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{{short description|2004 film by Roland Emmerich}}
{{Other uses|The Day After Tomorrow (disambiguation)}} {{Other uses|The Day After Tomorrow (disambiguation)}}
{{Use American English|date=October 2019}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2019}}
{{Infobox film {{Infobox film
| name = The Day After Tomorrow | name = The Day After Tomorrow
| image = The Day After Tomorrow movie.jpg | image = The Day After Tomorrow movie.jpg
| alt = Film poster of a snow-covered New York City skyline
| image_size = 215px
| alt =
| caption = Theatrical release poster | caption = Theatrical release poster
| director = ] | director = ]
| producer = Roland Emmerich<br />] | producer = {{Unbulleted list|]|Roland Emmerich}}
| writer = Roland Emmerich<br />] | based_on = {{based on|'']''|] and<br />]}}
| screenplay = {{Unbulleted list|Roland Emmerich|]}}
| starring = ]<br />]<br />]<br />]<br />]<!--Only the star(s) go here, not everyone in the film.-->
| story = Roland Emmerich
| starring = {{Plainlist|<!--Only the billing block goes here, not everyone in the film.-->
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
* ]
}}
| music = ] | music = ]
| cinematography = ] | cinematography = ]
| editing = ] | editing = ]
| studio = ]<br />]<br/>] | studio = {{Unbulleted list|]|]|]}}
| distributor = ] | distributor = ]
| released = {{Film date|2004|5|24|New York City premiere|2004|5|26|United States}} | released = {{Film date|2004|5|17|]|2004|5|28|United States}}
| runtime = 124 minutes | runtime = 124 minutes
| country = United States | country = United States
| language = English | language = English
| budget = $125 million | budget = $125 million<ref name="BoxOfficeMojo" />
| gross = $544.2 million<ref name="BoxOfficeMojo">. '']''. ]. Retrieved April 16, 2011.</ref> | gross = $552.6 million<ref name="BoxOfficeMojo">{{cite web |title=The Day After Tomorrow (2004) |url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=dayaftertomorrow.htm |website=] |access-date=April 16, 2011 }}</ref>
}} }}
'''''The Day After Tomorrow''''' is a 2004 ] ] ]<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.allmovie.com/movie/the-day-after-tomorrow-v281154 | title=The Day After Tomorrow (2004) - Roland Emmerich, Roland Emerich, Mark Gordon &#124; Synopsis, Characteristics, Moods, Themes and Related &#124; AllMovie }}</ref> conceived, co-written, co-produced, and directed by ], based on the 1999 book '']'' by ] and ], and starring ], ], ], ], and ]. The film depicts catastrophic climatic effects following the disruption of the ], in which a series of ] events usher in ] and lead to a new ].<ref>{{cite web | website=National Geographic News | title=Day After Tomorrow Movie: Could Ice Age Occur Overnight? | last=Lovgren | first=Stefan | date=May 18, 2004 | url=http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/05/0518_040518_dayafter.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040520043909/http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/05/0518_040518_dayafter.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=May 20, 2004 | access-date=June 24, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Gillis |first=Justin |title=Scientists Warn of Perilous Climate Shift Within Decades, Not Centuries|journal=The New York Times|date=22 March 2016|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/03/23/science/global-warming-sea-level-carbon-dioxide-emissions.html|access-date=March 22, 2016|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>
'''''The Day After Tomorrow''''' is a 2004 American ]-] co-written, directed, and produced by ] and starring pierce brosnon, ], ], ], and ]. The film depicts fictional catastrophic climatic effects in a series of ] events that usher in ] and leads to a new ]. The film was made in ] and ] and is the highest-grossing Hollywood film to be made in Canada (if adjusted for ]).


Originally slated for release in the summer of 2003, it premiered in ] on May 17, 2004, and was theatrically released in the United States by ] on May 28, 2004. The film was a commercial success, grossing $552 million worldwide against a production budget of $125 million, becoming so the ]. Filmed in ], it was the highest-grossing Hollywood film made in Canada at its time of release. The film received mixed reviews from critics, but was nominated for ] and ] at the ].
Originally planned for release in the summer of 2003, ''The Day After Tomorrow'' premiered in ] on May 17, 2004 and was released worldwide from May 26 to May 28 except in South Korea and Japan, where it was released June 4–5, respectively.


==Plot== ==Plot==
<!-- Per WP:FILMPLOT, plot summary should be between 400 to 700 words. -->
On an expedition in Antarctica, ] Jack Hall and his colleagues Frank and Jason are drilling for ice-core samples on the ] for the ] when the shelf breaks off.
Jack Hall is an American ], and as he and his colleagues Frank and Jason drill for ]s in the ] for the ], the ice shelf splits away. At a ] conference in ], Jack discusses his research showing that ] could cause an ], but ] Raymond Becker dismisses his concerns. Professor Terry Rapson, an ] of the Hedland Centre in ], befriends Jack over his views of an inevitable climate shift.


] is struck by a giant hail storm, and astronauts from the ] spot three gigantic superstorms above ], ], and ]. Rapson's team in Scotland begin noticing severe temperature drops from multiple buoys from the North Atlantic realizing Jack's theories were correct, but the climate shift is happening too fast.
Later, Jack presents his findings on ] at a ] conference, but fails to convince diplomats or ] Raymond Becker. However, Professor Terry Rapson of the Hedland Climate Research Centre in ] believes in Jack's theories. Several buoys in the ] simultaneously show a massive drop in the ocean temperature, and Rapson concludes that melting polar ice has started to disrupt the ]. He contacts Jack, whose ] weather model shows how climate changes caused the first ]. His team, along with ]'s ] Janet Tokada, builds a forecast model.


Remnants of a hurricane spawn a destructive ] over the ]. Also, three helicopters sent to rescue the ] from ] crash in Scotland after they fly into their superstorm's ].
Across the world, violent weather causes mass destruction. ] Blake authorizes the ] to suspend all air traffic due to severe turbulence. At the ] (ISS) three astronauts see a huge storm system spanning the northern hemisphere, delaying their return home. The situation worsens when the storm system develops into three massive hurricane-like ]s with ]s holding {{convert|-150|F}} temperatures that freezes anything it comes in contact with. The three cells are located over Northern ], ], and Scotland.


Jack's and Rapson's teams, along with ] ] Janet Tokada, build a forecast model based on Jack's research discovering the impact of climate change will happen in 6–8 weeks (later discovered as being 7–10 days). Rapson notifies Jack that siphoned air from the upper ] flash freezes anything caught in the eyes of the ]s with temperatures below {{convert|-150|F|C|abbr=off}} which explains the helicopter crash.
The weather becomes increasingly ], causing traffic-jammed ] streets to become flooded knee-deep. Jack's son Sam, visiting ] as he is participating in an academic decathlon, calls his father, promising to be on the next train home, but flooding closes the subways and ]. As the storm worsens, a massive wave hits Manhattan. Sam and his friends seek shelter with a large group of people in the ], but not before his friend and love interest, Laura, gets injured.


