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2012
Dr. Adrian Helmsley, part of a worldwide geophysical team investigating the effect on the earth of radiation from unprecedented solar storms, learns that the earth's core is heating up. He warns U.S. President Thomas Wilson that the crust of the earth is becoming unstable and that without proper preparations for saving a fraction of the world's population, the entire race is doomed. Meanwhile, writer Jackson Curtis stumbles on the same information. While the world's leaders race to build "arks" to escape the impending cataclysm, Curtis struggles to find a way to save his family. Meanwhile, volcanic eruptions and earthquakes of unprecedented strength wreak havoc around the world.
2009 · Directed by Roland Emmerich · 158 min · Action · Adventure · Science Fiction · Screenplay in the scene database · 17 frames
Tagline
We were warned.
Plot
In 2009, American geologist Adrian Helmsley visits astrophysicist Satnam Tsurutani in Jharkhand, India, and learns that a previously undiscovered type of neutrino from a solar flare is heating the Earth's core. Returning to Washington, D.C., Adrian alerts White House Chief of Staff Carl Anheuser and President Thomas Wilson. A year later, over forty-six nations led by the G8 and China begin building nine arks in Tibet, while storing cultural artifacts aboard them. Nima, a Buddhist monk, is evacuated with his grandparents, while his brother Tenzin joins the ark project. Additional funding is secretly raised by selling tickets to the rich for €1 billion per person.
In 2012, struggling science-fiction writer Jackson Curtis is a chauffeur in Los Angeles for Russian billionaire Yuri Karpov. Jackson's former wife, Kate and their children, Noah and Lilly, live with Kate's boyfriend, plastic surgeon Gordon Silberman. Jackson takes Noah and Lilly camping at Yellowstone National Park. When they find Yellowstone Lake dried up and fenced off by the United States Army, they are caught and brought to Adrian. They later meet conspiracy theorist and radio personality Charlie Frost, who tells Jackson of Charles Hapgood's earth crust displacement theory and how the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar predicts the end of the world in 2012, and that the world's governments silence anyone attempting to warn the public.
Despite his initial skepticism, Jackson begins to take Charlie's warning seriously after witnessing several signs that seem to confirm it. These include a conversation with Yuri's sons, Alec and Oleg, who warn of impending disaster after Jackson drops them off at Santa Monica Airport. He rents a Cessna 340A and sets out to rescue his family. As the Pacific Coast suffers a catastrophic 10.9-magnitude earthquake along the San Andreas Fault, Jackson and his family reach the airport and escape aboard the Cessna before the coast sinks into the Pacific Ocean. The group flies to Yellowstone, and Jackson retrieves Charlie's map of the Arks' location, just as the Yellowstone Caldera begins to erupt. Charlie stays behind to finish his broadcast and is killed by debris. Realizing they need a larger plane to fly to the Himalayas, the group lands at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas to locate one.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Written by: Harald Kloser, Roland Emmerich
- Cinematography: Dean Semler
- Edited by: David Brenner, Peter S. Elliot
- Music: Harald Kloser, Thomas Wander
- Production design: Barry Chusid
- Produced by: Harald Kloser, Mark Gordon, Larry Franco
Cast
- John Cusack as Jackson Curtis
- Amanda Peet as Kate Curtis
- Chiwetel Ejiofor as Adrian Helmsley
- Thandiwe Newton as Laura Wilson
- Oliver Platt as Carl Anheuser
- Tom McCarthy as Gordon Silberman
- Woody Harrelson as Charlie Frost
- Danny Glover as President Thomas Wilson
- Liam James as Noah Curtis
- Morgan Lily as Lilly Curtis
Production
- Country: United States of America
- Language: German, Russian, Spanish, French, Hindi, English, Italian, Latin, Portuguese, Tibetan, Mandarin
- Studios: Columbia Pictures, Centropolis Entertainment, Farewell Productions, The Mark Gordon Company
- Budget: $200,000,000
- Box office: $791,217,826
- Themes: race against time, maya civilization, civilization, natural disaster, earthquake, end of the world, disaster, apocalypse, destruction, volcanic eruption
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