| Disaster Movie | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Jason Friedberg Aaron Seltzer |
| Written by |
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| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Shawn Maurer |
| Edited by | Peck Prior |
| Music by | Christopher Lennertz |
Production companies |
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| Distributed by | Lionsgate |
Release date |
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Running time | 87 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $20 million[2] |
| Box office | $34.8 million[2] |
Disaster Movie is a 2008 Americanparody film written and directed byJason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer and produced byPeter Safran, Friedberg, and Seltzer. It starsMatt Lanter,Vanessa Minnillo, Gary "G Thang" Johnson,Crista Flanagan,Nicole Parker,Ike Barinholtz,Carmen Electra,Tony Cox, andKim Kardashian in her feature film debut. It was released on August 29, 2008, byLionsgate. The film is mainly a parody of thedisaster film genre, although it also references many other films, TV shows, people, andpop culture events of the time.
The film was panned by critics and audiences for its forced adult humor, excessive pop culture references, and poor writing, acting and directing, with many considering it to be the worst movie directed by Seltzer and Friedberg,[3][4] as well asone of the worst films of all time. The movie received six nominations for the29th Golden Raspberry Awards. The filmunderperformed at the box office, grossing $34.8 million against a budget of $20 million.[2]
In the year10,001 B.C., acaveman runs away from a predator through a plain and immediately gets into a fight withWolf. After defeating him, the caveman then encounters the predator, asaber-toothed,gasoline-drinkingAmy Winehouse, who informs him that theworld will end on August 29, 2008, and that their fate lies in aCrystal Skull.
The sequence is then revealed to be a dream ofeveryman Will in the present day. He then finds out that his girlfriend Amy is having an affair withFlavor Flav, and she breaks up with Will because he is not admitting his true feelings for her.
Later that day, Will has a "Super Duper Sweet Sixteen" party at his house, despite being 25. The guests includeJuney,Dr. Phil, Will's best friend Calvin, andAnton Chigurh, among others. During the party, Amy arrives with her new boyfriend, aCalvin Klein underwear model. The party then comes to a halt when the room shakes and the lights go out. A bulletin on the radio claims there is ameteor shower and it is the end of the world. Soon after, the city starts tofreeze over, and Will, Juney, Calvin, and Calvin's girlfriend Lisa retreat to a garage for shelter. When Juney mentions that the calamities are caused byglobal warming, Will realizes his dream as a caveman could be related. Later, Will is chided by the others for not committing himself to his relationship with Amy.
The gang leaves the garage and Will gets a call from Amy, where he admits his feelings for her before the call is dropped. He decides to go to rescue Amy. Lisa is later killed by a meteor. While the others comfort a distraught Calvin,Giselle, aprostitute, climbs out of amanhole and gets hit by ataxi. Calvin catches her, and theyimmediately fall in love with each other. Giselle'spimp,Prince Edwin, challenges Calvin toa dance fight for her love, buta tornado appears and Prince Edwin flees.Iron Man,Hellboy, andthe Hulk attempt to fight it, but all are defeated bycows thrown by the tornado. After taking shelter, Will, Juney, Calvin, and Giselle encounterrabid knockoffs ofAlvin and the Chipmunks, who attack the gang and kill Juney. The "Chipmunks" then go after Will and Calvin, but they trap them in a trash can, fatally suffocating them as they attempt to escape.
On their way to the museum where Amy is trapped, the group runs intoBatman, who informs them that they must go to evacuation buses and that there will be no chance of survival if they go to save Amy. With time against them, Princess Giselle killsSpeed Racer, and the group hijacks hisMach Five, which containsMichael Jackson andBubbles in the trunk, to drive to the museum. At the museum, they save Amy, who reveals that the Crystal Skull is the only thing that can stop the end of the world. Calvin and the Princess then find that the museum doors are closed and all of the artifacts havecome alive, includingPo from Kung Fu Panda, who fights Calvin but is defeated. When Calvin makes out with the Princess, Calvin accidentally pulls herwig and discovers that she is actually atransvestite. While this happens, "Po" takes out akatana and simultaneously kills Calvin and the Princess.
Meanwhile, Will and Amy run into a nudeBeowulf, who fights with Will. After Amy stabs "Beowulf" in the back, Will and Amy encounterIndiana Jones, who is revealed to be Will's father. "Indy" tries to put the Crystal Skull on the altar, but he flies through a stained glass window in the room. Will does it instead, and he averts further destruction. Will and Amy have awedding ceremony performed by"The Guru Shitka", which ends with a musical number about all of the characters in the film dating each other (having sex in the unrated version) parodying "I'm Fucking Matt Damon" by Sarah Silverman and the film closes with the "Chipmunks" getting crushed to death by a falling cow before the credits start to roll.
On April 2, 2008, less than 3 months after the release of Friedberg and Seltzer's previous spoof filmMeet the Spartans, it was announced that the duo were in pre-production on a spoof ofSuperbad, with the title beingGoodie Two Shoes.[22] Unlike the previous Friedberg and Seltzer-directed films, which were financed byRegency Enterprises and distributed by20th Century Fox, this film was financed byGrosvenor Park and distributed byLionsgate in the United States.
Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer wrote the film as a parody ofSuperbad, but similar to the duo's previous films, it would parody some of the big blockbusters and popular celebrities from 2007 and 2008. Since many of the films being spoofed were not released at the time that the script was being written, Friedberg and Seltzer used trailer footage to get the basic idea of the films. By the time they finished writing, the idea had transformed into parodying the string of disaster movies that saw release in recent years, and not only that but also parodying the aforementioned pop culture of those years to an even greater degree than before (to the point the film would use the tagline "Your favorite movies are about to bedestroyed".)