In ] Jack's son Sam, along with his friends Brian and Laura, participate in an ], where they make a new friend, J.D. The North American superstorm creates strong winds and rain that flood ] in knee-deep water. All transportation halts, stranding the city population.
President Blake orders the evacuation of the southern states of the United States, causing almost all of the refugees to head to Mexico. Jack and his team set out for Manhattan to find his son. Their truck crashes into another vehicle just past ] so the group continues on snowshoes.


A massive ] inundates the city, forcing Sam's group to seek shelter at the ]. But first Laura, in an attempt to help rescue two French-speaking tourists in distress from a cab with a police officer, badly cuts her leg. Sam is able to contact Jack and his mother Lucy, a ], through a working ]. Jack warns Sam of the exacerbating superstorm and urges him to stay inside and warm and promises to rescue him. Rapson and his team succumb to the European storm. Lucy remains in her hospital caring for bedridden patients, where the authorities eventually rescue them.
Most of the group taking shelter in the library leaves when the water outside freezes, leaving just Sam and a few others. They burn books to stay alive and break into a vending machine for food. While journeying to New York, Frank falls through the glass roof of a snow-covered shopping mall. As Jason and Jack try to pull him up, the glass under them continues cracking and Frank sacrifices himself by cutting the rope. Laura appears to have a cold, so Sam comforts her and confesses his feelings for her. In Mexico, Vice President Becker hears from the ] that President Blake's ] was caught in the super storm before it could make it to Mexico causing Vice President Becker to be sworn in as the new President.


Upon Jack's suggestion, ] Blake orders the southern states to be evacuated into ], while the northern ones are warned by the government to seek shelter and stay warm. Jack, Jason, and Frank make their way to NYC. In ], Frank falls through the skylight of a mall covered in snow and sacrifices himself by cutting his rope to prevent his friends from also falling in.
The next morning, the group determines that Laura has ] from the cut on her leg, so Sam and two others search for ] in a derelict Russian cargo-ship that drifted inland. The eye of the super storm passes over the city and the three barely return to the library with the medicine in time. During the deep freeze, Jack and Jason take shelter in an abandoned ] restaurant.


In the library, most survivors seek to join the southern states' refugees once the floodwater freezes, despite Sam's warnings. In Mexico, Becker learns that Blake's motorcade perished in the superstorm.
Upon reaching Manhattan, Jack and Jason discover the library buried in snow, but find Sam's group alive. New York has turned into a ], ] city, completely frozen by reaching {{convert|-98|F}}. They radio this to the government-in-exile in Mexico and President Becker orders helicopters flown into New York, finding more survivors. Becker orders search-and-rescue teams to look for other survivors as he gives his first address to the nation. The movie concludes with the ]s looking down at Earth from the Space Station, showing most of the northern hemisphere covered in ice and snow, with one of the astronauts stating "Look at that....Have you ever seen the air so clear?"
Laura develops ] from her injury, whereupon Sam, Brian, and J.D. scour an abandoned ]n ] that drifted into the city before the water froze for ] and supplies. When they find them, they also encounter a pack of escaped ] from the ]. The boys fend off the wolves and make it back to the library with what they need as the eye of the North American superstorm passes over and freezes Manhattan. Jack and Jason take shelter in an abandoned restaurant.

Days later, the superstorms dissipate. After finding people outside frozen to death, including those from the library who tried to escape, Jack and Jason reach the library, finding Sam's group alive. Jack sends a radio message to US forces in Mexico.

In his first address as the ] from the US embassy in Mexico, Becker apologizes on ] for his ignorance and sends helicopters to rescue survivors including Jack and Sam's group in the northern states. On the ], ]s look down in awe at Earth's transformed surface, now with ]s extending across much of the Northern Hemisphere, remarking that the air never looked so clear.


==Cast== ==Cast==
{{Cast listing|
* ] as Professor Jack Hall
* ] as Jack Hall, a ] ].
* ] as Sam Hall
* ] as Laura Chapman * ] as Sam Hall, Jack's teenage son.
* ] as Dr. Lucy Hall, a ] who is Jack's wife and Sam's mother.
* ] as Professor Terry Rapson
* ] as Laura Chapman, a high school student and Sam's friend and love interest.
* ] as Dr. Lucy Hall
* ] as Terry Rapson, a Scottish ] of Scotland's Hedland Centre.
* ] as Brian Parks, a high school student and Sam and Laura's friend.
* ] as J.D., a preparatory school student of very wealthy parents who befriends Sam, Laura, and Brian.
* ] as Jason Evans, Jack's colleague
* ] as Frank Harris, Jack's colleague
* ] as Raymond Becker, the ] who later succeeds Blake.
* ] as Richard Blake, the ]
* ] as Tom Gomez, a NOAA administrator
* ] as Janet Tokada, a ] ]
* ] as Luther, a homeless New Yorker with a dog named "Buddha" who gets trapped in the library.
* ] as Simon, Rapson's colleague.
* ] as Dennis, Rapson's colleague.
* ] as Parker, an ISS astronaut.
* ] as Vorsteen * ] as Vorsteen
* ] as Elsa, a young woman trapped with Sam and the others in the ].
* ] as Brian Parks
* ] as Judith, a librarian at the New York Public Library.
* ] as Jason Evans
* Tom Rooney as Jeremy, a man trapped with Sam and the others in the New York Public Library who saves a 15th century ] from being burned.
* ] as Frank Harris
* ] as Parker
* ] as J.D.
* ] as Simon
* ] as Janet Tokada
* ] as Luther
* ] as President Blake
* ] as Vice President/President Raymond Becker
* ] as Elsa
* ] as Judith
* ] as Tom Gomez
* ] as Aaron * ] as Aaron
* ] as the ]
* ] as ] General Pierce
* ] as Gary
* ] as Paul
* ] as Tony
* ] as Jama, a ] woman traveling to New York with her daughter, Binata.
* ] as Binata, Jama's daughter.
}}


==Production== ==Production==
===Development===
{{Refimprove section|date=March 2015}}
The film was inspired by '']'', a book co-authored by '']'' talk radio host ] and ].<ref>{{cite interview |title=''The Day After Tomorrow'' Q&A with Roland Emmerich and Mark Gordon | last=Emmerich | first=Roland |subjectlink=Roland Emmerich | last2=Gordon | first2=Mark| subjectlink2=Mark Gordon|url=http://www.phase9.tv/moviefeatures/dayaftertomorrowq&a-rolandemmerich&markgordon.shtml }}</ref> Strieber also wrote the film's novelization. The book "The Sixth Winter" written by Douglas Orgill and ] and published in 1979, follows a similar theme. So does the novel ''Ice!'', by ], published in 1978. ''The Day After Tomorrow'' was inspired by '']'' talk-radio host ] and ]'s book, '']'',<ref>{{cite web|last1=Emmerich|first1=Roland|last2=Gordon|first2=Mark|author-link1=Roland Emmerich|author-link2=Mark Gordon (producer)|title=Day After Tomorrow Q&A with Roland Emmerich and Mark Gordon|url=http://www.phase9.tv/moviefeatures/dayaftertomorrowq&a-rolandemmerich&markgordon.shtml|website=Phase9 Entertainment|access-date=17 November 2017|language=en}}</ref> and Strieber wrote the film's ]. To choose a studio, writer Michael Wimer created an auction, with a copy of the script being sent to all major studios along with a term sheet. They had a 24-hour window to decide whether to produce the movie with Roland Emmerich directing, and Fox Studios was the only studio to accept the terms.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=Russell|first1=Jamie|title=Why the Halo Movie Failed to Launch|url=https://www.wired.com/2012/04/halo-movie-generation-xbox/|magazine=WIRED|publisher=Conde Nast|access-date=9 February 2017|date=19 April 2012}}</ref>


