Post-Apocalyptic Cinema
by hawkinslad | created - 02 Apr 2014 | updated - 02 Apr 2014 | PublicA list of films with solely post-apocalyptic settings that rate from just below average to excellent. In order of goodness. Zombie movies not included.
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1. The Road (I) (2009)
R | 111 min | Drama, Thriller
In a dangerous post-apocalyptic world, an ailing father defends his son as they slowly travel to the sea.
Director: John Hillcoat | Stars: Viggo Mortensen, Charlize Theron, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Robert Duvall
Votes: 254,123 | Gross: $0.06M
2. Children of Men (2006)
R | 109 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
In 2027, in a chaotic world in which women have somehow become infertile, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón | Stars: Julianne Moore, Clive Owen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Michael Caine
Votes: 529,258 | Gross: $35.55M
3. 12 Monkeys (1995)
R | 129 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
In a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.
Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, Joseph Melito
Votes: 646,531 | Gross: $57.14M
4. Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)
PG-13 | 107 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
After being exiled from the most advanced town in post apocalyptic Australia, a drifter travels with a group of abandoned children to rebel against the town's queen.
Directors: George Miller, George Ogilvie | Stars: Mel Gibson, Tina Turner, Bruce Spence, Adam Cockburn
Votes: 147,571 | Gross: $36.20M
5. The Book of Eli (2010)
R | 118 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A drifter fights his way across a ravaged, post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book that holds the secrets to humanity's salvation.
Directors: Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes | Stars: Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson, Gary Oldman
Votes: 339,265 | Gross: $94.84M
6. WALL·E (2008)
G | 98 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
In the distant future, a small waste-collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind.
Director: Andrew Stanton | Stars: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard
Votes: 1,200,022 | Gross: $223.81M
7. The Matrix (1999)
R | 136 min | Action, Sci-Fi
When a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.
Directors: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving
Votes: 2,052,227 | Gross: $171.48M
8. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)
R | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, a cynical drifter agrees to help a small, gasoline-rich community escape a horde of bandits.
Director: George Miller | Stars: Mel Gibson, Bruce Spence, Michael Preston, Max Phipps
Votes: 193,624 | Gross: $12.47M
9. Terminator Salvation (2009)
PG-13 | 115 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In 2018, a mysterious new weapon in the war against the machines, half-human and half-machine, comes to John Connor on the eve of a resistance attack on Skynet. But whose side is he on, and can he be trusted?
Director: McG | Stars: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood
Votes: 377,196 | Gross: $125.32M
10. Carriers (2009)
PG-13 | 84 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
As a lethal virus spreads globally, four friends seek a reputed plague-free haven. But while avoiding the infected, the travelers turn on one another.
Directors: David Pastor, Àlex Pastor | Stars: Chris Pine, Piper Perabo, Lou Taylor Pucci, Emily VanCamp
Votes: 49,644 | Gross: $0.09M
11. Idiocracy (2006)
R | 84 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Corporal Joe Bauers, a decidedly average American, is selected for a top-secret hibernation program but is forgotten and left to awaken to a future so incredibly moronic that he's easily the most intelligent person alive.
Director: Mike Judge | Stars: Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, Terry Crews
Votes: 182,148 | Gross: $0.44M
12. Reign of Fire (2002)
PG-13 | 101 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
A brood of fire-breathing dragons emerges from the earth and begins setting everything ablaze, establishing dominance over the planet.
Director: Rob Bowman | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Christian Bale, Izabella Scorupco, Gerard Butler
Votes: 145,413 | Gross: $43.06M
13. Wizards (1977)
PG | 80 min | Animation, Adventure, Fantasy
On a post-apocalyptic Earth, a wizard and his faire folk comrades fight an evil wizard who's using technology in his bid for conquest.
Director: Ralph Bakshi | Stars: Bob Holt, Jesse Welles, Richard Romanus, David Proval
Votes: 13,005 | Gross: $9.00M
14. Planet of the Apes (1968)
G | 112 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
An astronaut crew crash-lands on a planet where highly intelligent non-human ape species are dominant and humans are enslaved.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans
Votes: 193,076 | Gross: $33.40M
15. Right at Your Door (2006)
R | 96 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A dirty bomb goes off in Los Angeles, jamming freeways and spreading a toxic cloud.
Director: Chris Gorak | Stars: Mary McCormack, Rory Cochrane, Tony Perez, Scotty Noyd Jr.
Votes: 14,383 | Gross: $0.06M
16. Planet of the Apes (2001)
PG-13 | 120 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In 2029, an Air Force astronaut crash-lands on a mysterious planet where evolved, talking apes dominate a race of primitive humans.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Helena Bonham Carter, Tim Roth, Michael Clarke Duncan
Votes: 228,965 | Gross: $180.01M
17. The Quiet Earth (1985)
R | 91 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A scientist awakens to find himself alone in the world. In a desperate attempt to search for others, he finds only two who have their own agenda.
Director: Geoff Murphy | Stars: Bruno Lawrence, Alison Routledge, Pete Smith, Anzac Wallace
Votes: 27,613 | Gross: $2.12M
18. Mad Max (1979)
R | 88 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In a self-destructing world, a vengeful Australian policeman sets out to stop a violent motorcycle gang.
Director: George Miller | Stars: Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Steve Bisley
Votes: 222,230 | Gross: $8.75M
19. The Day (I) (2011)
R | 87 min | Action, Drama, Horror
A group of five people working to stay alive in a post-apocalyptic future discover what they think is a safe, abandoned farmhouse, but they soon find themselves fighting to stay alive as a gang of bloodthirsty predators attack.
Director: Douglas Aarniokoski | Stars: Shawn Ashmore, Brianna Barnes, Ashley Bell, Brayden Edwards
Votes: 13,304 | Gross: $0.02M
20. The Postman (1997)
R | 177 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A nameless drifter dons a postman's uniform and bag of mail as he begins a quest to inspire hope to the survivors living in post-apocalyptic America.
Director: Kevin Costner | Stars: Kevin Costner, Will Patton, Larenz Tate, Olivia Williams
Votes: 78,294 | Gross: $17.63M
21. Waterworld (1995)
PG-13 | 135 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In a future where the polar ice-caps have melted and Earth is almost entirely submerged, a mutated mariner fights starvation and outlaw "smokers," and reluctantly helps a woman and a young girl try to find dry land.
Director: Kevin Reynolds | Stars: Kevin Costner, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Dennis Hopper, Tina Majorino
Votes: 209,861 | Gross: $88.25M
22. The Day After Tomorrow (2004)
PG-13 | 124 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Jack Hall, paleoclimatologist, must make a daring trek from Washington, D.C. to New York City to reach his son, trapped in the cross-hairs of a sudden international storm which plunges the planet into a new Ice Age.
Director: Roland Emmerich | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emmy Rossum, Dash Mihok
Votes: 475,912 | Gross: $186.74M
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