There’s just something about those end-of-the-world style movies that draws flocks of people to the theatre time and time again. And this isn’t a new genre; in fact, this one has been around for ages.
This style of movies can be sad, humorous, filled with thrills and adventure, and contain some pretty powerful messages. So if you’re looking to discover the best of the best in this genre, you’ll love this list of the five best end of the world movies from this century.
Planet of the Apes 
While Planet of the Apes certainly wasn’t the first in this genre, it had a very large impact at the time and still does today. The movie was released in 1968 and starred Charlton Heston.
Heston played an astronaut, who at the beginning of the movie crash-landed on a planet sometime in the future.
Heston soon discovers that the planet is filled with apes who talk and who use humans as slaves.
The movie has since gone on to become a classic and even had a few remakes.
Night of the Living Dead
Of course, you can’t discuss end of the world movies without including a movie about zombies.
The Night of the Living Dead was also released in 1968 and was a true horror film.
It was made on a budget of just over $110,000 and featured a group of people who barricade themselves in a farmhouse to prevent the living dead (zombies) from eating them.
At the time it drew a lot of negative reviews due to its gore factor, which by today’s standards would be seen as tame.
This movie has since been remade a number of times and has gone on to spawn a whole new genre of its own.
Terminator
Here’s another iconic movie, not just at the time it was released, but even today.
The terminator is perhaps the most recognizable role Arnold Schwarzenegger has ever had.
Released in 1984, it was a dark look into the future where robots have taken over the planet and are killing off humans.
The series still lives on today with Terminator Genisys released in 2015.
The Matrix
Enter at the dawn of the digital age, The Matrix hits all the right notes at all the right times.
This trilogy was an absolutely massive success and again took a look at the world in the future where machines control the planet.
What helped this movie to stand out at the time, and today, was the special effects, fight sequences, and non-stop action.
The Day After Tomorrow
Here’s an end of days style of film that touches on something that seems very realistic: a natural disaster.
With global warming at record highs and pollution seemingly out of control, it isn’t hard to picture the world where weather patterns become unpredictable.
In the Day After Tomorrow, released in 2004, large parts of the earth are wiped out by a giant storm, one of which has never been seen before. Again, this was the start of a whole new exciting style of films in this genre.
What Are the Odds?
Part of what makes these movies so fun and intriguing is if you look at the odds of those events actually happening in real life. You can start to look at these disaster films in terms of betting odds. For instance, the odds of apes uniting against man and taking over the planet are about 1/4,600.
That’s about the same odds as Leicester City winning the Premier League in 2016; in fact, they were 1/5,000.
Now here’s something scary, Leicester City went on to win! So what does that say for the end of the world movies . . . maybe they aren’t strictly fantasy after all.
Who knows, maybe machines will take over the world one day!
Are some of your favourites not on this particular list? Then head on over to Curzon who have done their very own End of the World Movies list.
