Volcano (1997)

A volcano erupts in downtown L.A., threatening to destroy the city.

Director:

Mick Jackson

Writers:

Jerome Armstrong (story), Jerome Armstrong (screenplay),

Stars:

Tommy Lee Jones, Anne Heche, Gaby Hoffmann

1 win & 1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tommy Lee Jones	...	Mike Roark
Anne Heche	...	Dr. Amy Barnes
Gaby Hoffmann	...	Kelly Roark
Don Cheadle	...	Emmit Reese
Jacqueline Kim	...	Dr. Jaye Calder
Keith David	...	Police Lieutenant Ed Fox
John Corbett	...	Norman Calder
Michael Rispoli	...	Gator Harris
John Carroll Lynch	...	Stan Olber
Marcello Thedford	...	Kevin
Laurie Lathem	...	Rachel
Bert Kramer	...	L.A. Fire Chief
Bo Eason	...	Bud McVie
James MacDonald	...	Terry Jasper (as James G. MacDonald)
Dayton Callie	...	Roger Lapher

Storyline

Something unspeakably chilling is ultimately starting to heat up at The City of Los Angeles! Beneath the famed La Brea Tar Pits, a raging volcano has formed, raining a storm of deadly fire bombs and an endless tide of white-hot lava upon the stunned city!

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Plot Keywords:

volcano | earthquake | lava | fire | exploding building | 

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Taglines:

The Coast Is Toast

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Sci-Fi | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense depiction of urban disaster and related injuries

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English Spanish German

Release Date:

25 April 1997 (USA)

Also Known As:

Vulkan

Filming Locations:

190th Street & Western Avenue, Torrance, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$90,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$62,600,000 (Non-US) (31 October 1997)

Gross:

$47,474,112 (USA) (1 August 1997)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Donner/Shuler-Donner Productions, Moritz Original

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The lava was primarily made of methylcellulose, the thickening agent used in fast-food milkshakes.

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Goofs

As the lava flows up to the K-rail dam, it flows around street lights and traffic light poles. Flowing magma is between 700°C and 1350°C. Aluminum, with a melting point of 660°C, would have melted as soon as the lava reached it. A steel chain link fence melts into the flow. Depending on its composition, steel melts between 1050°C and 1550°C.

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Quotes

Kelly Roark: [in the car] I wanna go home.
Roark: We're going to the safest place in town, baby, I promise.

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Connections

Featured in The Rotten Tomatoes Show: The Men Who Stare at Goats/A Christmas Carol/Precious (2009)

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Soundtracks

"I Love L.A."
Written and Performed by Randy Newman
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Records Inc.
By Arrangement with Warner Special Products

User Reviews

A good 'just sit down and watch' film

I'm not going to pretend that this movie is realistic. It isn't. But if you want to just sit down and watch a film with action, drama and entertaining characters, then this is the film for you.

Most disaster films are unrealistic, have no science behind them and if you think about them too much just get worse and worse. This movie is no exception. However, it is still a brilliant film if you want to sit down and not think too hard, or if you want to put a movie on without having to give it your full concentration. Personally, I think this film is great. There are better films out there, including better disaster films, but there are so many films that are ten times worse yet get better reviews. That's probably because they have better actors or are more realistic - but the job of a movie is to entertain, and this film does that brilliantly.