The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

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

Writers:

Roland Emmerich (story), Roland Emmerich (screenplay)

Stars:

Dennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emmy Rossum

Won 1 BAFTA Film Award. Another 5 wins & 12 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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)

Storyline

As Paleoclimatologist Jack Hall is in Antartica, he discovers that a huge ice sheet has sheared off. But what he does not know is that this event will trigger a massive climate shift that will affect the world population. Meanwhile, his son Sam is with friends in New York City to attend an event. There, they discover that it has been raining non-stop for the past three days, and after a series of weather-related disasters begin to occur all over the world, everybody realizes the world is about to enter a new Ice Age and the world population begins trying to evacuate to the warmer climates of the south. Jack makes a daring attempt to rescue his son and his friends who are stuck in New York City and who have managed to survive not only a massive wave but also freezing cold temperatures that could possibly kill them.

---

Plot Keywords:

global warming | end of the world | climate crisis | climate | weather | 

---

Taglines:

Whoever said "Tomorrow is another day"... didn't check the weather.

---

Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

---

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for intense situations of peril

Details

Official Sites:

20th Century Fox [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Japanese French Arabic

Release Date:

28 May 2004 (USA)

Also Known As:

Tomorrow

Filming Locations:

Colton Street & N Edgeware Road, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$125,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$85,807,341, 30 May 2004, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$186,740,799

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$544,272,402

Company Credits

Production Co:

Twentieth Century Fox, Centropolis Entertainment, Lions Gate Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

124 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Towards the end of the movie, when the President is giving his "thanking the third-world countries" speech, the channel he is giving the speech on is The Weather Channel.

---

Goofs

We are led to believe that the only global surveys of the weather available are through manual observations from the International Space Station. In reality there are several dedicated meteorological satellites in orbit around the Earth.

---

Quotes

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

---

Crazy Credits

The commentary says the closing credits are 8mins long, and were sped-up from an original 13mins duration.

---

Connections

Featured in Two Kings and a Scribe: A Filmmaking Conversation (2005)

---

Soundtracks

Do You Really Want to Hurt Me
Written by Boy George (as George O'Dowd), Jon Moss, Mikey Craig (as Michael Craig) and Roy Hay
Performed by Culture Club
Courtesy of Virgin Records
Under license from EMI Film & Television Music

User Reviews

A Plea For Kyoto

I'm certainly in no position to comment on the science put forth in this film. When I was going to school, I remember being taught in science class that the Ice Age was a gradual process that took place over thousands of years and then it took thousands again to reverse it. Of course we didn't have man around using all the planet's resources for industry.

But scientist Dennis Quaid says that the Ice Age will dawn upon man again and soon. But it happens a whole lot sooner than even he predicts and the nations of the world pay for it.

The first half of the film is Quaid's struggle in vain to persuade our government, particularly a Vice President played by Kenneth Welsh who bears no accidental resemblance to Dick Chaney of the folly of its environmental policy.

When doomsday strikes, the action shifts to Quaid trekking to New York to rescue his son Jake Gyllenhaal who is trapped in the New York Public Library with other kids from an Academic Bowl they were participating in.

IF the science is open to speculation, the special effects are spectacular. Personally the sight of that freighter sailing up a flooded 42nd Street is something to behold. And the whiz kids who survive prove to be pretty resourceful.

The Day After Tomorrow is Hollywood's appeal for the USA to sign and obey the Kyoto Accords. Hollywood has taken up worse causes.