===Filming===
Shortly before and during the release of the film, members of environmental and political advocacy groups distributed pamphlets to moviegoers describing what they believed to be the possible effects of global warming. Although the film depicts some effects of global warming predicted by scientists, such as rising sea levels, more destructive storms, and disruption of ocean currents and weather patterns, it depicts these events happening much more rapidly and severely than is considered scientifically plausible, and the theory that a "superstorm" will create rapid worldwide climate change does not appear in the scientific literature. When the film was playing in theaters, much criticism was directed at U.S. politicians concerning their rejection of the ] and climate change. The film's scientific adviser was Dr. Michael Molitor, a leading climate change consultant who worked as a negotiator on the Kyoto Protocol.
''The Day After Tomorrow'' was filmed predominantly in ]<ref>{{cite web |last=Rocha|first=Robert|date=October 19, 2019|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/20-years-of-film-permits-1.4965372|title=Here's what we learned from 20 years of film shoots in Montreal|publisher=CBC.ca|access-date=October 24, 2020}}</ref> and ],<ref>{{cite web |last=Rocha |first=Robert |date=September 18, 2017 |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com.au/2017/09/17/canadian-hot-spots-you-may-not-realise-were-in-your-favourite-movies_a_23073119/ |title=Canadian Hot Spots You May Not Realise Were In Your Favourite Movies |publisher=] |access-date=October 24, 2020 }}</ref> with some footage also shot in ]<ref>{{cite web |url=http://onthesetofnewyork.com/thedayaftertomorrow.html#:~:text=New%20York%20Public%20Library%2C%205th,Avenue%20and%20West%2034th%20Street.|title=The Day After Tomorrow (2004)|publisher=Onthesetofnewyork.com/|access-date=October 24, 2020}}</ref> and ].<ref>{{cite web |date=February 18, 2018|url=https://the-irishman.com/15-famous-movies-filmed-tokyo-japan/|title=15 Famous Movies Filmed in Tokyo (Japan)|publisher=The Irishman.com|access-date=October 24, 2020}}</ref> Filming ran from November 7, 2002, until October 18, 2003.<ref>{{cite web|title=Ciekawostki - Pojutrze (2004)|url=https://www.filmweb.pl/film/Pojutrze-2004-34888/trivia|website=Filmweb|access-date=28 May 2021|language=pl}}</ref>


===Special effects===
==Reception==
''The Day After Tomorrow'' features 416 visual effects shots, with nine effects houses, notably ], and ], and over 1,000 artists, working on the film for over a year.<ref>{{cite web|title=Story Notes for The Day After Tomorrow|url=http://www.amc.com/talk/2014/06/story-notes-for-the-day-after-tomorrow|website=AMC|access-date=7 August 2017|date=July 2014}}</ref>


Although a miniature set was initially considered according to the behind-the-scenes documentary, for the destruction of New York, effects artists instead utilized a 13-block-sized, ]-scanned 3D model of ],<ref>{{cite web|last1=Teague|first1=Matthew|title= Hollywood, Science and the End of the World a Three-Act Screenplay |url=http://www.filmsite.org/visualeffects20.html|website=Popular Science|access-date=1 March 2022|language=en}}</ref> with over 50,000 scanned photographs used for building textures.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Dirks|first1=Tim|title=Visual and Special Effects Film Milestones|url=http://www.filmsite.org/visualeffects20.html|website=AMC filmsite|access-date=17 January 2018|language=en}}</ref> Due to its overall complexity and a tight schedule, the storm surge scene required as many as three special effects vendors for certain shots, with the digital water created by either Digital Domain or small effects house Tweak Films, depending on the shot.<ref>{{cite journal|last1=Restuccio|first1=Daniel|title=THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW'S PHOTOREAL EFFECTS|journal=Post Magazine|date=1 June 2004|url=http://www.postmagazine.com/Publications/Post-Magazine/2004/June-1-2004/THE-DAY-AFTER-TOMORROWS-PHOTOREAL-EFFECTS.aspx|access-date=19 January 2018}}</ref> Miniatures were employed for a later underwater scene in which a city bus is crushed under the bulb stern of an abandoned Russian tanker ship that had drifted inland.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Thompson|first1=Anne|title=In the World of 'Tomorrow,' Creating New Recipes for Disaster|url= https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/style/2004/05/30/in-the-world-of-tomorrow-creating-new-recipes-for-disaster/1e03437f-09bc-4f5a-95f7-34d9aa1cf24c/|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=23 September 2023|language=en}}</ref>
===Box office===
Over its four-day ] opening, the film grossed $85,807,341; however, it still ranked #2 for the weekend, behind '']''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s $95,578,365 four-day tally. However, ''The Day After Tomorrow'' led the per-theater average chart with a four-day average of $25,053, compared to ''Shrek 2''{{'}}s four-day average of $22,633. At the end of its box office run, the film grossed $186,740,799 domestically and $544,272,402 worldwide.<ref name="BoxOfficeMojo" />


Similarly, the opening flyover of Antarctica was also ], created by digitally scanning miniature iceberg models created out of sculpted styrofoam; the falling pieces of ice as the shelf cracks were entirely hand-animated. Running for approximately two and a half minutes in length, the scene was at the time the longest continuous all-CG shot in film history, surpassing the space zoom-out from the opening of '']'' (1997).<ref>{{cite web|last1=Dirks|first1=Tim|title=Visual and Special Effects Film Milestones|url=https://www.filmsite.org/visualeffects17.html|website=AMC filmsite|access-date=28 May 2021|language=en}}</ref>
The film did well at the box office, grossing $544,272,402 internationally. It is the sixth-highest grossing film not to be #1 in the United States (behind '']'', '']'' and its ], '']'', and '']''). However worldwide, it is third behind only '']'' and '']''.


