The Day After Tomorrow

• 1. From Book To Screen

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  The script for The Day After Tomorrow originated from a 1999 book titled The Coming Global Superstorm. Art Bell and Whitley Strieber wrote the source material that inspired the film. Writer Michael Wimer created an auction to choose a studio for the project. He sent a copy of the script to all major studios along with a term sheet. These companies had only 24 hours to decide whether to produce the movie. Fox Studios was the only studio to accept the terms. Roland Emmerich agreed to direct the production. Filming began on the 7th of November 2002. It continued until the 18th of October 2003. The crew shot scenes in Montreal and Toronto. Some footage also appeared in New York City and Chiyoda, Tokyo.

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• 2. Digital Storms And Models

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  Industrial Light & Magic handled visual effects for the film alongside Digital Domain. Over 1,000 artists worked on the project for more than a year. They created 416 visual effects shots using nine different effects houses. Artists used a 13-block-sized LIDAR-scanned 3D model of Manhattan for the destruction scene. They utilized over 50,000 scanned photographs to build textures for the city. A digital water sequence required three special effects vendors for certain shots. Miniatures were employed for a later underwater scene where a bus crushed under a Russian tanker ship. The opening flyover of Antarctica was entirely CGI. It ran for approximately two and a half minutes in length. This scene held the record for the longest continuous all-CGI shot in film history at that time.

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• 3. Box Office Records Broken

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  The film premiered in Mexico City on the 17th of May 2004. It opened theatrically in the United States on the 28th of May 2004. The movie grossed $552 million worldwide against a production budget of $125 million. It became the sixth-highest-grossing film of 2004. The film came in second at the US box office behind Shrek 2 during its four-day Memorial Day opening. It earned $85,807,341 during that initial run. For twenty years it held the record for having the highest opening weekend for a natural disaster film. That record stood until 2024 when Twisters dethroned it. DVD sales reached $110 million bringing the total gross to over $652 million. It was the highest-grossing Hollywood film made in Canada at its time of release.

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• 4. Mixed Reviews And Praise

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  On Rotten Tomatoes 45% of 219 critics gave the film a positive review. The average rating sat at 5.3 out of 10 points. Mark Caro of the Chicago Tribune wrote a completely negative review about the project. He considered the film unworthy of publicity for the climate change debate it created. Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times described the film as profoundly silly yet effective. He praised the special effects and gave it three stars out of four. On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on 38 critics. This indicates mixed or average reviews overall. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade B on an A+ to F scale. The Saturn Awards nominated the movie for Best Science Fiction Film and Best Special Effects.

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• 5. Scientists Debate Accuracy

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  Paleoclimatologist Daniel P. Schrag expressed concern that people would see these over-the-top effects and think the whole thing is a joke. J. Marshall Shepherd from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center said he would give the science a D minus or an F. University of Victoria climatologist Andrew Weaver stated that seeing another ice age like that was impossible. Patrick J. Michaels called the film propaganda in a USA Today editorial. Stefan Rahmstorf of the Potsdam Institute noted that filmmakers took artistic license but presented some basic background correctly. In 2008 Yahoo! Movies listed The Day After Tomorrow as one of its top-10 scientifically inaccurate films. Critics argued it depicted meteorological phenomena occurring over hours instead of decades or centuries.

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• 6. Political Critique And Intent

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  Roland Emmerich did not deny his casting choices were intended to criticize climate change policy. He targeted the George W. Bush administration through the narrative. Vice President Raymond Becker in the film resembles Dick Cheney according to reports. Emmerich responded to claims of insensitivity regarding scenes of New York City less than three years after September 11 attacks. He said it was necessary to showcase increased unity of people in the face of disaster. Some scientists felt the movie advanced a political agenda rather than just telling a story. Environmental activist George Monbiot called the film great but lousy science. The director used the plot to highlight risks of abrupt and unforeseen changes to the climate system.

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