The complete post-apocalyptic movie list

Seven years ago, I started compiling a clean list of post-apocalyptic movies. Today, I’m posting a refreshed list of movies set after global calamities.
Other lists of post-apocalyptic flicks are muddied with movies showing dystopian futures or an approaching apocalypse. Other lists also included crappy, super-low-budget movies.
For my list, I wanted to focus on noteworthy movies that showed the aftermath of an apocalypse and people trying to survive.
My original list included just theatrical movies that were significant enough to merit a Wikipedia entry and be reviewed on Rotten Tomatoes. I’ve since added movies made for streaming services, such as Netflix.
Here’s my list of major, live-action motion pictures that depict life on Earth after nuclear war, plagues, alien invasion, climate change or other devastation.

Updated April 2, 2024.

1951   Five
1952   Captive Women (also known as “1000 Years From Now” and “3000 A.D.”)
1953   The War of the Worlds
1955   Day the World Ended
1956   World Without End
1959   On the Beach
1959   The World, the Flesh and the Devil
1960   Beyond the Time Barrier
1960   Last Woman on Earth
1960   The Time Machine
1961   The Day the Earth Caught Fire
1962   Panic in Year Zero!
1963   The Day of the Triffids
1964   The Earth Dies Screaming
1964   Last Man on Earth
1964   The Time Travelers
1966   The End of August at the Hotel Ozone (Czechoslovakia)
1966   The War Game (U.K.)
1968   Planet of the Apes
1968   The Bed Sitting Room (U.K.)
1969   The Seed of Man (Italy)
1970   Beneath the Planet of the Apes
1970   Gas! or It Became Necessary to Destroy the World in Order to Save It
1970   No Blade of Grass
1971   Glen and Randa
1971   The Omega Man
1973   Battle for the Planet of the Apes
1973   Idaho Transfer
1974   Zardoz
1975   A Boy and His Dog
1975   The Noah
1975   The Ultimate Warrior
1977   Damnation Alley
1978   Dawn of the Dead
1978   Deathsport
1978   Invasion of the Body Snatchers
1979   Quintet
1979   Ravagers
1979   The Shape of Things to Come
1980   Virus (Japan) aka Day of Resurrection or Fukkatsu no hi
1981   The Road Warrior
1982   The Aftermath
1982   She
1982   1990: The Bronx Warriors (Italy)
1983   2019: After the Fall of New York (Italy)
1983   The Day After
1983   Le Dernier Combat, aka The Last Battle (France)
1983   Stryker
1983   Testament
1984   Night of the Comet
1984   Warriors of the Wasteland, aka The New Barbarians (Italy)
1984   Threads (U.K.)
1985   City Limits
1985   Day of the Dead
1985   Def-Con 4
1985   Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
1985   The Quiet Earth
1985   Wheels of Fire
1985   Warrior of the Lost World (Italy)
1985   Exterminators of the Year 3000 (Italy)
1986   Radioactive Dreams
1987   Cherry 2000
1987   Creepozoids
1987   Hell Comes to Frogtown
1987   Steel Dawn
1988   World Gone Wild
1988   She-Wolves of the Wasteland
1989   The Blood of Heroes
1989   Cyborg
1989   Slipstream
1990   Hardware
1990   Robot Jox
1990   Aftershock
1991   Delicatessen (France)
1991   Neon City
1991   The Rapture
1992   Raiders of the Sun
1993   Body Snatchers
1994   American Cyborg: Steel Warrior
1995   Fist of the North Star
1995   The Postman
1995   Tank Girl
1995   Twelve Monkeys
1995   Waterworld
1997   Omega Doom
1998   Six-String Samurai
1999   The Matrix
2000   Battlefield Earth
2001   Ever Since the World Ended
2001   Pulse (Japan)
2002   Reign of Fire
2002   The Time Machine
2003   The Matrix Reloaded
2003   The Matrix Revolutions
