It’s the end of the year and some tabloid newspapers are again warning us that it could soon be the end of the world – yes, asteroid 2019 AE3 is in our vicinity and closing in. In keeping with the drama, below is a list of every cinema and TV drama ever made that feature Earth-threatening asteroids and comets so you can see for yourself what is unlikely to take place when the 13 metre asteroid flies past us on 2 January.
NASA calculates that asteroid 2019 AE3 will miss us by a distance of nearly 2 million kilometres, which is five times more than the Earth-Moon distance. But if it’s drama you want, I can guarantee it’s on my list – from the very first film about a comet impact made in 1916 (so it’s in black and white and silent) made in the aftermath of the 1910 passage of Halley’s Comet, through some mid-century space-race classics, to the two well-known 1998 blockbusters (one featuring a comet, the other an asteroid) no doubt inspired by the events surrounding the 1994 impact of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into Jupiter and the spectacular sight of comet Hale-Bopp in our own skies in 1997.
But rest assured, the asteroid-comet disaster genre is certainly not extinct, with an upcoming 2020 release featuring multiple comet impacts and a race to find sanctuary in an underground bunker in Greenland – a movie which, so far as I can tell, encapsulates much of what transpires in all the other plots on the list combined. It seems there is no end to how many times a plot can be recycled.
Happy New Year!
70 Movies and TV Shows Featuring Earth-Threatening Asteroids and Comets
A Fire in the Sky (1978). Watch
Anna’s Storm (2007) aka Hell’s Rain (2007). Trailer | Watch
Apocalypse, CA (2011). Trailer
Apocalypse Tomorrow (2014) aka Zodiac: Signs of the Apocalypse (2014). Watch | Watch (US)
Armageddon (1998). Watch
Asteroid (1997). Watch
Asteroid: Final Impact (2015) aka Meteor Assault (2015). Trailer | Watch
Asteroid vs Earth (2014). Watch
Before the Fall (2008) aka Tres Días (2008). Trailer | Watch
Collision Earth (2011). Watch
Cosmic Shock (1997) aka Doomsday Rock (1997). Watch
Crash of the Moons (1954). Watch
Danny Phantom “Phantom Planet” (2007) [S3, Ep 12–13]. Watch
Deadly Skies (2006) is the original version of Force of Impact (2006) aka Ultimate Limit (2006). Watch Original | Watch Alternative
Deep Impact (1998). Watch
Don’t Look Up! (due for release on Netflix late 2020). Press Release
Doomsday Rock (1997) aka Cosmic Shock (1997). Watch
Earthfall (2015). Trailer | Watch
Earth Storm (2006). Trailer | Watch
Evolution (2001). Watch
Force of Impact (2006) aka Ultimate Limit (2006) are alternative versions of the original Deadly Skies (2006). Watch Alternative | Watch Original
Futurama: “A Big Piece of Garbage” (1999) [S1, Ep 8]. Watch
Futureshock: Comet Impact (2007) aka Impact Earth (2008). Trailers
Gorath (1962). Trailer | Watch
Greenland (2020). Trailer
Hell’s Rain (2007) aka Anna’s Storm (2007). Trailer | Watch
Hope (2016). Watch
Icetastrophe (2014). Watch | DVD
Impact (2008). Watch
Impact Earth (2008) aka Futureshock: Comet Impact (2007). Trailers
Impact Earth (2015). Trailer
Judgment Day (1999). Trailer | DVD
La Fin du Monde (1931). Read
Melancholia (2011). Trailer | Watch
Meteor (1979). Watch
Meteor (2009). Watch
Meteor Apocalypse (2010). Watch
Meteor Assault (2015) aka Asteroid: Final Impact (2015). Trailer | Watch
Meteorites! (1998). Watch
Meteor Storm (2010). Watch
Mutant World (2014). Watch
Night of the Comet (1984). Trailer | Watch
One-Punch Man: “The Ultimate Disciple” (2015) [S1, Ep 7]. Watch
Polar Storm (2009). Trailer | Watch
Post Impact (2004). Trailer | Watch
Salvation (2017-18). Trailer S1 | Watch S1 & S2
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World (2012). Trailer | Watch
Sliders: “Last Days” (1995). Watch
Stargate SG-1: “Fail Safe” (2002) [S5, Ep 17]. Watch
Starship Troopers (1997). Watch
Stonado (2013). Watch
The Cusp (1996). Watch
The Day of the Triffids (1962/1981/2008). Watch 1962 | Watch 1981 | Watch 2008
The Day the Sky Exploded (1958). Watch
The End of the World (1916) aka The Flaming Sword (1916). Watch (Danish Film Institute) | Watch (Amazon)
The Green Slime (1968). Watch
The Lost Missile (1958). Watch
The Monolith Monsters (1957). Watch
The Onion News Network: “Asteroid Heads to Earth” (2011). Watch
The Sarah Jane Adventures: “Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane?” (2007) [S1, Ep 7–8]. Watch
These Final Hours (2013). Trailer | Watch
The Simpsons: “Bart’s Comet” (1995) [S6, Ep 14]. Watch
The Super Comet (2007). Trailer | Part 1: The Impact | Part 2: On a Strange Planet
The West Wing: “Impact Winter” (2004) [S6, Ep 9]. Watch
Tik Tik Tik (2018). Trailer | Title Track Video
Total Eclipse (2008). Watch
Tres Días (2008) aka Before the Fall (2008). Trailer | Watch
Ultimate Limit (2006) aka Force of Impact (2006) are alternative versions of the original Deadly Skies (2006). Watch Alternative | Watch Original
Voyage to the Prehistoric Planet (1965). Watch
Warning from Space (1956). Watch
When Worlds Collide (1951). Watch
Without Warning (1994). Watch
Wizards of Waverly Place: “Wizards vs Asteroid” (2011) [S4, Ep 17]. Watch
You, Me and the Apocalypse (2015). Watch
Zodiac: Signs of the Apocalypse (2014) aka Apocalypse Tomorrow (2014). Watch UK | Watch US
…and that’s a wrap for 70 movies and TV shows featuring Earth-threatening asteroids and comets.
Too short, want more? Read the long version.
Don’t forget, it’s always Asteroid Day on 30 June.
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