{"id":57630,"date":"2025-08-10T19:40:15","date_gmt":"2025-08-10T19:40:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/57630\/"},"modified":"2025-08-10T19:40:15","modified_gmt":"2025-08-10T19:40:15","slug":"10-must-watch-disaster-movies-on-netflix-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/57630\/","title":{"rendered":"10 must-watch disaster movies on Netflix right now"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Hollywood, disasters run the gamut from planes in peril (Society of the Snow, Airport) to post-war devastation (Grave of the Fireflies) to planets on the brink of destruction<\/a> (Don\u2019t Look Up, Melancholia). Whether the catastrophe is global or limited to just a sliver of humanity, it\u2019s impossible not to get caught up in the situation as characters scramble to survive.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Whether you crave dismay or humor in your world-ending threats, Netflix<\/a> has you covered. Entertainment Weekly is here with a rundown of the 10 best disaster movies<\/a> the streaming giant has to offer.\n<\/p>\n

Airport (1970) <\/p>\n

Dean Martin and Jacqueline Bisset in ‘Airport’.<\/p>\n

everett<\/p>\n

The OG stakes-on-a-plane blockbuster ushered in the Disaster Film era \u2014 and yes, capital letters are necessary to indicate how big the films and their audiences got over the decade that followed. Dean Martin plays the pilot in charge of a flight facing down a blizzard, a suicide bomber, and a boatload of personal dramas, with Burt Lancaster<\/a> as the airport director dealing with things from the ground.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a curious set because it was like two movies going on at once,\u201d star Jacqueline Bisset told EW in 1996<\/a>. \u201dOne was a movie with Dean Martin, which was absolute hilarity. Then there was the other set, which was with Burt Lancaster and was the very serious set.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The movie earned 10 Oscar nominations, with Helen Hayes<\/a> taking the supporting actress trophy for her scene-stealing turn. \u2014Sara Netzley\n<\/p>\n

Where to watch Airport: Netflix<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Directors: George Seaton\n<\/p>\n

Cast: Burt Lancaster, Dean Martin, Helen Hayes, Van Heflin, Jacqueline Bisset\n<\/p>\n

Bird Box (2018) <\/p>\n

Sandra Bullock protects her kids in ‘Bird Box’.<\/p>\n

How do you survive a disaster you can\u2019t see? The Sandra Bullock<\/a>-fronted Bird Box<\/a> forces viewers to confront this question. The menace isn\u2019t invisible; rather, simply looking at the mysterious cause of this global calamity drives humans to suicide. EW\u2019s critic praised<\/a> the film for its taut pacing and of-the-moment chills as reluctant mother-to-be Bullock scraps for survival (often from behind a blindfold).\n<\/p>\n

\u201cHow do you convey the fact that you can’t see and yet not lose touch with the character’s emotional journey?\u201d director Susanne Bier said to EW in 2018<\/a>. \u201cI kept asking myself, \u2018How do we track her? Do we understand where she\u2019s at? Do we know exactly what she feels?\u2019 Because Sandra is such an amazing actress, you do feel it and you do track her.\u201d \u2014S.N.\n<\/p>\n

Where to watch Bird Box: Netflix<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

EW grade: B (read the review<\/a>)\n<\/p>\n

Director: Susanne Bier\n<\/p>\n

Cast: Sandra Bullock, Trevante Rhodes<\/a>, B.D. Wong<\/a>, John Malkovich<\/a>, Jacki Weaver<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t Look Up (2021) <\/p>\n

Jennifer Lawrence and Leonardo DiCaprio try, in vain, to save the world.<\/p>\n

Niko Tavernise \/ Netflix<\/p>\n

Although director Adam McKay<\/a> swaps global climate change for a killer comet in this political satire, his message remains the same: Ignore science at your peril. Leonardo DiCaprio<\/a> and Jennifer Lawrence<\/a> star as astronomers who try in vain to warn politicians and the public about the existential threat barrelling toward them. In the end, they\u2019re no match for blissful ignorance.\n<\/p>\n

Meryl Streep<\/a> admitted she struggled to practice her craft while shooting scenes as President Janie Orlean during the pandemic. \u201cI didn’t feel funny in the lockdown,\u201d she told EW in 2021<\/a>. \u201cI just lost it. I forgot how to act, I forgot what I was about. It sort of dismantles your humanity, to be isolated like that. But thank god for Jonah [Hill<\/a>], because he kept us laughing.\u201d \u2014S.N.\n<\/p>\n