2003   Time of the Wolf (France)
2004   Dawn of the Dead
2004   The Day After Tomorrow
2004   Resident Evil: Apocalypse
2005   Land of the Dead
2005   War of the Worlds
2007   I Am Legend
2007   Resident Evil: Extinction
2008   Babylon A.D.
2008   Blindness
2008   City of Ember
2008   Day of the Dead
2008   The Happening
2009   Carriers
2009   The Road
2009   Survival of the Dead
2009   Terminator Salvation
2009   Zombieland
2010   The Book of Eli
2010   Daybreakers
2010   Resident Evil: Afterlife
2010   Skyline
2010   Stake Land
2010   Vanishing on 7th Street
2010   Phase 7 (Argentina)
2010   Rammbock: Berlin Undead (Germany) aka Siege of the Dead
2011   The Darkest Hour
2011   The Divide
2011   Hell (Germany)
2011   Priest
2012   The Battery
2012   The Day
2012   Resident Evil: Retribution
2013   The Colony
2013   Oblivion
2013   Rapture-Palooza
2013   This Is the End
2013   Warm Bodies
2013   World War Z
2013   Goodbye World
2014   The Rover
2014   Snowpiercer
2014   Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
2014   Left Behind
2014   The Maze Runner
2014   The Remaining
2014   The Last Days (Spain)
2014   The Last Survivors, aka The Well
2014   Plague (Australia)
2015   Mad Max: Fury Road
2015   Extinction
2015   Air
2015   Z for Zachariah
2015   Turbo Kid
2015   Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials
2015   Attack on Titan: Part 1 (Japan)
2015   Attack on Titan: Part 2 (Japan)
2015   Re-Kill
2015   Embers
2015   Jackrabbit
2015   Robot Overlords
2015   Astraea
2016   The 5th Wave
2016   10 Cloverfield Lane
2016   Pandemic
2016   Into the Forest
2016   The Tribe
2016   Diverge
2016   Daylight’s End
2016   The Worthy (United Arab Emirates)
2016   Stake Land 2: The Stakelander
2017   Resident Evil: The Final Chapter
2017   The Girl with All the Gifts
2017   Bokeh
2017   Here Alone
2017   War for the Planet of the Apes
2017   It Comes at Night
2017   The Bad Batch
2017   The Survivalist
2017   2307: Winter’s Dream
2017   Beyond Skyline
2017   Go North
2018   Maze Runner: The Death Cure
2018   Scorched Earth
2018   Ravenous, aka Les Affames (Quebec, Canada)
2018   Day of the Dead: Bloodline
2018   A Quiet Place
2018   Cargo
2018   Future World
2018   Genesis
2018   How It Ends
2018   The Domestics
2018   The Night Eats the World (France)
2018   I Think We’re Alone Now
2018   Patient Zero
2018   What Still Remains
2018   Bird Box
2018   Occupation (Australia)
2018   Hostile
2018   Anna and the Apocalypse
2018   A Breath Away, aka Dans la brume (France)
2019   Io
2019   The Wandering Earth (China)
2019   The Silence
2019   I Am Mother
2019   Light of My Life
2019   Ever After, aka Endzeit (Germany)
2019   Riot Girls
2019   Zombieland: Double Tap
2019   Radioflash
2019   The Blackout (Russia)
2020   Only
2020   Blood Quantum
2020   Bullets of Justice
2020   Love and Monsters
2020   2067
2020   Cadaver, aka Kadaver (Norway)
2020   Greenland
2020   The Midnight Sky
2020   Alone
2021   A Quiet Place Part 2
2021   Awake
2021   The Tomorrow War
2021   The Colony, aka Tides
2021   Occupation: Rainfall (Australia)
2021   Finch
2021   Mother/Android
2021   The Matrix Resurrections
2021   Last Man Down
2021   Night Raiders
2021   The Survivalist
2022   Moonfall
2022   Vesper
2022   The Pink Cloud (Brazil)
2023   The Wandering Earth 2 (China)
2023   Last Sentinel, aka Last Contact
2023   Bird Box Barcelona (Spain)
2023   Zom 100: Bucket List of the Dead (Japan)
2023   Leave the World Behind
2024   Badland Hunters (South Korea)

