There’s nothing quite like heading to the movie theater, getting some popcorn, and chowing down as you watch massive amounts of destruction on the big screen. Yes, we’re talking about that usually entertaining, often ridiculous, and almost always heart-pounding genre of films: the disaster movie. While the ‘70s saw a big surge in disaster movies, the ‘80s took a backseat to the genre after Airplane! made fun of them in 1980. But the ‘90s were like, guess what, guys, we’re gonna double down on disaster movies, this generation is ready, let’s pump these babies out. And pump them out they did — even featuring movies of very similar themes coming out in the same year more than once.
So today, we’re going to narrow down all of those ‘90s disaster movies by counting down the top 10 best. Is your favorite on the list? Read on to find out!
SciFi movies more your thing? Check out: The Top 10 ‘90s SciFi Movies – Ranked
10. Mars Attacks! (1996)
Tim Burton directed Mars Attacks!, a parody of both disaster movies and old ‘50s scifi movies, starring a whole host of stars like Jack Nicholson, Glenn Close, Michael J. Fox, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Danny DeVito, Natalie Portman, and Martin Short. Martians come to Earth, and though they seem like they might come in peace at first, it soon becomes clear that’s not the case. This movie is a little bit all over the place, and is more of a cult classic than an actual hit.
9. Volcano (1997)
Volcano stars Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Heche as a city official and a seismologist who try to stop a new volcano from ruining the entire city of Los Angeles. Oh yes, that’s right, the city of LA develops a volcano at the La Brea Tar Pits after an earthquake. Totally plausible. Also plausible? People being incredibly close to lava and having barely any reaction. Not!
8. Outbreak (1995)
In a medical take on the disaster film, we have Outbreak, starring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, and Morgan Freeman. This movie has a lot more poignancy today, as it features a deadly disease that crosses over from an African monkey to start killing humans, with an outbreak appearing in the US thanks to someone bringing the infected monkey over to try to sell it. Sure, this movie may be hokey at times, but it was still freakin’ scary back in the ‘90s, and would probably feel even more relevant today.
7. Dante’s Peak (1997)
Wait a minute, another volcano movie in the year 1997? Yep, here is our first example of two movies with very similar themes coming out in the same year! Dante’s Peak stars Pierce Brosnan as a volcanologist who arrives in a small town with a large dormant volcano nearby that is, you know, about to wake up. No one wants to believe that the volcano is on the verge of going kaboom even though Brosnan’s character tries to convince them… you know where this is going. The volcano goes kaboom, everyone tries to escape, some people die, but our heroes, of course, survive.
6. Deep Impact (1998)
In the first of our two disaster by way of rogue space object movies, we have Deep Impact, starring Elijah Wood, Tea Leoni, and Robert Duvall. This film is the more cerebral of the two movies, and focuses on the characters and how they are reacting to the incoming comet more so than trying to stop it (though there is definitely some of that as well). On paper, it seems like this movie should be the better of the two, and story-wise it is, but in terms of entertainment factor, we had to give a slightly higher ranking to…
5. Armageddon (1998)
Yep, it’s Armageddon, our other asteroid disaster movie that also came out in 1998. Look, the concept is absolutely ridiculous — for some reason, in the movie it makes more sense to train a bunch of oil drillers how to be astronauts than it does to train astronauts (you know, people who have to be pretty smart in the first place) in how to do the drilling. But okay, sure, we’ll play along, because it means some more comedic relief. Is this movie a good movie? Not really. But is it a good disaster movie? You bet, in part thanks to the cast of Bruce Willis, Ben Affleck, Liv Tyler, and Billy Bob Thornton.
4. Independence Day (1996)
Disaster king Roland Emmerich directed Independence Day, which also came out the same year as Mars Attacks!, and features aliens coming to destroy the Earth. While there is certainly still comedy in ID4, as this movie would come to be acronym’d, it definitely is not a spoof. The movie takes the alien invasion rather seriously, though the way the aliens end up getting defeated is pretty ridiculous. Still, you’ve got Will Smith at his peak, Jeff Goldblum being awesome as always, Bill Pullman as the President, and what were some pretty rockin’ special effects at the time.