Where to watch Don\u2019t Look Up: Netflix<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

EW grade: B (read the review<\/a>)\n<\/p>\n

Director: Adam McKay\n<\/p>\n

Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Cate Blanchett<\/a>, Meryl Streep, Jonah Hill, Rob Morgan, Mark Rylance<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Melancholia (2011) <\/p>\n

Kirsten Dunst in ‘Melancholia’.<\/p>\n

Magnolia Films\/ Everett<\/p>\n

Considered one of the best movies ever made about mental health and depression, EW\u2019s review describes Lars von Trier<\/a>\u2019s 2011 science fiction drama, Melancholia, as a \u201cgiant achievement.\u201d Kirsten Dunst<\/a> took home the Best Actress trophy at the Cannes Film Festival that year for her portrayal of Justine, a bride whose descent into depression coincides with the arrival of a rogue planet called Melancholia, which threatens to collide with Earth.\n<\/p>\n

The movie was a hit among the critical community when it was released, with most noting how Melancholia departed from some of von Trier\u2019s earlier, more provocative work. EW\u2019s critic writes that he creates, \u201cstriking visual tableaux that, in their majestic simplicity, convey a profound emotional depth that transcends word.\u201d \u2014Ilana Gordon\n<\/p>\n

Where to watch Melancholia: Netflix<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Director: Lars von Trier\n<\/p>\n

Cast: Kirsten Dunst, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Alexander Skarsg\u00e5rd, Brady Corbet, Cameron Spurr\n<\/p>\n

Grave of the Fireflies (1988) <\/p>\n

‘Grave of the Fireflies,’ guaranteed to make you cry. You’ve been warned.
\nEverett Collection<\/p>\n

This animated masterpiece from Studio Ghibli<\/a> follows siblings Seita and Setsuko, who are taken in by their aunt after their mother dies during the 1945 U.S. firebombing of Kobe. But their struggle to survive doesn\u2019t end there, as they face a shortage of food in the final days of WWII.\n<\/p>\n

Based on a 1967 semi-autobiographical short story by Akiyuki Nosaka, the film is a haunting, harrowing look at the physical and emotional costs of war. It\u2019s not an easy watch, but it\u2019s a rewarding one. \u2014S.N.\n<\/p>\n

Where to watch Grave of the Fireflies: Netflix<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Director: Isao Takahata\n<\/p>\n

Cast: Tsutomu Tatsumi, Ayano Shiraishi, Yoshiko Shinohara, Akemi Yamaguchi\u00a0\n<\/p>\n

Related content: All of the Studio Ghibli movies, ranked<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

The Midnight Sky (2020) <\/p>\n

Is that snow in your beard, George, or have you just gotten super old.
\nNetflix<\/p>\n

The Midnight Sky<\/a> may focus on a lone Arctic scientist attempting to save a group of astronauts from returning to the doomed planet, but for director-star George Clooney<\/a>, part of the film\u2019s magic was entirely Earth-bound thanks to his character\u2019s extensive screen time with a young mute girl (Caoilinn Springall).\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThat makes for a slower-paced film, and I felt strong enough that that’s the kind of film it has to be,\u201d Clooney told EW in 2020<\/a>. \u201cIt has to be a film that sits with him and the little girl looking up at Polaris\u2026 You have to let it bake a little bit so that there’s loss and then there’s some redemption along the way.\u201d \u2014S.N.\n<\/p>\n

Where to watch The Midnight Sky: Netflix<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

EW grade: B (read the review<\/a>)\n<\/p>\n

Director: George Clooney\n<\/p>\n

Cast: George Clooney, Felicity Jones<\/a>, David Oyelowo<\/a>, Tiffany Boone, Demi\u00e1n Bichir<\/a>, Caoilinn Springall\n<\/p>\n

Related content: George Clooney discusses the difficulties of filming The Midnight Sky<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Pandora (2016) <\/p>\n

