Most Hollywood Disaster Movies Have Something In Common (And It’s Not What You Think)

I’ve recently been on a disaster movie kick. Perhaps it’s because everything seems a little bleak right now (my disaster movie marathon started in late December, but as I’m writing this, a real-life disaster movie is playing out in California with devastating wildfires). Or perhaps I just needed something brainless to watch — disaster movies can be fun, but let’s be honest: they’re not exactly high art. As I went from one disaster movie to another, a curious theme began to arise. In addition to these films all following a similar set-up, in which we see famous landmarks and buildings completely obliterated by destruction, they also all seem to share a similar plot element: the hero/main character is almost always going through a divorce or separation, or already divorced from their spouse. And in almost every case, the impending disaster ends up rekindling that seemingly dead relationship. 

This got me thinking: is there any sort of deeper meaning here? Speaking from experience, I can tell you the act of divorce can seem like world-ending event — life as you knew it is over. Perhaps screenwriters, having gone through such a situation themselves, are drawing on that when they pen their tales of doom. Perhaps it’s all an elaborate fantasy: “How can I get my spouse back? If only the world was ending, then they’d come back to me!” Or perhaps I’m overthinking this. Perhaps it’s just a lazy, easy cliche that everyone keeps returning to because it’s baked into the premise. 

Whatever the reason, I’ve decided to look at a handful of Hollywood disaster movies and examine how they use this trope. To be clear: this is not an exhaustive list of every disaster movie ever made, but rather a glimpse at how some of these movies return again and again to the plot point of the divorced hero. 

The disaster: It’s right there in the title: an earthquake.

The premise: A deadly, destructive earthquake hits Los Angeles, and a bunch of famous faces have to struggle to survive. Lots of stuff gets destroyed and lots of people get killed. It’s actually kind of a miserable movie, devoid of the “hope survives!” angle that would be requisite for most modern day disaster movie. 

Is the main character divorced?: Not quite, although as the film begins, we see that main character Stewart Graff (Charlton Heston) appears to be stuck in a loveless, troubled marriage with his suicidal wife, Remy (Ava Gardner). They’re in the midst of a fight when the first earthquake hits at the start of the film. 

Does the disaster bring an estranged couple back together?: Kind of. In the end, despite all their bickering, Stewart attempts to save Remy’s life, but the two of them both end up drowning to death after a dam is destroyed. Bleak!

The disaster: Aliens invade Earth and blow up all of our coolest buildings!

The premise: The week of July 4th, a bunch of massive alien spaceships hover above major cities of the world and begin unleashing death and destruction. A rag-tag group of heroes must band together to save the planet. 

Is the main character divorced?: “Independence Day” technically has three main characters: Will Smith’s fighter pilot Captain Steven Hiller, Jeff Goldblum’s computer nerd David Levinson, and Bill Pullman’s President Thomas J. Whitmore. Of the three, David is divorced, while his ex-wife Constance (Margaret Colin) currently works for the president. 

Does the disaster bring an estranged couple back together?: It sure does! When David learns of the impending apocalypse, he rushes to the White House to warn Constance. By the time the movie ends and the world has been saved, it’s clear that David and Constance are back together. Thank you, aliens, for making us laugh about love again. 

The disaster: Tornadoes and lots of ’em. 

The premise: A series of destructive tornadoes race across Oklahoma, and a team of intrepid storm chasers follow them around with hopes of creating a better way to predict the deadly storms. 

Is the main character divorced?: As “Twister” begins, we learn that storm chasing couple Jo (Helen Hunt) and BIll (Bill Paxton) are as good as divorced. Jo hasn’t signed the paperwork yet, but Bill is on the verge of marrying his new girlfriend Melissa (Jami Gertz). Bill has tracked Jo down with the hopes of getting her to finally sign the divorce papers, but ends up getting swept up in the moment and tagging along for some storm chasing. 

Does the disaster bring an estranged couple back together?: Yep. As the film progresses, it’s clear that Jo and Bill are made for each other (in fact, the script, by Michael Crichton and Anne-Marie Martin, never really makes it clear why they split up to begin with; I guess it has something to do with Bill wanting to give up storm chasing and become a weatherman, while storm chasing is all Jo wants to do). By the time the movie has ended, Melissa has left and Jo and Bill and ready to give love a second chance. 

The disaster: A volcano and all of its destructive lava. 

