10. Volcano (1997)

Sure, erupting volcanoes are nothing new, what with Mount Etna in Italy and Mount St-Helens in Washington state among the many known mountains/potential powder kegs. Mick Jackson's fiery thriller sets a boiling volcano right beneath Los Angeles, threatening the lives of millions. It's up to Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Heche to devise a way to redirect the damage towards the Pacific waters when the lava starts flowing in the downtown area. A clever premise, pitting one of Earth's more powerful geological events against one of the largest cities in North America.

9. Towering Inferno (1974)

Man has always sought to reach new heights, and this hubris becomes problematic for Paul Newman's architect character when a new 138-story building built to less-than-perfect safety standards erupts in flames on the 81st floor. With the power down and the inferno raging at too high an altitude to be combated from the ground, the lives of hundreds are in the hands of a capable fire chief (Steve McQueen), who must rely on ingenuity to save as many as possible before it's too late. One of the more popular disaster films of the 1970s which still delivers solid suspense.
8. Poseidon Adventure (1972)

This film is another fine example of humans beset by Earth's elements, in this case a tidal wave that capsizes a large ocean liner on its final voyage. With the ship slowly sinking and everything found upside down, it's up to a priest (Gene Hackman) undergoing a crisis of faith to try and lead as many survivors as possible to the bottom of the hull before they all drown. Remade in 2006 as Poseidon but that film had nowhere near the punch the original still holds today.
7. Twister (1996)

An example from the 1990s of a film using computer imagery to create realism, Twister is an original in a decade when studios released similarly themed competing projects in a race to box-office millions. The film follows a motley crew of weather experts, including a formerly married couple whose relationship was as stormy as the tornadoes they chase. The real fun happens during high-speed chases as they find themselves a little too close to the action. The main character to watch for here isn't Bill Paxton or Helen Hunt. It's the series of twisters in various sizes, courtesy of Industrial Light & Magic. Fun fact: Twister was the first film ever released on DVD.
6. Outbreak (1995)

The disaster here is an enemy found within. A young man brings to the United States a capuchin monkey from Africa, unaware that the little primate is carrying a virus similar to Ebola. As the contamination goes from patient one to an entire community, a military virologist (Dustin Hoffman) and his scientist ex-wife (Rene Russo) are brought in to try and solve this biological mystery. When they realize the government is ready to destroy the town and its inhabitants at all costs to protect the greater population at large, the situation becomes even more threatening. Outbreak is a phlegm-filled good time, assuming you don't mind the sight of copious bodily fluids.
5. Titanic (1997)

Still the highest grossing film in cinematic history (almost $2 billion worldwide), director James Cameron's Titanic is more love story than disaster film, but its very infamous fate certainly qualifies as disastrous. The maiden voyage of the "unsinkable" ship Titanic as it heads off to New York City from Southampton, England is doomed to perish southeast of Newfoundland four days later. This allows audiences to get emotionally attached to romantic leads Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet.
4. Independence Day (1996)

When an alien race arrives from space in giant motherships which hover over the world's major cities in unison, the Earth population is unsure whether to greet these new visitors or fear them. When all the motherships start to use giant energy beams to obliterate the surface, humanity's only hope rests on a handful of heroes, such as a fighter pilot (Will Smith), a genius-level satellite technician (Jeff Goldblum) and a patriotic President (Bill Pullman). Though the means through which they try and defeat the aliens makes very little logical sense, it's still impressive to see famous landmarks such as the White House be blown to bits from above. Talk about a great film to watch on Fourth of July holidays.
3. The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

A Roland Emmerich disaster film, this time dealing with the dangerous repercussions of global warming as a researcher (Dennis Quaid) discovers the factors that caused the last ice age are reappearing worldwide. With a skeptical government unwilling to accept his findings, the world is then unprepared for the massive weather events which spread destruction everywhere: tornadoes in Los Angeles, tidal waves in New York City, and so on. With the remaining population looking to relocate to the south, Quaid's character walks his way to the Big Apple to find his son (Jake Gyllenhall).
2. War of the Worlds (2005)

A remake of the original 1953 film starring Gene Barry, Steven Spielberg's War of the Worlds is larger in scope, and contains more visual damage than its predecessor. As the giant alien Tripods start attacking the populace in a hostile attempt at global domination, everyman Ray Ferrier (Tom Cruise) tries to keep himself and his two kids alive as they make their way to Boston to look for Mom. The film manages to retain some of the ominous presence the original ships had in the 1953 original, which itself contained enough property damage to make this list. Spielberg knows how to spread worldwide destruction with the best of them.
1. Deep Impact (1998)

While it battled for box-office dominance in the summer of 1998 (and lost to the similarly themed Armageddon), Mimi Leder's much more intelligent film chronicled the possible annihilation of mankind at the hands of a large asteroid on a collision course with Earth. The film didn't contain as much humor and syrupy ultra-patriotism as Armageddon but its smart approach to the subject matter makes it the superior film, and firmly puts it at the top of this list. Also, it managed to instill a black President (Morgan Freeman) into the White House 10 years before Obama took office.