What makes cinematic depictions of disaster so compelling - when they're done right, that is - is the uneasy dance between plausibility and fantasy. We watch from the safety of our seats as horrible things happen to these characters, and we feel both the spine-tingling excitement of thinking, Yeah, this could totally happen, and the reassuring comfort of knowing that we ourselves are safe.
So what happens when an actual, bona fide, honest-to-goodness disaster is unfolding in real life instead? For some of us, the onscreen versions will become unbearable. For others - especially those who've been watching Contagion and over the past few months, and you know who you are - such disasters will become even more thrilling and intensely voyeuristic.
Of course, the disaster movie is one of cinema's oldest genres: There were films about Pompeii and burning buildings in the very early days of movies. Maybe that's because film is the one art form that can do proper justice to this sort of spectacle.
Westerns and rom-coms and war movies might wax and wane in popularity, but there's always buzz around the latest disaster movie. Okay, maybe Moonfall didn't make a ton of money, but anyone who's watched the Gerard Butler-starring Greenland over the past year or so can tell you that this genre is alive and well.
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