Tomorrow
If you want a post-apocalyptic film that’s more focused on climate change, then The Day After Tomorrow is definitely a must-watch. While the events feel bizarre, some of the strategies shown in are very useful if you want to help yourself and your friends and loved ones survive in a similar situation. I would like to say that one of the flaws of this movie is the writing, but then again, when you watched too many of these types, you can no longer tell the difference.
3. Wall-E
Don’t lie to me. You know that the events of Wall-E could happen in real life. A scenario where all of Earth’s population leaves and embarks on a giant spaceship, leaving robots behind to clean up our mess. Meanwhile, humans are stuck being served by automated machines. This doesn’t sound too far-fetched compared to when it came first came out in 2008. This is a cinematic masterpiece of not only post-apocalyptic storytelling, but also as a means to examine the first steps in fixing the mistakes of the past and building a new future.
2. Contagion
Contagion is a movie that was mentioned multiple times when the COVID-19 pandemic started due to its strong similarities. Just like the 2020 virus, Contagion portrays a world similar to ours, where humanity was infected by a disease that started from animals, which eventually led to an outbreak, panic buying, and looting. Even the way it spreads is reminiscent of the 2020 pandemic. Contagion has a Certified Fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, so if you want to watch a highly-praised apocalyptic story that really did predict the future, this one is worth a watch.
1. San Andreas
Just like 2012 predictions, there were also theories on what might happen when the San Andreas fault line would cause a huge natural disaster. And just like the aforementioned 2009 movie, San Andreas is similar, even when it came to critics and audience reception on Rotten Tomatoes. It stars Dwayne Johnson, so you can imagine why it sort of deserves the poor score it got. Regardless, it’s a blockbuster that’s also based on real-life discussions, yet uses every post-apocalyptic trope in the book.
The genre tends to be bizarre and employ a lot of outlandish claims and predictions about what would happen if the world came to an end. Sometimes, filmmakers would take a topic that’s being talked about lately, such as fault lines, climate change, or ancient civilization predictions, and use that as the crux of these world-ending events. While the writing may be bizarre – and it usually ends with our heroes (and their families) being saved due to plot armor – there are some life lessons that can be learned by watching these films. We may not use them now, but they could be useful in the future.