The 2004 film "The Day After Tomorrow" was a disaster movie written and directed by Rolland Emmerich that showed the end result of man-made climate change, with a series of disastrous weather events that threaten to bring about a new Earth ice age. The film had a haunting marketing campaign that showcased an iced-over Statue of Liberty up to its neck in snow and starred Jake Gyllenhaal, Dennis Quaid, Ian Holm, and Emmy Rossum. Not just a fantasy blockbuster, the film was actually based on a semi-fictional book, "The Coming Global Superstorm" by Art Bell and Whitley Strieber, meaning that while exaggerated for dramatic effect, the disasters it portends may not be as far-fetched as they might at first seem.
In the film, a paleoclimatologist named Jack Hall (Quaid) predicts the coming of a massive shift in global weather that could freeze the entire planet, but only Scottish oceanographer Terry Rapson (Ian Holm) takes him seriously. Before long, the entire world is struck by all manner of disasters, from tsunamis and hurricanes to flash freezes, floods, and earthquakes. In New York, Jack's son Sam (Gyllenhaal) and a group of survivors desperately seek refuge but struggle to stay alive as world governments take drastic measures to ensure the survival of the human race. With its message and warning of the dangers of climate change, "The Day After Tomorrow" was a social call to action, and given the alarmingly increasing rate of real-life disasters, a sequel could very well be titled "Tomorrow."