==Music==
===Critical reaction===
===Soundtrack===
''The Day After Tomorrow'' generated mixed reviews from both the science and entertainment communities. The online entertainment guide ] rated the film at 45%, with an average rating of 5.3/10. The site's general consensus states that it was "A ludicrous popcorn flick filled with clunky dialogues, but spectacular visuals save it from being a total disaster."<ref>. '']''. ]. Retrieved April 16, 2011.</ref> ] of the '']'', praised the film's special effects, giving the film three stars out of four. Environmental activist and '']'' columnist ] called ''The Day After Tomorrow'' "a great movie and lousy science."<ref>Monbiot, George. (May 14, 2004). . ''Guardian.co.uk''. Retrieved April 16, 2011.</ref>
{{Infobox album
| name = The Day After Tomorrow (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
| type = soundtrack
| artist = ]
| cover =
| alt =
| released = May 18, 2004
| venue =
| studio =
| genre = ]
| length = 38:18
| label = {{plainlist|
* ]
* ]
}}
| producer = Various Artists
| prev_title = ]
| prev_year = 2004
| next_title = ]
| next_year = 2004
}}


'''''The Day After Tomorrow (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)''''' is the soundtrack of the film. It was released on May 18, 2004.
In a '']'' editorial by ], who until 2007 was a Research Professor of ] at the ] and who rejects the scientific evidence for ], Michaels called the film "propaganda," noting, "As a scientist, I bristle when lies dressed up as 'science' are used to influence political discourse."<ref>Patrick J. Michaels. . ''USAToday.com''. Retrieved April 16, 2011.</ref> In a ''Space Daily'' editorial by Joseph Gutheinz, a college instructor and retired NASA Office of Inspector General, Senior Special Agent, Gutheinz called the film "a cheap thrill ride, which many weak-minded people will jump on and stay on for the rest of their lives."<ref>Richard Gutheinz Jr., Joseph (May 27, 2004). . ''SpaceDaily.com''. Retrieved April 16, 2011.</ref>


==Release==
Paleoclimatologist William Hyde of ] was asked on ] whether he would be seeing the film; he responded that he would not unless someone were to offer him $100.<ref>. Retrieved July 11, 2012.</ref> Other readers of the newsgroup , and (despite Hyde's protests) . Hyde's criticized the film's portrayal of weather phenomena that stopped at national borders, and finished by saying that it was "to climate science as '']'' is to ] surgery", as quoted in '']''.
The film had its world premiere in ] in May 17, 2004. It was released to theaters in the United States on May 28, 2004.


===Home media===
However, Stefan Rahmstorf of the ], expert for thermohaline ocean circulation and its effects on climate, was impressed how the script writer Jeffrey Nachmanoff was well informed about the science and politics of global climate change after the talk with him at the preview of the film in Berlin.
{{Anchor|DVD}}
He stated: "Clearly this is a disaster movie and not a scientific documentary, the film makers have taken a lot of artistic license. But the film presents an opportunity to explain that some of the basic background is right: humans are indeed increasingly changing the climate and this is quite a dangerous experiment, including some risk of abrupt and unforeseen changes. After all - our knowledge of the climate system is still rather limited, and we will probably see some surprises as our experiment with the atmosphere unfolds. Luckily it is extremely unlikely that we will see major ocean circulation changes in the next couple of decades (I’d be just as surprised as Jack Hall if they did occur); at least most scientists think this will only become a more serious risk towards the end of the century. And the consequences would certainly not be as dramatic as the ‘super-storm’ depicted in the movie. Nevertheless, a major change in ocean circulation is a risk with serious and partly unpredictable consequences, which we should avoid. And even without events like ocean circulation changes, climate change is serious enough to demand decisive action.
The film was released on ] and ] by ] on October 12, 2004, and was released in ] on ] in North America on October 2, 2007, and in the United Kingdom on April 28, 2008, in ] with a lossless ] track and few bonus features. DVD sales were $110 million, bringing the film's gross to $652,771,772.<ref>{{cite web|title=DVD Sales Chart – 2004 Full Year|url=http://www.leesmovieinfo.net/Video-Sales.php?y=2004&type=3|website=Lee's Movie Info|access-date=April 16, 2011}}</ref>
I think it would be a mistake and not do the film justice if scientists simply dismiss it as nonsense. For what it is, a blockbuster movie that has to earn back 120 M$ production cost, it is probably as good as you can get. For this type of movie for a very broad audience it is actually quite subversive and manages to slip in many thought-provoking things. I'm sure people will not confuse the film with reality, they are not stupid - they will know it is a work of fiction. But I hope that it will stir their interest for the subject, and that they might take more notice when real climate change and climate policy will be discussed in future."<ref>http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~stefan/tdat_review.html</ref>

==Reception==
===Box office===
The film came in second at the US box office behind '']'' over its four-day ] opening and grossed $85,807,341.<ref>{{cite web |date=June 1, 2004 |author=C.S.Strowbridge |title=Record Breaking Weekend for Day After, but still can't top Shrek 2 |url=https://www.the-numbers.com/news/194530830-Record-Breaking-Weekend-for-Day-After-but-still-can-t-top-Shrek-2 |website=] |quote=started the weekend in first place, but by the time Saturday rolled around its mediocre word of mouth started to adversely affect it. }}</ref> For twenty years, it would hold the record for having the highest opening weekend for a natural disaster film until 2024 when it was dethroned by '']''.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.oklahoman.com/story/entertainment/2024/07/21/twisters-tears-the-roof-off-the-box-office-with-80-5-million-debut/74390827007/|title=Oklahoma-made movie 'Twisters' storms to $80.5 million opening weekend at the box office}}</ref> It led the per-theater average, with a four-day average of $25,053 (compared to ''Shrek 2''{{'s}} four-day average of $22,633).
At the end of its theatrical run, the film had grossed $186,740,799 domestically and $552,639,571 worldwide. It was the second-highest opening-weekend film not to lead at the box office; '']'' surpassed it in June 2015.<ref name="BoxOfficeMojo" />

===Critical response===
On ], 45% of 219 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.3/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "''The Day After Tomorrow'' is a ludicrous popcorn thriller filled with clunky dialogue, but spectacular visuals save it from being a total disaster."<ref>{{cite web |title=The Day After Tomorrow |url=http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/day_after_tomorrow/ |access-date=April 8, 2024 |website=]}}</ref> On ], the film has a weighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on 38 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".<ref>{{cite web |title=The Day After Tomorrow |url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/the-day-after-tomorrow |website=] |access-date=January 1, 2021}}</ref> Audiences surveyed by ] gave the film an average grade "B" on an A+ to F scale.<ref>{{cite web |url= https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |title=DAY AFTER TOMORROW, THE (2004) B |work= ] |url-status= dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20181220122629/https://www.cinemascore.com/publicsearch/index/title/ |archive-date= 2018-12-20 }}</ref>


] of the '']'' described the film as "profoundly silly", but nonetheless said the film was effective and praised the special effects. He gave it three stars out of four.<ref>{{cite news |date=May 28, 2004 |first=Roger |last=Ebert |author-link=Roger Ebert |title=The Day After Tomorrow Movie Review |url=http://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-day-after-tomorrow-2004 |newspaper=] |via=RogerEbert.com |access-date=7 August 2017 }}</ref> Mark Caro of the '']'' wrote a completely negative review which considered the film unworthy of publicity for the climate change debate it had created.<ref>https://www.newspapers.com/image/235822086/?terms=The%20Day%20After%20Tomorrow&match=1 Chicago Tribune, 30 May 2004, Section 7, Page 3</ref>
In 2008, ] Movies listed ''The Day After Tomorrow'' as one of Top 10 Scientifically Inaccurate Movies.<ref>. '']'' (July 28, 2008). Retrieved March 11, 2015.</ref> The film was criticized for depicting several different ] phenomena occurring over the course of hours, instead of the possible time frame of several decades or centuries.<ref>. ''ScienceDaily.com'' (May 13, 2004). Retrieved April 16, 2011</ref>