‘Pandora,’ one of the most underrated flicks on Netflix.<\/p>\n

Netlfix<\/p>\n

An earthquake can be devastating enough, but in director Park Jeong-woo\u2019s Pandora, the tremor strikes a nuclear power plant, causing a meltdown that threatens the nearby town. Although the film was inspired by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident, it\u2019s a fictional tale that focuses as much on the political climate that led to the disaster as the disaster itself.\n<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re wondering whether aging infrastructure and indifferent officials made a bad situation worse, well, you might be onto something. You\u2019ll have to watch the film to see just how much worse it gets. \u2014S.N.\n<\/p>\n

Where to watch Pandora: Netflix<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Director: Park Jeong-woo\n<\/p>\n

Cast: Kim Nam-gil, Kim Joo-hyun, Jung Jin-young, Kim Young-ae, Moon Jeong-hee\n<\/p>\n

Society of the Snow (2023) <\/p>\n

A brutal true story brought to life for a second time in ‘Society of the Snow’.<\/p>\n

Netflix<\/p>\n

This survival epic dramatizes the real-world plane crash that stranded a group of rugby players, plus scattered family and friends, in the Andes in 1972. J.A. Bayona<\/a>, who also directed the Indian Ocean tsunami film The Impossible<\/a> (2012), based Society of the Snow on the non-fiction book that was also the basis for the 1993 American feature, Alive. Reading accounts from the 16 survivors of the crash was just a start; Bayona and his cast also met with the survivors.\n<\/p>\n

“It’s a story that is based on humanism, on an extreme generosity,” Bayona told EW in 2023<\/a>. \u201cIt’s extraordinary the way they deal with that, very calmly talking from their point of view, never forcing anyone to do anything that they didn’t want to.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The film landed two Oscar nominations, including one for Best International Film. \u2014S.N.\n<\/p>\n

Where to watch Society of the Snow: Netflix<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Director: J.A. Bayona\n<\/p>\n

Cast: Enzo Vogrincic, Mat\u00edas Recalt, Felipe Gonz\u00e1lez Ota\u00f1o, Agust\u00edn Pardella, Luciano Chatton\n<\/p>\n

Suzume <\/p>\n

‘Suzume’.
\nCrunchyroll<\/p>\n

Suzume\u00a0is the story of a 17-year-old high school student who meets a mysterious stranger tasked with sealing doors that keep popping up across Japan, unleashing earthquakes. Add in a cat, a supernatural worm, and a\u00a0three-legged chair<\/a>, and you have an anime movie that is hard to explain, but easy to enjoy.\n<\/p>\n

An adventurous disaster movie from director Makoto Shinkai (Your Name<\/a>),\u00a0Suzume\u00a0is a visual and auditory achievement: the animation is stunning and meticulously detailed, and the movie boasts a killer soundtrack.\u00a0\u2014I.G.\n<\/p>\n

Where to watch\u00a0Suzume: Netflix<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Director:\u00a0Makoto Shinkai\n<\/p>\n

Cast:\u00a0Nanoka Hara, Hokuto Matsumura, Eri Fukatsu, Shota Sometani, Sairi Ito, Kotone Hanase\n<\/p>\n

Train to Busan (2016) <\/p>\n

‘Train to Busan’.
\nWell Go USA<\/p>\n

The only thing faster than a bullet train is the zombie infection overtaking its passengers. In the South Korean action horror film Train to Busan, a work-obsessed father (Gong Yoo) traveling with his young daughter Su-an (Kim Su-an) sees their bullet train trip detrailed when a sick woman begins transitioning into a zombie \u2014 and infecting everyone around her.\n<\/p>\n

These zombies seem to have studied at the World War Z School of Swarming; they move at the same frenetic speed, infecting the entire country during the course of the movie’s under two-hour run time. \u2014I.G.<\/p>\n

Where to watch Train to Busan: Netflix<\/a><\/p>\n

EW grade: B+<\/p>\n

Director: Yeon Sang-ho<\/p>\n

Cast: Gong Yoo, Jung Yu-mi, Ma Dong-seok, Kim Su-an, Choi Woo-shik, Ahn So-hee, Kim Eui-sung<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In Hollywood, disasters run the gamut from planes in peril (Society of the Snow, Airport) to post-war devastation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57631,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[96,2839,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-57630","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-movies","tag-entertainment","tag-movies","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57630","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57630"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57630\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57631"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57630"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57630"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57630"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}