On April 28,Matt Lanter,Vanessa Minnillo, Gary "G Thang" Johnson andCarmen Electra signed up to be the main cast members.[23]Matt Lanter was cast as the lead character, Will, whileVanessa Minnillo played Amy.Gary “G Thang” Johnson took on the role of Calvin, andCarmen Electra portrayed the Beautiful Assassin.[24]
Filming took place in the state ofLouisiana from April 28 to June 6.[22] Oscar-nominated production designer William Elliott (who has done production design on the duo films sinceDate Movie), did the production design for the sets.[25] TheChamber of Commerce building inShreveport was used for filming the natural history museum scenes in the film.[26]
After the filming had ended, Friedberg and Seltzer renamed the filmDisaster Movie. The editing team worked on cutting raw footage and assembling it to create a cohesive narrative. They also added music, sound effects, and dubbed dialogues to enhance the overall viewing experience.[27] The visual effects team was responsible for creating and integrating various special effects to bring the disaster scenes to life.[28]
On its domestic theatrical debut,Disaster Movie grossed $2,023,130 on its opening day, $5,836,973 over the three-day weekend, and $6,945,535 over the four-day weekend (includingLabor Day).[2] It ranked #7 for both the three- and four-day weekends. The film's takings for the weekend fell far short of the $17 million predicted by theDallas Morning News.[29] The film was not as commercially successful as previous Friedberg/Seltzer releases. On a $20 million budget, it grossed $14,190,901 domestically and $17,492,474 internationally for a worldwide total of $31,683,375,[2] less than half the gross ofMeet the Spartans.
TheDVD andBlu-ray were released on January 6, 2009. They both included an Unrated "Cataclysmic" Edition and the theatrical version, both with the same extras. About 410,934 DVD units were sold, bringing in $8,447,690 in revenue as of October 2009[update].[30]
OnRotten Tomatoes,Disaster Movie has an approval rating of 1% based on 72 reviews with an average rating of 2.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Returning to their seemingly bottomless well of flatulence humor, racial stereotypes, and stale pop culture gags, Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer have produced what is arguably their worstMovie yet."[31] OnMetacritic, the film has a score of 15/100 based on 12 reviews, indicating "overwhelming dislike".[32] Audiences polled byCinemaScore gave the film a grade of "F" on an A+ to F scale.[3]
Jason Solomons ofThe Guardian wrote that "Nothing can convey the grimness ofDisaster Movie, which would be the Worst Movie Ever Made were it actually a movie at all."[5] Adam Tobias of theWatertown Daily Times opined, "I just don't see how anyone could not findDisaster Movie one of the worst films of all time," further adding that the title of the film was appropriate, because the movie is "a disaster."[33]The Times newspaper named the film the worst of 2008.[34]
The only positive review posted on Rotten Tomatoes was by Jim Schembri from the Australian newspaperThe Age. Schembri called it "dumb but also undeniably funny in more spots than a right-thinking mature person feels comfortable admitting", the film was given 3½ stars out of five.[35]
The most positive major critic review listed on eitherMetacritic or Rotten Tomatoes was byOwen Gleiberman ofEntertainment Weekly, who gave the film a C+ and remarked: "The movie is merciless sending upJuno's self-satisfied hipster gobbledygook, and it's quite funny to seeHannah Montana still promoting her tie-in products as she lies crushed and dying under a meteor."[36] Gleiberman previously contributed the only positive review listed on either site (out of 17 at Metacritic and 57 at Rotten Tomatoes) of Friedberg and Seltzer's earlier effortEpic Movie.[37][38]
American actorKevin Spacey later mocked the film in 2008 when sitting alongsideSimon Mayo andMark Kermode during mentioning about the UK's top ten Box Office.[39]
In a 2017 episode of theABC showBig Fan, Kim Kardashian revealed that she is mortified by her character's death scene in the film and she "can't watch" [it].[40]
It was featured inEmpire's50 Worst Movies Ever poll, in 14th place.[41] In 2012 it was included inTotal Film's66 Worst Movies Ever list.[42] TheMRQE's included it on its 50 Worst Movies list, where it has a score of 19, one of the lowest scores on the site.[43]Disaster Movie became the lowest ranked film onIMDb's Bottom 100 list days after its premiere.[44][45]
On January 21, 2009, the film received six nominations for the29th Golden Raspberry Awards.[46] The nominations were for Worst Picture, Worst Supporting Actress (Electra), Worst Supporting Actress (Kardashian), Worst Director, Worst Screenplay, and Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-Off, or Sequel.Kardashian acknowledged her nomination on her blog, where she commented, "It's an honor just being nominated!"[47]
| Year | Association | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | 29th Golden Raspberry Awards | Worst Picture | Jason Friedberg, Aaron Seltzer, andPeter Safran | Nominated |
| Worst Supporting Actress | Kim Kardashian | Nominated | ||
| Carmen Electra | Nominated | |||
| Worst Prequel, Remake, Rip-off or Sequel | Nominated | |||
| Worst Director | Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer | Nominated | ||
| Worst Screenplay | Nominated |
here's a shortlist of some of the stuff that the Friedberg and Seltzer send up
Guess which film is currently No. 1 on the latter?
