Natural Disasters on Film

There are two kinds of disaster flicks. The first typically involves imperiled vessels (cruise ships, jumbo jets, etc.). The second is all about Mother Nature's wrath. 'Into the Storm' falls into the latter category, as do these other films.

Remember that flying cow? The groundbreaking visual effects in 'Twister' – 'Into the Storm's' big brother – made the natural disaster movie hip again, long after the genre first peaked in the mid-1970s.

The tsunami that devastated coastal Thailand in December 2004 only makes a brief appearance in 'The Impossible,' but what an appearance! Naomi Watts is stunning in this survival tale based on one family's incredible true story.

Another film based on a grim true story: In 1991, a nor'easter collided with Hurricane Grace off the east coast, creating the titular "perfect storm." The hapless Massachusetts fishing boat Andrea Gail was caught in the middle.

Here's the original natural disaster epic, adapted for the screen with a bit of creative license. Russell Crowe plays the obsessive Ark builder, tasked with sheltering the world's animal species from forty days and nights of angry rain.

A comet discovered by teenager Elijah Wood is on a collision course with Earth. Astronauts try to nuke it -- not all goes according to plan.

1998 was the year of dueling "impact" movies. This time, an asteroid is headed our way -- and now it's up to (naturally) oil drillers lead by Bruce Willis to blow it up.

Given the title, this movie's already dated, but in 2009 it tapped into fears about the Mayan calendar supposedly predicting the end of the world in 2012. Spoiler: The world doesn't really end in '2012,' but it comes mighty close.

Floods, hurricanes, a new ice age, and Emmy Rossum (pictured) – you get it all in 'The Day After Tomorrow,' which makes a disaster movie out of the threat of climate change.

Los Angeles gets targeted for destruction this time around, as the titular threat sprouts up in the middle of Wilshire Boulevard -- and it's up to Tommy Lee Jones to stop it.

The second big volcano movie of 1997, 'Dante's Peak' depicts a slightly more plausible eruption set in the Pacific Northwest (where there are actually volcanoes).

Clark Gable, Jeanette MacDonald and Spencer Tracy gallivant around town -- and then the great 1906 quake strikes.

1974 was a banner year for disaster movies: 'The Towering Inferno' and 'Airport 1975' joined 'Earthquake' as box office champs. Like Clark Gable in 'San Francisco,' Charlton Heston endures the titular tremor that lays waste to L.A.

As creatively named as 'Earthquake,' 'Avalanche' (starring Mia Farrow and Rock Hudson) delivers on its title, though its low budget and meager box office earnings reflected the end of the '70s disaster movie fad.

Does this Oscar-winning documentary – a filmed account of Al Gore's traveling global warming presentation – count as a disaster movie? You bet. Every natural catastrophe imaginable could be in our future, according to the former Veep.