3. Twister (1996)
Some people have not seen Twister, and to them we say — why not? It’s awesome. As is quite obvious from the title, Twister is about, well, twisters, or if you want to get technical about it, tornados. Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton star as an estranged husband and wife who end up working together as they chase tornadoes that escalate in destructive power throughout the movie. It’s got humor, romance, and flying cows, what more could you want?
2. Apollo 13 (1995)
Apollo 13 isn’t your traditional disaster movie where the whole world is in peril, but a much more taught docudrama disaster about the true story of the NASA space mission titled Apollo 13. Ron Howard directed this film about the doomed mission to the moon that stars Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise, and Ed Harris. When Hanks says, “Houston, we have a problem” you know things are bad. This movie keeps you on the edge of your seat, hoping that the astronauts are able to make it back home to Earth.
1. Titanic (1997)
Look, Titanic gets a lot of flack from people, but you have to give it its due. It’s got a hot love story with Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet, amidst one of the most famous ship sinkings ever. James Cameron wrote and directed the movie, and does a great job of introducing everyone we’re meant to care about just in time for the ship to smack into that deadly iceberg. The thing is, you know it’s coming, and yet you’re still on the edge of your seat, waiting anxiously for all of the mayhem, and hoping that the couple you’ve come to know and love can somehow make it out alive. There’s a reason why this movie made buckets of money and won a bajillion awards, and honestly, we’re still a little salty that Leo didn’t get much awards recognition as Jack Dawson. The movie would not have been the same without Leo, guys, come on.
Do you agree with our ranking, or did we miss your favorite ‘90s disaster movie? Let us know in the comments!
- Jeremy Sisto, who you will most remember from Clueless, was almost cast as Jack Dawson in Titanic — he even did a screen test with Kate Winslet. But, they didn’t have much chemistry together, and he was soon let go. Can you imagine?!
- To film Apollo 13, the cast and crew endured more than 600 controlled plane dives to achieve weightlessness. In the end, they got more than four hours of weightlessness, which is actually more experience in a reduced gravity environment than a lot of real astronauts.
- Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton were temporarily blinded while filming Twister thanks to some bright electric lamps that had to be turned up brighter and brighter to make it look like the sky behind them was getting darker. They had to use eye drops and wear special glasses for a few days after.
- Matthew Perry was originally signed on to play Harry Connick Jr.’s character in Independence Day, but dropped out shortly before filming. Perry’s father, John Bennett Perry, does have a role in the film though, playing a Secret Service agent.
- During the filming of Armageddon, Michael Bay did not like the look of Ben Affleck’s teeth. So, he had Affleck spend eight hours a day in a dentist’s chair for a week to get new teeth, which cost roughly $20,000.
- Jeremy Sisto, who you will most remember from Clueless, was almost cast as Jack Dawson in Titanic — he even did a screen test with Kate Winslet. But, they didn’t have much chemistry together, and he was soon let go. Can you imagine?!
- To film Apollo 13, the cast and crew endured more than 600 controlled plane dives to achieve weightlessness. In the end, they got more than four hours of weightlessness, which is actually more experience in a reduced gravity environment than a lot of real astronauts.
- Helen Hunt and Bill Paxton were temporarily blinded while filming Twister thanks to some bright electric lamps that had to be turned up brighter and brighter to make it look like the sky behind them was getting darker. They had to use eye drops and wear special glasses for a few days after.
- Matthew Perry was originally signed on to play Harry Connick Jr.’s character in Independence Day, but dropped out shortly before filming. Perry’s father, John Bennett Perry, does have a role in the film though, playing a Secret Service agent.
- During the filming of Armageddon, Michael Bay did not like the look of Ben Affleck’s teeth. So, he had Affleck spend eight hours a day in a dentist’s chair for a week to get new teeth, which cost roughly $20,000.
