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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.

Contents 1 List of noteworthy Doomsday films in chronological order 1.1 Before 1950 1.2 1950s 1.3 1960s 1.4 1970s 1.5 1980s 1.6 1990s 1.7 2000s 1.8 2010s 2 Television series 3 See also

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)
• Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (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)
• Colossus: The Forbin Project (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)
• Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (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)
• Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991, US)
• The Stand (1994, US)
• Ghost in the Shell (1995, JA)
• 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)
• The Sum of All Fears (2002, US)
• 28 Days Later (2002, UK)
• Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (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)
• Resident Evil: Apocalypse (2004, US)
• Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence (2004, JA)
• 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, Japan)
• Sunshine (2007, UK)
• 28 Weeks Later (2007, UK)
• Resident Evil: Extinction (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

• Y: The Last Man (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)
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles (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 Star Trek and its spinoffs (particularly Star Trek: Enterprise), 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.

See also

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