The premise: A volcano erupts — in Los Angeles?! After a volcano suddenly bursts out of the La Brea Tar Pits and erupts, it unleashes lots of destruction throughout the city. It’s up to Office of Emergency Management director Mike Roark (Tommy Lee Jones) and geologist Amy Barnes (Anne Heche) to save the day.

Is the main character divorced?: He is: at the start of the film, we learn that Mike is divorced and is currently supposed to be spending some vacation time with his daughter Kelly (Gaby Hoffmann). But Mike is a workaholic and insists on coming into work — just in time for disaster to strike!

Does the disaster bring an estranged couple back together?: Not this time. We actually never even see Mike’s wife (although he does talk to her on the phone in one scene). Not even lava could save Mike’s marriage. 

The disaster: A planet-killing comet. 

The premise: A comet is racing towards Earth, and various characters deal with the impending disaster while a team of astronauts in space try to blow the thing up and save the day. 

Is the main character divorced?: “Deep Impact” is a true ensemble piece — there’s no real “main character” here, but rather a collection of people, including an intrepid reporter (Téa Leoni), the President of the United States (Morgan Freeman), the kid who discovered the comet (Elijah Wood), and several astronauts (including one played by Robert Duvall). None of these characters are divorced or separated (although Duvall’s wife has died before the movie begins). However, there is a subplot about Leoni’s character, Jenny, being upset that her father (Maximilian Schell) has left her mother (Vanessa Redgrave) for a younger woman. 

Does the disaster bring an estranged couple back together?: No. Ultimately, Jenny’s mother dies by suicide before the comet hits, and her parents never reconcile. However, Jenny reconciles with her father right before the comet hits the ocean, causing a tsunami that kills them both. Bummer. 

The disaster: A planet-killing asteroid (“Armageddon” famously came out the same summer as “Deep Impact”). 

The premise: An asteroid “the size of Texas” is headed towards Earth. NASA cooks up a plan to stop it by sending a bunch of rough-and-tumble oil drillers (lead by Bruce Willis’ Harry Stamper) to blast off into space, land on the asteroid, and plant a nuclear weapon inside to blow it to bits. 

Is the main character divorced?: Harry is indeed separated from his wife. We don’t get the full story — Are they divorced or just estranged? Were they ever married at all? — we just learn via dialogue from Harry’s daughter Grace (Liv Tyler) that her mother “left both of them.” 

Does the disaster bring an estranged couple back together?: While Harry never reconciles with his ex (we never even see her), the impending disaster does rekindle another estranged couple. Before the oil drillers head to space, there’s a scene where Harry’s best buddy Chick (the always great character actor Will Patton) pays a visit to his ex-wife to say goodbye to his young son (who has no idea who Chick is), and his ex seemingly wants nothing to do with him and tells him to leave. While Harry (and many of the other crew members) die during the mission, Chick survives, and when he lands back on Earth, his ex is waiting there for him with their son. Whether or not Chick and his ex-wife actually get back together is left up in the air, but at the very least, the frosty relationship between the two has thawed. 

The disaster: Global warming/climate change.

The premise: Thanks to climate change, the entire planet starts to experience crazy weather, including tornadoes, tidal waves, and deep freezes. After New York City is flooded, cold weather causes it freeze over, trapping Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal), the teenage son of scientist Jack (Dennis Quaid). In the midst of the chaos, Jack heads to New York to hopefully save his son before it’s too late.

Is the main character divorced?: At the very least, Jack is estranged from his wife, Lucy (Sela Ward), as the two seem to be living in different houses. It’s not that Jack is a bad father and husband, he’s just very focused on his work, damn it!

Does the disaster bring an estranged couple back together?: Jack and Lucy pretty much spend the entire movie apart, but they remain on good terms, so I wouldn’t be surprised if this weather disaster rekindled their romance. 

The disaster: The end of the world as we know it (as predicted by the Mayans!). 

The premise: My personal favorite disaster movie, “2012” is an utterly ridiculous (complimentary) death-fest in which the world completely falls apart via vague reasons (it has something to do with a solar flare heating Earth’s core or some such nonsense). As the world begins to collapse, author-turned-limo driver Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) scrambles to save his family and get them to a series of massive arks built by the various governments of the world (because they secretly knew this apocalypse was coming and deliberately told no one). 