===Awards and nominations=== ===Accolades===
{| class="wikitable" {| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|-
|- style="background:#b0c4de; text-align:center;"
! Award ! Award
! Subject ! Subject
! Nominee ! Nominee(s)
! Result ! Result
|- |-
|rowspan=2|] |rowspan=2|]
|] |]
|''The Day After Tomorrow''
|
|{{Nom}} |{{Nom}}
|- |-
|] |]
|rowspan=4|], Neil Corbould, Greg Strause and Remo Balcells |rowspan=2|], Neil Corbould, Greg Strause and Remo Balcells
|{{Nom}} |{{Nom}}
|- |-
|rowspan=1|] |rowspan=1|]
|rowspan=2|Best Visual Effects |]
|{{Won}} |{{Won}}
|- |-
|rowspan=2|] |rowspan=2|]
|]
|], Mike Chambers, ], Remo Balcells
|{{Nom}} |{{Nom}}
|- |-
|Best Single Visual Effect |Best Single Visual Effect
|], Mike Chambers, Chris Horvath, ]
|{{Nom}}
|{{Won}}
|- |-
|rowspan=2|] |rowspan=2|]
|] |]
|"The destruction of ]" |"The destruction of Los Angeles"
|{{Won}} |{{Won}}
|- |-
Line 134: Line 196:
|rowspan=1|] |rowspan=1|]
|Best Action Film |Best Action Film
|''The Day After Tomorrow''
|
|{{Nom}} |{{Nom}}
|- |-
|rowspan=1|] |rowspan=1|]
|Best Film |Best Film
|''The Day After Tomorrow''
|
|{{Won}} |{{Won}}
|- |-
Line 148: Line 210:
|- |-
|rowspan=1|] |rowspan=1|]
|Best Sound Editing - Effects & Foley |Best Sound Editing – Effects & Foley
|], Larry Kemp, Glenn T. Morgan, Alan Rankin, Michael Kamper, Ann Scibelli, Randy Kelley, Harry Cohen, Bob Beher and Craig S. Jaeger |], Larry Kemp, Glenn T. Morgan, Alan Rankin, Michael Kamper, Ann Scibelli, Randy Kelley, Harry Cohen, Bob Beher and Craig S. Jaeger
|{{Nom}} |{{Nom}}
Line 154: Line 216:
|} |}


==Political and scientific criticism==
==Criticism==
Emmerich did not deny that his casting of a weak president and the resemblance of ] to Vice President ] were intended to criticize the ].<ref name="Bowles">{{cite web |last1=Bowles |first1=Scott |title='The Day After Tomorrow' heats up a political debate Storm of opinion rains down on merits of disaster movie |url=https://usatoday30.usatoday.com/educate/college/firstyear/articles/20040530.htm |website=USA Today |access-date=January 12, 2009 |date=May 26, 2004}}</ref> Responding to claims of insensitivity in his inclusion of scenes of a devastated New York City less than three years after the ], Emmerich said that it was necessary to showcase the increased unity of people in the face of disaster because of the attacks.<ref name="Black">{{cite news |last=Gilchrist |first=Todd |title=The Day After Tomorrow: An Interview with Roland Emmerich |publisher=BlackFilm.com |date=May 2004 |url=http://www.blackfilm.com/20040528/features/rolandemmerich.shtml |access-date=March 16, 2009}}</ref><ref name="UGO">{{cite news |author=Robert Epstein, Daniel |title=Roland Emmerich of The Day After Tomorrow (20th Century Fox) Interview |publisher=UGO.com |url=http://www.ugo.com/channels/filmTv/features/thedayaftertomorrow/rolandemmerich.asp |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040613210222/http://www.ugo.com/channels/filmtv/features/thedayaftertomorrow/rolandemmerich.asp |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 13, 2004 |access-date=March 16, 2009 }}</ref><ref name="CC">{{cite news |author=Chau, Thomas |title=INTERVIEW: Director Roland Emmerich on 'The Day After Tomorrow' |work=Cinema Confidential |date=May 27, 2004 |url=http://www.cinecon.com/news.php?id=0405271 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040606125634/http://www.cinecon.com/news.php?id=0405271 |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 6, 2004 |access-date=March 16, 2009 }}</ref>
There was some controversy regarding the casting of ] as the Vice-President of the United States due to his striking physical resemblance to then Vice-President ]. ] later confirmed that he deliberately chose Welsh for that very reason. Emmerich stated that the characters of the President and Vice-President in the film were intended to be a not-so-subtle criticism of the ]. The White House did not respond to requests for comment on the film.<ref name="USAToday">Bowles, Scott (May 26, 2004). . ''USAToday.com''. Retrieved January 12, 2009.</ref>


Some scientists criticized the film's scientific aspects. Paleoclimatologist and professor of earth and planetary science at ] ] said, "On the one hand, I'm glad that there's a big-budget movie about something as critical as climate change. On the other, I'm concerned that people will see these over-the-top effects and think the whole thing is a joke ... We are indeed experimenting with the Earth in a way that hasn't been done for millions of years. But you're not going to see another ] – at least not like that."<ref name="Bowles" /> ], a research meteorologist at the ] ], expressed a similar sentiment: "I'm heartened that there's a movie addressing real climate issues. But as for the science of the movie, I'd give it a D minus or an F. And I'd be concerned if the movie was made to advance a political agenda."<ref name="Bowles" /> According to ] climatologist ], "It's '']'' of climate science movies, but I'm not losing any sleep over a new ice age, because it's impossible."<ref name="Bowles" />
In response to accusations of insensitivity by including scenes of ] being devastated less than three years after the ], Emmerich claims that it was necessary to depict the event as a means to showcase the increased unity people now have when facing a disaster, because of 9/11.<ref name="Black">{{cite news |author=Gilchrist, Todd |title=The Day After Tomorrow: An Interview with Roland Emmerich |work=BlackFilm.com |date=May 2004 |url=http://www.blackfilm.com/20040528/features/rolandemmerich.shtml |accessdate=March 16, 2009}}</ref><ref name="UGO">{{cite news |author=Robert Epstein, Daniel |title=Roland Emmerich of The Day After Tomorrow (20th Century Fox) Interview |work=UGO.com |url=http://www.ugo.com/channels/filmTv/features/thedayaftertomorrow/rolandemmerich.asp |accessdate=March 16, 2009}}</ref><ref name="CC">{{cite news |author=Chau, Thomas |title=INTERVIEW: Director Roland Emmerich on "The Day After Tomorrow" |work=Cinema Confidential |date=May 27, 2004 |url=http://www.cinecon.com/news.php?id=0405271 |accessdate=March 16, 2009}}</ref>


], a former research professor of ] at the ] and fellow at the ] who rejected the scientific consensus<ref>{{cite web |title=Scientific consensus: Earth's climate is warming |url=https://climate.nasa.gov/scientific-consensus/ |publisher=Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet |access-date=January 31, 2017}}</ref> on ], called the film "propaganda" in a '']'' editorial: "As a scientist, I bristle when lies dressed up as 'science' are used to influence political discourse."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Michaels |first1=Patrick J.|title='Day After Tomorrow': A lot of hot air |url=https://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/editorials/2004-05-24-michaels_x.htm |department=Editorials |website=USA Today |access-date=16 April 2011 |date=25 May 2014}}</ref> College instructor and retired NASA Office of Inspector General senior special agent Joseph Gutheinz called ''The Day After Tomorrow'' "a cheap thrill ride, which many weak-minded people will jump on and stay on for the rest of their lives" in a ''Space Daily'' editorial.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Richard Gutheniz |first1=Joseph Jr. |title=There Will Be a Day After Tomorrow |url=http://www.spacedaily.com/news/oped-04n.html |website=Space Daily |access-date=April 16, 2011 |date=May 27, 2004}}</ref>
A number of scientists were critical of the scientific aspects of the film:


Stefan Rahmstorf of the ], an expert on ] and its effect on climate, said after a talk with scriptwriter Jeffrey Nachmanoff at the film's ] preview:
* ''']''', a ] and professor of Earth and planetary sciences at ], expressed both support and concern about the film, stating that "On the one hand, I'm glad that there's a big-budget movie about something as critical as climate change. On the other, I'm concerned that people will see these over-the-top effects and think the whole thing is a joke... We are indeed experimenting with the Earth in a way that hasn't been done for millions of years. But you're not going to see another ] – at least not like that."


<blockquote>Clearly this is a disaster movie and not a scientific documentary, the film makers have taken a lot of artistic license. But the film presents an opportunity to explain that some of the basic background is right: humans are indeed increasingly changing the climate and this is quite a dangerous experiment, including some risk of abrupt and unforeseen changes ... Luckily it is extremely unlikely that we will see major ocean circulation changes in the next couple of decades (I'd be just as surprised as Jack Hall if they did occur); at least most scientists think this will only become a more serious risk towards the end of the century. And the consequences would certainly not be as dramatic as the 'superstorm' depicted in the movie. Nevertheless, a major change in ocean circulation is a risk with serious and partly unpredictable consequences, which we should avoid. And even without events like ocean circulation changes, climate change is serious enough to demand decisive action.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~stefan/tdat_review.html|title=''The Day After Tomorrow''—Some comments on the movie |last1=Rahmstorf |first1=Stefan |publisher=Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research |access-date=August 7, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041011172259/http://www.pik-potsdam.de/~stefan/tdat_review.html|archive-date=October 11, 2004}}</ref></blockquote>
* '''Marshall Shepherd''', a research meteorologist at the ] ] expressed similar sentiments, stating that "I'm heartened that there's a movie addressing real climate issues. But as for the science of the movie, I'd give it a D minus or an F. And I'd be concerned if the movie was made to advance a political agenda."


Environmental activist and '']'' columnist ] called ''The Day After Tomorrow'' "a great movie and lousy science".<ref>{{cite web |last1=Monbiot |first1=George |title=A hard rain's a-gonna fall |url=http://film.guardian.co.uk/features/featurepages/0,4120,1215824,00.html |website=The Guardian |access-date=April 16, 2011 |date=14 May 2004}}</ref>
* ''']''', a climatologist at the ] said, "It's '']'' of climate science movies, but I'm not losing any sleep over a new ice age, because it's impossible."<ref name="USAToday" />


In 2008, ] listed ''The Day After Tomorrow'' as one of its top-10 scientifically inaccurate films.<ref>{{cite web |title=Top 10: Scientifically Inaccurate Movies |url=https://au.movies.yahoo.com/galleries/gallery/6013706/top-10-scientifically-inaccurate-movies/6013711/ |website=Yahoo! Movies |via=Wayback Machine |access-date=7 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402200020/https://au.movies.yahoo.com/galleries/gallery/6013706/top-10-scientifically-inaccurate-movies/6013711/ |archive-date=2 April 2015 |date=28 July 2008}}</ref> It was criticized for depicting ] phenomena as occurring over the course of hours, instead of decades or centuries.<ref>{{cite web |title=Disaster Flick Exaggerates Speed of Ice Age |url=https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2004/05/040512044611.htm |website=Science Daily |access-date=April 16, 2011 |language=en |date=May 13, 2004}}</ref> A 2015 ''Washington Post'' article reported on a paper published in ''Scientific Reports'' which indicated that global temperatures could drop relatively rapidly ({{convert|1|F-change|round=0.5|abbr=off|spell=in|disp=or}} over an 11-year period) due to a temporary shutdown of the ] caused by global warming.<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/10/12/were-closer-to-a-day-after-tomorrow-ice-age-than-we-thought/ |title=Model suggests possibility of a 'Little Ice Age' |last=Wang |first=Yanan |date=October 12, 2015 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=August 7, 2016}}</ref>
==Home media==
{{Anchor|DVD}}
{{Refimprove section|date=March 2015}}
''The Day After Tomorrow'' was first released on ] and ] in North America on October 12, 2004, in both ] and ] versions. A 2-disc "collector's edition" containing production featurettes, two documentaries (a "behind-the-scenes" and another called "The Forces of Destiny"), ] and concept sketches was released on May 24, 2005.

The film was released in ] on ] in North America on October 2, 2007, and in the United Kingdom on April 28, 2008, in full ] with a lossless ] track but with few bonus features.

The film made $110 million in DVD sales, bringing its total film gross to $652,771,772.<ref>. ''Lee'sMovieInfo.net''. Retrieved April 16, 2011.</ref>


==See also== ==See also==
{{Portal|Film}} {{Portal|Film}}
* '']'' – a 2007 non-fiction book

* '']'' – a book on which the movie is based
;Historical events
* '']'' – a Kim Stanley Robinson novel in which greenhouse warming similarly disrupts the Gulf Stream
* ], a large ] storm that occurred on March 12–13, 1993, on the East Coast of North America
* '']'' – a novel by Robert Silverberg about a second Ice Age

* '']'' – a 1962 book by John Christopher about the beginning of a new ice age
;Books and literature
* ], author of ''Ice!'', a 1978 novel with similar themes
* '']'', a book on which the movie is based
* '']'' – a 2017 film with a similar premise from Emmerich's longtime collaborator ]
* '']'', a ] novel in which greenhouse warming similarly disrupts the ]; the rate of cooling is somewhat less exaggerated
* '']'' – a 1998 film with a similar premise starring Grant Show, Udo Kier, and Eva La Rue
* '']'', a non-fiction book
* '']'' ] — a 2013 film about the remnants of humanity following a new global ice age
* '']'', a novel by ] about a second ]
* ] — a TV series based on the aforementioned movie of the same name
* '']'', a 1962 book by ] about the beginning of a new ice age
* ]

;Film
* '']'', a 1998 film with a similar premise starring ], ], and ]<ref>. '']''. ]. Retrieved July 11, 2012.</ref>
* '']''
* '']''
* ]

;Television
* "]", an episode of '']'' in which Earth is rapidly heating
* '']'', a 2007 ] miniseries
* "]", an episode of '']'' that parodies the film


==References== ==References==
{{Reflist}}
{{Anchor|Notes}} {{Anchor|Notes}}
{{Reflist|2}}


==External links== ==External links==
{{Wikiquote}} {{Wikiquote}}
* {{Official website|https://www.20thcenturystudios.com/movies/the-day-after-tomorrow}}
* {{IMDb title|0319262|The Day After Tomorrow}} * {{IMDb title|0319262|The Day After Tomorrow}}
* {{TCMDb title|id=536680}}
* {{allrovi movie|281154|The Day After Tomorrow}}
* {{AFI film|id=63036|title=The Day After Tomorrow}}
* {{mojo title|dayaftertomorrow|The Day After Tomorrow}} * {{mojo title|dayaftertomorrow|The Day After Tomorrow}}
* {{rotten-tomatoes|day_after_tomorrow|The Day After Tomorrow}}
* {{metacritic film|the-day-after-tomorrow|The Day After Tomorrow}}
* *


{{Roland Emmerich}} {{Roland Emmerich}}
{{BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects}}
{{Authority control}}


{{Authority control}}
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Latest revision as of 20:12, 6 January 2025

2004 film by Roland Emmerich For other uses, see The Day After Tomorrow (disambiguation).