Let me know if you think I should make some additions or deletions.

‘Zombieland 2’ ends drought of major studio post-apocalyptic movies

The Oct. 18 release of “Zombieland: Double Tap” from Sony’s Columbia Pictures marks the first major studio theatrical movie in the post-apocalyptic genre in a year and a half.
The last major theatrical post-apocalyptic movie release was “A Quiet Place” from Viacom’s Paramount Pictures in April 2018.
PA movies remain a popular genre, but most such movies now are being produced by independent filmmakers or smaller studios. Often the films are picked up by streaming services such as Netflix and not given a wide theatrical release.

Photo: Early poster for “Zombieland: Double Tap.”

Could solo artists get the shaft from stingy Rock Hall?

Among the biggest losers as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame puts a tight limit on the number of annual inductees could be solo acts from previously inducted groups.
With only five or six slots to fill for annual induction, hall voters might bypass artists who are already in the hall in another guise.
Solo acts that could be affected include Phil Collins, Brian Eno, Bryan Ferry, Carole King, Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop, Diana Ross, Sting and Tina Turner.
The Rock Hall needs to ramp up the number of inductees, possibly to eight to 10 a year. At least until they clear some of the backlog of criminally overlooked artists who should be inducted.
Thoughts?

Photo: “Face Value” (1981) album by Phil Collins.

Netflix DVD subscribers: We few, we happy few

Many people are surprised to learn that Netflix still runs a service that delivers DVDs by mail.
The streaming video giant doesn’t publicize its legacy, U.S.-only service much anymore. Netflix is OK letting it fade away into the history books as your father’s subscription movie service.
Netflix doesn’t mention the DVD service much, except for line items in its quarterly filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
The DVD service is a rounding error for the subscription video-on-demand leader. In the third quarter, the Netflix DVD service earned $44.1 million on sales of $71.9 million. It accounted for 1.4% of the company’s total revenue of $5.24 billion and 2.8% of its $1.59 billion in profit.
Netflix is focusing its attention on producing original series and movies to delight its streaming subscribers. Movies and TV shows from the major Hollywood studios are being pulled away by rival streaming services.
Movie fans who want to get their Hollywood films from one place can still count on Netflix’s DVD service. For now, at least.
Netflix ended the September quarter with 2.28 million DVD service subscribers. That’s down 19.5% year over year. It lost 135,000 subscribers from its June total of 2.41 million subscribers.
By comparison, Netflix ended the third quarter with 60.6 million streaming subscribers, up 520,000.
I’m hoping the DVD service stabilizes at a healthy number of subscribers to keep it alive for years to come.

Photo credit: Netflix

Biggest letdown with Rock Hall noms: Just 5 planned inductees

My biggest disappointment with the announcement of the nominees for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame class of 2020 wasn’t the selections themselves. All 16 have merit. It was the revelation that the hall plans to induct just five of them.
That’s at the low end of recent inductions, which have tended to honor five to seven acts.
In an interview with Q-FM 96 in Columbus, Ohio, Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Chief Executive Greg Harris said only five of the 16 nominees will be inducted. That reinforces what the Rock Hall website says about the induction process.
However, Future Rock Legends notes “that has been subject to change.” I certainly hope so.
The Rock Hall is never going to be able to deal with its growing backlog of deserving artists if it inducts just five artists every year.
The hall broadened the definition of “rock and roll” to include pop, rhythm and blues, and hip-hop without increasing the number of inductees.
I think the hall should hark back to the 1990s when it inducted seven or eight acts a year.
I’ve said before that I like that the Rock Hall is very selective. But they’re being too limiting with just five inductees.
It seems obvious they’re keeping the induction list tight to accommodate a live broadcast on HBO of the induction ceremony next year. The honorees will be announced in January.

Photo: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum in Cleveland.
"IMG_2964" by Christina Spicuzza is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Rock Hall finally acknowledges Pat Benatar, other longtime snubs

The nominations are out today for the 2020 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And as usual, they have divided fans.
The hall picked 16 nominees: Pat Benatar, Dave Matthews Band, Depeche Mode, the Doobie Brothers, Whitney Houston, Judas Priest, Kraftwerk, MC5, Motörhead, Nine Inch Nails, the Notorious B.I.G., Rufus featuring Chaka Khan, Todd Rundgren, Soundgarden, T. Rex and Thin Lizzy.
One criticism is that some acts aren’t rock, including Whitney Houston and the Notorious B.I.G. But that argument was decided long ago when the Rock Hall broadened its purview to cover all music popular with young people. It has added country, pop, R&B and hip-hop acts.
Other criticisms involve acts that weren’t nominated such as Warren Zevon, Boston and Iron Maiden, to name a few.
Yet another criticism is that the hall nominated only three women this year, continuing a pattern of underrepresentation.
The most interesting slight this year was the rejection of Mötley Crüe, which won the fan poll at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame museum in Cleveland.
Personally, I think the list is a good one. They all deserve to be in the hall. But the hall is notoriously picky, which has created an enormous backlog of worthy artists.
Hopefully they’ll let in more than the usual five to seven artists when the inductees are announced in January.
The nominating committee read my mind when they selected Benatar this year. She topped my wish list for the hall in an article in July. Whitney, the Doobie Brothers, Thin Lizzy and Depeche Mode were also on that list.
On the other hand, they didn’t follow my advice to do a “20 for ’20” stunt, as in 20 inductees in 2020, to help clear the backlog of worthy honorees.