Is the main character divorced?: Definitely. Jackson’s ex-wife Kate (Amanda Peet) has remarried a plastic surgeon named Gordon (played by “Spotlight” director Tom McCarthy!) and they live in a nice suburban home, while Jackson, in true Divorced Dad fashion, lives in a tiny, dirty apartment. Jackson and his wife seem to be on okay terms, but Kate also seems happy with Gordon. On top of that, Jackson’s two kids like Gordon, too. In fact, it seems like Jackson’s son likes Gordon more than Jackson. 

Does the disaster bring an estranged couple back together?: Yes. By the end of the movie, Jackson and Kate have clearly reconciled, primarily because Gordon dies a horrible, painful death. You gotta hand it to “2012” — even though the film goes out of its way to establish Gordon as a pretty good guy (and a heroic guy, too — he’s an amature pilot who helps the family fly out of danger multiple times), writers Harald Kloser and Roland Emmerich still feel the need to have Gordon be crushed to death by some giant gears, all so Jackson and Kate can get back together in the end. R.I.P., Gordon. 

The disaster: The fabled “big one” earthquake that obliterates California. 

The premise: Perhaps the most cynical disaster movie ever made, “San Andreas” is about a rescue worker who avoids rescuing anyone other than his immediate family. When a massive earthquake on the San Andreas Fault rocks California, Ray Gaines (Dwayne Johnson) steals his own rescue helicopter to go save his family while California itself falls to pieces. Johnson may be the star of the film, but the real hero is a Caltech seismologist played by Paul Giamatti. His quick thinking clearly saves more people than Ray. 

Is the main character divorced?: As the film begins, Ray gets some divorce papers in the mail from his ex, Emma, played by Carla Gugino, who manages to look gorgeous here even while covered in dirt and grime. The couple drifted apart when Ray blamed himself for the death of one of their two daughters. Emma is about to move in with her new beau, Daniel (Ioan Gruffudd), a wealthy architect. But when the big one hits, Daniel shows his true colors by abandoning Ray and Emma’s daughter, Blake (Alexandra Daddario). 

Does the disaster bring an estranged couple back together?: You better believe it. Once Emma finds out that Daniel abandoned Blake, she’s understandably done with him (Daniel is eventually crushed to death on the collapsing Golden Gate Bridge). By the time the movie has ended, Ray has rescued both Emma and Blake from certain death, and it’s clear they’ll be one, big happy family again.

The disaster: A planet-killing comet. 

The premise: Way better than you might expect, “Greenland” is a surprisingly harrowing movie about one family trying to survive the end of the world. As the film begins, everyone thinks a harmless comet is about to pass over the Earth. Instead, a piece of the comet breaks off and smashes into Florida. And that’s not all — an even bigger chunk of the comet is still on its way, and when it hits, it will bring on an extinction-level event. Structural engineer John Garrity (Gerard Butler) has to find a way to get his wife Allison (Morena Baccarin) and their son Nathan (Roger Dale Floyd) to a bunker in Greenland before the comet hits. 

Is the main character divorced?: John and Allison aren’t divorced, but they’re definitely estranged. We eventually learn why: John had an affair. Bad move, John. 

Does the disaster bring an estranged couple back together?: Of course it does. John and Allison learn to love each other again in the face of certain death. We have the potential to find out if they’re still together, too, because a “Greenland” sequel was announced back in 2021.

The disaster: The friggin’ Moon is gonna crash into Earth, baby!

The premise: One of the silliest disaster movies ever made, “Moonfall” reveals that the Moon isn’t just a hunk of rock. It’s actually a massive alien spacecraft and it’s about to crash into Earth! Only NASA can save us!

Is the main character divorced?: Yes. Patrick Wilson plays Brian Harper, an astronaut divorced from his former wife, Brenda (Carolina Bartczak). Brenda is now married to Tom (Michael Peña), a successful car salesman. 

Does the disaster bring an estranged couple back together?: Unclear. That said, Roland Emmerich, who also made the previously mentioned “2012,” pulls a similar move here: the main character’s wife has remarried, and by the end of the movie, her new husband is dead (Tom suffocates to death due to lack of oxygen, which is a pretty brutal way to go). It’s also worth pointing out that the other main character of the film, Halle Berry’s Jo Fowler, is also divorced. Her ex-husband Doug (Eme Ikwuakor) is a general in the United States Air Force, and like Tom, he’s also killed during the course of the film.