The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

Director:

Roland Emmerich

Writers (WGA):

Roland Emmerich (story)
Roland Emmerich (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

28 May 2004 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

This year, a sweater won't do.

Plot:

A climatologist tries to figure out a way to save the world from abrupt global warming. He must get to his young son in New York, which is being taken over by a new ice age.

Plot Keywords:

New York | Global Warming | Disaster | Climatologist | Weather

Awards:

Won BAFTA Film Award. Another 3 wins & 8 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Sun. Nov. 15	9:00 PM	FX
Mon. Nov. 16	5:30 PM	FX

Cast

Dennis Quaid	...	Jack Hall
Jake Gyllenhaal	...	Sam Hall
Emmy Rossum	...	Laura Chapman
Dash Mihok	...	Jason Evans
Jay O. Sanders	...	Frank Harris
Sela Ward	...	Dr. Lucy Hall
Austin Nichols	...	J.D.
Arjay Smith	...	Brian Parks
Tamlyn Tomita	...	Janet Tokada
Sasha Roiz	...	Parker
Ian Holm	...	Terry Rapson
Nassim Sharara	...	Saudi Delegate
Carl Alacchi	...	Venezuelan Delegate
Kenneth Welsh	...	Vice President Becker
Michel 'Gish' Abou-Samah	...	Saudi Translator (as Michael A. Samah)

Also Known As:

Tomorrow (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for intense situations of peril.

Runtime:

124 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | French | Japanese | Italian

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG-13 (certificate #40177) | Iceland:L | Brazil:Livre | Malaysia:U | France:U | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Canada:PG | Chile:TE | Czech Republic:12 | Finland:K-11 | Germany:12 | Ireland:12 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:M | Norway:11 | Peru:PT | Philippines:G | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:12 | Sweden:11 | Switzerland:10 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:10 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Zurich) | UK:12A | Greece:K-13

Filming Locations:

Canada

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

The film was originally scripted with Sam and his friends as 11-year-olds, but director/screenwriter Roland Emmerich changed them to high school students for Jake Gyllenhaal, who Emmerich had seen in October Sky (1999). Emmerich asked "Can Jake Gyllenhaal play a 17-year-old?"

Goofs:

Factual errors: The penicillin aboard ship was found in solution. If in solution it should have been found frozen and it is clearly liquid when picked up. Normally penicillin is stored as a powder and reconstituted (by adding water or sterile sodium chloride solution) just prior to use. Penicillin in solution is not clear, it is a milky white color.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Frank Harris: See how it's done?
Jason Evans: Yeah, I think I got the hang of it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The O.C.: The Day After Tomorrow (#3.20)" (2006)

Soundtrack:

Karma

Smoke and mirrors, all flash and no substance

THE DAY AFTER TOMORROW

Aspect ratio: 2.39:1 (Super 35)

Sound formats: Dolby Digital / DTS

Utterly routine blockbuster, loosely based on scientific predictions of disastrous climate changes due to global warming, in which the Gulf Stream is essentially 'shut off', triggering a series of freak weather conditions (giant hailstones in Japan, tornadoes in Los Angeles, tidal waves in New York, etc.) which culminate in a new Ice Age. Dennis Quaid is the obsessive climatologist who struggles to convince sceptical authorities of the impending catastrophe, and who is forced to rescue his son (Jake Gyllenhaal) after the boy becomes stranded in Manhattan following torrential floods and the subsequent Big Freeze. Industrial Light & Magic unleashes a wealth of attention-grabbing visual effects during the film's impressive opening stretch, effectively sidelining the crudely drawn characters and half-baked melodramatics, but the superficial script (by Jeffrey Nachmanoff and director Roland Emmerich) fails to sustain the initial momentum, and the second half becomes bogged down in Quaid's ho-hum rescue mission.

To be fair, the movie DOES contain a number of awe-inspiring sequences (the massive wave which rises from the ocean to engulf New York; the view from space as three colossal storms circle the entire northern hemisphere of the earth; a trawler floating serenely down a flooded Fifth Avenue), and a couple of satirical jabs are surprisingly potent (most notably, the mass exodus of American citizens INTO Mexico!), but the movie amounts to little more than smoke and mirrors, all flash and no substance.