The Day After Tomorrow
Film poster of a snow-covered New York City skylineTheatrical release poster
Directed byRoland Emmerich
Screenplay by
Story byRoland Emmerich
Based onThe Coming Global Superstorm
by Art Bell and
Whitley Strieber
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyUeli Steiger
Edited byDavid Brenner
Music byHarald Kloser
Production
companies
Distributed by20th Century Fox
Release dates
  • May 17, 2004 (2004-05-17) (Mexico City)
  • May 28, 2004 (2004-05-28) (United States)
Running time124 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$125 million
Box office$552.6 million

The Day After Tomorrow is a 2004 American science fiction disaster film conceived, co-written, co-produced, and directed by Roland Emmerich, based on the 1999 book The Coming Global Superstorm by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber, and starring Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Sela Ward, Emmy Rossum, and Ian Holm. The film depicts catastrophic climatic effects following the disruption of the North Atlantic Ocean circulation, in which a series of extreme weather events usher in climate change and lead to a new ice age.

Originally slated for release in the summer of 2003, it premiered in Mexico City on May 17, 2004, and was theatrically released in the United States by 20th Century Fox on May 28, 2004. The film was a commercial success, grossing $552 million worldwide against a production budget of $125 million, becoming so the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2004. Filmed in Montreal, it was the highest-grossing Hollywood film made in Canada at its time of release. The film received mixed reviews from critics, but was nominated for Best Science Fiction Film and Best Special Effects at the Saturn Awards.

Plot

Jack Hall is an American paleoclimatologist, and as he and his colleagues Frank and Jason drill for ice-core samples in the Larsen Ice Shelf for the NOAA, the ice shelf splits away. At a UN conference in New Delhi, Jack discusses his research showing that climate change could cause an ice age, but US Vice President Raymond Becker dismisses his concerns. Professor Terry Rapson, an oceanographer of the Hedland Centre in Scotland, befriends Jack over his views of an inevitable climate shift.

Tokyo is struck by a giant hail storm, and astronauts from the International Space Station spot three gigantic superstorms above Canada, Europe, and Siberia. Rapson's team in Scotland begin noticing severe temperature drops from multiple buoys from the North Atlantic realizing Jack's theories were correct, but the climate shift is happening too fast.

Remnants of a hurricane spawn a destructive tornado outbreak over the LA Basin. Also, three helicopters sent to rescue the British royal family from Balmoral Castle crash in Scotland after they fly into their superstorm's eye.

Jack's and Rapson's teams, along with NASA meteorologist Janet Tokada, build a forecast model based on Jack's research discovering the impact of climate change will happen in 6–8 weeks (later discovered as being 7–10 days). Rapson notifies Jack that siphoned air from the upper troposphere flash freezes anything caught in the eyes of the cyclones with temperatures below −150 degrees Fahrenheit (−101 degrees Celsius) which explains the helicopter crash.

In New York City Jack's son Sam, along with his friends Brian and Laura, participate in an academic decathlon, where they make a new friend, J.D. The North American superstorm creates strong winds and rain that flood Manhattan in knee-deep water. All transportation halts, stranding the city population.

A massive storm surge inundates the city, forcing Sam's group to seek shelter at the New York Public Library. But first Laura, in an attempt to help rescue two French-speaking tourists in distress from a cab with a police officer, badly cuts her leg. Sam is able to contact Jack and his mother Lucy, a pediatrician, through a working payphone. Jack warns Sam of the exacerbating superstorm and urges him to stay inside and warm and promises to rescue him. Rapson and his team succumb to the European storm. Lucy remains in her hospital caring for bedridden patients, where the authorities eventually rescue them.

Upon Jack's suggestion, President Blake orders the southern states to be evacuated into Mexico, while the northern ones are warned by the government to seek shelter and stay warm. Jack, Jason, and Frank make their way to NYC. In Pennsylvania, Frank falls through the skylight of a mall covered in snow and sacrifices himself by cutting his rope to prevent his friends from also falling in.

In the library, most survivors seek to join the southern states' refugees once the floodwater freezes, despite Sam's warnings. In Mexico, Becker learns that Blake's motorcade perished in the superstorm.

Laura develops sepsis from her injury, whereupon Sam, Brian, and J.D. scour an abandoned Russian cargo ship that drifted into the city before the water froze for penicillin and supplies. When they find them, they also encounter a pack of escaped wolves from the Central Park Zoo. The boys fend off the wolves and make it back to the library with what they need as the eye of the North American superstorm passes over and freezes Manhattan. Jack and Jason take shelter in an abandoned restaurant.

Days later, the superstorms dissipate. After finding people outside frozen to death, including those from the library who tried to escape, Jack and Jason reach the library, finding Sam's group alive. Jack sends a radio message to US forces in Mexico.

In his first address as the new president from the US embassy in Mexico, Becker apologizes on The Weather Channel for his ignorance and sends helicopters to rescue survivors including Jack and Sam's group in the northern states. On the International Space Station, astronauts look down in awe at Earth's transformed surface, now with ice sheets extending across much of the Northern Hemisphere, remarking that the air never looked so clear.

Cast

Production

Development

The Day After Tomorrow was inspired by Coast to Coast AM talk-radio host Art Bell and Whitley Strieber's book, The Coming Global Superstorm, and Strieber wrote the film's novelization. To choose a studio, writer Michael Wimer created an auction, with a copy of the script being sent to all major studios along with a term sheet. They had a 24-hour window to decide whether to produce the movie with Roland Emmerich directing, and Fox Studios was the only studio to accept the terms.

Filming

The Day After Tomorrow was filmed predominantly in Montreal and Toronto, with some footage also shot in New York City and Chiyoda, Tokyo. Filming ran from November 7, 2002, until October 18, 2003.

Special effects

The Day After Tomorrow features 416 visual effects shots, with nine effects houses, notably Industrial Light & Magic, and Digital Domain, and over 1,000 artists, working on the film for over a year.

Although a miniature set was initially considered according to the behind-the-scenes documentary, for the destruction of New York, effects artists instead utilized a 13-block-sized, LIDAR-scanned 3D model of Manhattan, with over 50,000 scanned photographs used for building textures. Due to its overall complexity and a tight schedule, the storm surge scene required as many as three special effects vendors for certain shots, with the digital water created by either Digital Domain or small effects house Tweak Films, depending on the shot. Miniatures were employed for a later underwater scene in which a city bus is crushed under the bulb stern of an abandoned Russian tanker ship that had drifted inland.

