"Moviegoers have always been drawn to spectacle. That's been true since people first started going to the pictures. And that draw has become all the more prevalent as screens and actors got bigger, and the stakes got higher. Disaster films — which are a subset of many other genres including action/adventure, romance, thriller and military films — first emerged as their own clearly defined genre in the 1970s, which not only launched sequels but also led to other, similarly themed, though arguably more exciting, films. The Hollywood Reporter is counting down the best disaster movies of all time. For the sake of simplicity, and to avoid the murky waters of mixing blockbuster entertainment alongside films based on real-life tragedies, left off this list are movies involving aliens, giant monsters and films centered on actual events. So sit back, feel the ground shake beneath your feet, and enjoy the wave." - hollywoodreporter.com
