7 times cinema explored killer asteroids: 'Don't Look Up', 'Armageddon', 'Deep Impact', and more
'Don't Look Up'
Although the DART mission had serious adjectives, it hilariously shares resemblance with Adam McKay's 2021 apocalyptic satire 'Don't Look Up'. Featuring an array of big names like Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lawrence, Rob Morgan, Jonah Hill, Mark Rylance, Tyler Perry, Timothée Chalamet, Ron Perlman, Ariana Grande, Kid Cudi, Cate Blanchett, and Meryl Streep, the film parodied the world government's lethargic response to climate crisis that, as per nearly all scientists, jeopardises the human civlisation. Just like climate scientists, DiCaprio and Lawrence's scientists try to warn the US government and the media about the existential threat -- to no avail.
Celestial-body-impacting-earth-and-endangering-planet sci-fi sub-genre
The asteroid-impacting-earth-and endangering-planet sub-genre of science-fiction disaster (it does not feel something that is in the realm of sci-fi right now, though) that I invented just now is really a thing in films. There have been many movies that explored this sub-genre. I already mentioned 'Don't Look Up'. Here are a few more.
'Armageddon'
Arguably the most popular movie of this sub-genre, the star-studded Michael Bay directorial featured names like Bruce Willis, Billy Bob Thornton, Liv Tyler, Ben Affleck, Will Patton, Peter Stormare, Keith David and Steve Buscemi. The film was similarly about a huge asteroid on a collision course with the planet. NASA sends a group of drillers to plant explosives inside the asteroid. The film, despite an exciting premise, put a new meaning to the 'disaster film'.
'Deep Impact'
Instead of an asteroid, in 'Deep Impact', the culprit was a comet. Unlike asteroids, comets are made of ice and dust. But despite that, even comets, if big enough, can cause mass extinctions. Starring Robert Duvall, Téa Leoni, Elijah Wood, Vanessa Redgrave, Maximilian Schell, and Morgan Freeman, the film has protagonists prepare to halt a 11-km comet striking earth. 'Deep Impact' released in the same year as 'Armageddon' (1998) and was deemed more scientifically accurate.
'Meteor'
Despite Sean Connery, 'Meteor' is a movie that is largely forgotten, and that's good. For it's terrible. But it does deserve a presence in this list for including Cold War era politics in a science-fiction film.
'Chicken Little'
A Disney animated movie, 'Chicken Little' has its hero a little chicken (obviously) who raises alarm bells when he feels a piece of sky fell on him. But nobody believes him and he becomes a laughing stock. He, of course, turns to be right. Again, not a masterful piece of cinema, it deserves a watch.
'Seeking a Friend for the End of the World'
Another lighthearted take on this sub-genre, this Steve Carrell and Keira Knightley-starrer is set on an earth where most life has been already destroyed by an asteroid. Despite being a box office bomb and mixed reviews, I feel this movie is better than other entries on this list.
'The Day the Sky Exploded'
The oldest film in the list, 'The Day the Sky Exploded' was an Italian film that released in 1958. In this movie, the heavenly body going to strike earth is not exactly an asteroid, but a cluster of them, coalescing and hurtling towards the planet.
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