Similarly, the opening flyover of Antarctica was also computer-generated, created by digitally scanning miniature iceberg models created out of sculpted styrofoam; the falling pieces of ice as the shelf cracks were entirely hand-animated. Running for approximately two and a half minutes in length, the scene was at the time the longest continuous all-CG shot in film history, surpassing the space zoom-out from the opening of Contact (1997).

Music

Soundtrack

The Day After Tomorrow (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Soundtrack album by Harald Kloser
ReleasedMay 18, 2004
GenreSoundtrack
Length38:18
Label
ProducerVarious Artists
Harald Kloser chronology
Rudy: The Rudy Giuliani Story
(2004) 		The Day After Tomorrow (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
(2004) 		Alien vs. Predator (soundtrack)
(2004)

The Day After Tomorrow (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) is the soundtrack of the film. It was released on May 18, 2004.

Release

The film had its world premiere in Mexico City in May 17, 2004. It was released to theaters in the United States on May 28, 2004.

Home media

The film was released on VHS and DVD by 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment on October 12, 2004, and was released in high-definition video on Blu-ray in North America on October 2, 2007, and in the United Kingdom on April 28, 2008, in 1080p with a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio track and few bonus features. DVD sales were $110 million, bringing the film's gross to $652,771,772.

Reception

Box office

The film came in second at the US box office behind Shrek 2 over its four-day Memorial Day opening and grossed $85,807,341. For twenty years, it would hold the record for having the highest opening weekend for a natural disaster film until 2024 when it was dethroned by Twisters. It led the per-theater average, with a four-day average of $25,053 (compared to Shrek 2's four-day average of $22,633). At the end of its theatrical run, the film had grossed $186,740,799 domestically and $552,639,571 worldwide. It was the second-highest opening-weekend film not to lead at the box office; Inside Out surpassed it in June 2015.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, 45% of 219 critics gave the film a positive review, with an average rating of 5.3/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "The Day After Tomorrow is a ludicrous popcorn thriller filled with clunky dialogue, but spectacular visuals save it from being a total disaster." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on 38 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade "B" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times described the film as "profoundly silly", but nonetheless said the film was effective and praised the special effects. He gave it three stars out of four. Mark Caro of the Chicago Tribune wrote a completely negative review which considered the film unworthy of publicity for the climate change debate it had created.

Accolades

Award Subject Nominee(s) Result
Saturn Awards Best Science Fiction Film The Day After Tomorrow Nominated
Best Special Effects Karen E. Goulekas, Neil Corbould, Greg Strause and Remo Balcells Nominated
BAFTA Awards Best Special Visual Effects Won
VES Awards Outstanding Visual Effects in an Effects Driven Motion Picture Karen Goulekas, Mike Chambers, Greg Strause, Remo Balcells Nominated
Best Single Visual Effect Karen Goulekas, Mike Chambers, Chris Horvath, Matthew Butler Won
MTV Movie Awards Best Action Sequence "The destruction of Los Angeles" Won
Best Breakthrough Performance Emmy Rossum Nominated
Irish Film & Television Awards Best International Actor Jake Gyllenhaal Nominated
Golden Trailer Awards Best Action Film The Day After Tomorrow Nominated
Environmental Media Awards Best Film The Day After Tomorrow Won
BMI Film Awards Best Music Harald Kloser Won
Golden Reel Awards Best Sound Editing – Effects & Foley Mark P. Stoeckinger, Larry Kemp, Glenn T. Morgan, Alan Rankin, Michael Kamper, Ann Scibelli, Randy Kelley, Harry Cohen, Bob Beher and Craig S. Jaeger Nominated

Political and scientific criticism

Emmerich did not deny that his casting of a weak president and the resemblance of Kenneth Welsh to Vice President Dick Cheney were intended to criticize the climate change policy of the George W. Bush administration. Responding to claims of insensitivity in his inclusion of scenes of a devastated New York City less than three years after the September 11 attacks, Emmerich said that it was necessary to showcase the increased unity of people in the face of disaster because of the attacks.

Some scientists criticized the film's scientific aspects. Paleoclimatologist and professor of earth and planetary science at Harvard University Daniel P. Schrag said, "On the one hand, I'm glad that there's a big-budget movie about something as critical as climate change. On the other, I'm concerned that people will see these over-the-top effects and think the whole thing is a joke ... We are indeed experimenting with the Earth in a way that hasn't been done for millions of years. But you're not going to see another ice age – at least not like that." J. Marshall Shepherd, a research meteorologist at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, expressed a similar sentiment: "I'm heartened that there's a movie addressing real climate issues. But as for the science of the movie, I'd give it a D minus or an F. And I'd be concerned if the movie was made to advance a political agenda." According to University of Victoria climatologist Andrew Weaver, "It's The Towering Inferno of climate science movies, but I'm not losing any sleep over a new ice age, because it's impossible."

Patrick J. Michaels, a former research professor of environmental science at the University of Virginia and fellow at the Cato Institute who rejected the scientific consensus on global warming, called the film "propaganda" in a USA Today editorial: "As a scientist, I bristle when lies dressed up as 'science' are used to influence political discourse." College instructor and retired NASA Office of Inspector General senior special agent Joseph Gutheinz called The Day After Tomorrow "a cheap thrill ride, which many weak-minded people will jump on and stay on for the rest of their lives" in a Space Daily editorial.

Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research, an expert on thermohaline circulation and its effect on climate, said after a talk with scriptwriter Jeffrey Nachmanoff at the film's Berlin preview:

Clearly this is a disaster movie and not a scientific documentary, the film makers have taken a lot of artistic license. But the film presents an opportunity to explain that some of the basic background is right: humans are indeed increasingly changing the climate and this is quite a dangerous experiment, including some risk of abrupt and unforeseen changes ... Luckily it is extremely unlikely that we will see major ocean circulation changes in the next couple of decades (I'd be just as surprised as Jack Hall if they did occur); at least most scientists think this will only become a more serious risk towards the end of the century. And the consequences would certainly not be as dramatic as the 'superstorm' depicted in the movie. Nevertheless, a major change in ocean circulation is a risk with serious and partly unpredictable consequences, which we should avoid. And even without events like ocean circulation changes, climate change is serious enough to demand decisive action.

Environmental activist and Guardian columnist George Monbiot called The Day After Tomorrow "a great movie and lousy science".

In 2008, Yahoo! Movies listed The Day After Tomorrow as one of its top-10 scientifically inaccurate films. It was criticized for depicting meteorological phenomena as occurring over the course of hours, instead of decades or centuries. A 2015 Washington Post article reported on a paper published in Scientific Reports which indicated that global temperatures could drop relatively rapidly (one degree Fahrenheit change or 0.5 degrees Celsius change over an 11-year period) due to a temporary shutdown of the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation caused by global warming.

See also

References

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  4. Gillis, Justin (March 22, 2016). "Scientists Warn of Perilous Climate Shift Within Decades, Not Centuries". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved March 22, 2016.
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External links

Films directed by Roland Emmerich
Related
BAFTA Award for Best Special Visual Effects
1982–2000
2001–present
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