The Day After Tomorrowhas found success on Netflix’s global top 10 chart after 20 years. Hitting theaters in 2004,director Roland Emmerich’sThe Day After Tomorrowchronicles the onset of a devastating new planetary Ice Agewith a story that follows paleoclimatologist Jack Hall (Dennis Quaid) as he treks from Washington D.C. to New York City to rescue his stranded son, Sam (Jake Gyllenhaal). The film, which also stars Emmy Rossum, Ian Holm, Sela Ward, and Arjay Smith, was a box office hit, grossing $552.6 million worldwide.
Now, two decades later,new data fromNetflixreveals thatThe Day After Tomorrowranks as the sixth most popular movieon the streamer globally for the week of September 9 – 15. The film pulled in an impressive 11.6 million hours viewed and 5.6 million views in total. ThoughThe Day After Tomorrowfalls short of titles likeFast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw(2019),The Deliverance(2024), andInto the Fire: The Lost Daughter(2024), it beatsEdge of Tomorrow(2014),The Union(2024), andGemini Man(2019). Check out the full top 10 list below:
Total Views (in millions)
1
38.6
2
20.8
3
8.1
4
7
5
5.8
6
5.6
4.1
8
3.9
9
3.5
10
What The Day After Tomorrow’s Netflix Success Says About The Film
How The Gyllenhaal Flick Fared With Critics & Audiences At The Time
The Day After Tomorrowbecame a success quickly upon its release. With an estimated budget of $125 million, the film could have been looking at a break-even point as high as $312 million, a figure it far exceeded at the worldwide box office. Critically, the project was more of a mixed bag, andit currently sports a lackluster 45% critics' score and 50% audience score onRotten Tomatoes.Still, though, the film’s resurgence in popularity on Netflix speaks to its enduring appeal 20 years later.
10 Best Disaster Movies Like The Day After Tomorrow You Need To See
There are a ton of thrilling disaster movies like The Day After Tomorrow that plunge viewers into the terror of a widespread apocalyptic scenario.
The movie was widely seen at the time of its release and would become a home-viewing hit, andthere’s evidently a comfort and watchability factor that helps to make it a go-to choice on streaming today. What’s more, stars like Gyllenhaal and Quaid remain popular two decades later, and it’s possible that the success of projects likePresumed Innocent(2024-)for the former andReagan(2024)for the latter have contributed toThe Day After Tomorrow’s streaming success.
How The Day After Tomorrow Compares To Emmerich’s Other Disaster Movies
The Director Has Returned To The Disaster Genre Several Times
The key to any good disaster movie is not just nailing the actual disaster sequences themselves, but also telling a compelling, human story. InThe Day After Tomorrow,Emmerich, after depicting extreme weather events in places like Tokyo, Los Angeles, and New York City, hones in on the movie’s beating heart, which is Jack’s relationship with his son, Sam. The two characters struggle to connect on any level in earlier scenes in the movie, but Jack eventually bridges the divide between them literally and figuratively when he undertakes an impossible journey to reunite with him.
What Emmerich’s 2012 Spinoff Would’ve Looked Like (& Why It Didn’t Happen)
Roland Emmerich’s 2009 disaster movie 2012 originally had a TV spin-off planned for ABC, 2013 - here’s why the follow-up to the film didn’t happen.
Emmerich attempted to strike this balance between spectacle and emotion again with2012(2009), which depicts a father, played by John Cusack, attempting to keep his family safe after a series of global catastrophes threaten humankind’s existence. Though this Emmerich film fared worse with both critics and audiences on Rotten Tomatoes due to a less compelling human story, sporting scores of 39% and 47%, respectively, it beatThe Day After Tomorrowat the box office, grossing $769.7 million worldwide on an estimated budget of $200 million.
Moonfallwas also a major box office bomb, however, grossing only $67 million on an estimated budget of about $150 million.
Emmerich then returned to the disaster genre withMoonfall(2022). This film, which leans more heavily into science fiction than his previous disaster movie efforts and stars Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson, fared generally poorly with critics, sporting a 35% on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite a cookie-cutter human story and a far-fetched ending, the film does beatThe Day After Tomorrowin terms of audience score with a respectable 70%.Moonfallwas also a major box office bomb, however, grossing only $67 million on an estimated budget of about $150 million.
Emmerich’sIndependence Day(1996) andIndependence Day: Resurgencecould be considered disaster films, but they arguably fit better into their own alien invasion subgenre.
Our Take On The Day After Tomorrow’s Netflix Popularity
The Roland Emmerich Film Stands The Test Of Time
The Day After Tomorrowfeatures some ambitious, effects-driven sequences that largely hold up to this day, which has surely helped the movie stand the test of time as a whole. What’s more, the film, despite being far-fetched in many respects, continues to feeltimely 20 years later due to the ongoing and escalating climate crisis. Though the flash freezes and tornado devastation seen in the film are heightened in the name of entertainment, extreme weather events are becoming more common in the real world, adding new layers to Emmerich’s movie and enhancing rewatchability.
What’s more, the film, despite being far-fetched in many respects, continues to feel timely 20 years later due to the ongoing and escalating climate crisis.
While there are smarter and more realistic disaster movies,The Day After Tomorrowremains a seminal entry in the genre, especially for audiences of a certain age, myself included. Due to its cast, story, effects, and the nostalgia factor, it’s very likely that Emmerich’s film will continue to be a popular home-viewing choice for years to come.
The Day After Tomorrow
Cast
The Day After Tomorrow depicts the cataclysmic effects of global climate change as a series of extreme weather events unfold, leading to a sudden and severe ice age. The film follows a paleoclimatologist and his son’s struggle for survival amidst the rapidly descending chaos.
