Hollywood’s Disastrous Disaster Movies

Early development in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s of Hollywood’s disastrous disaster movies.

• Airport, a 1970 film based on the 1968 novel by Arthur Hailey, began its principal photography on January 31, 1969.
• The Poseidon Adventure, a 1972 film based on a 1969 novel by Paul Gallico,   Obviously, the movie began filming between the publishing of the novel in 1969 and the movie’s release date in 1972.  Duh.
• Earthquake, a 1974 film whose birth occurred in the summer of 1972 when Mario Puzo was paid to write the first draft after his success with The Godfather.
• The Towering Inferno, a 1974 film based on the novels The Tower and The Glass Inferno.  Executives at two different movie studios were convinced to join forces to make a single film based on the subject of a tall building on fire.  A press release announcing the single film collaboration occurred in October of 1973.

It should be noted that Airport and The Towering Inferno both received Best Picture nominations, but none of these disastrous disaster movies received a DGA nomination for any of the movies’ directors.  One of many reasons I had always put more stock into the DGA awards than the Oscars.  But of course, both movie awards were burned to ashes since early January of this year with the movies they selected and honored for the best of 2024.

Rest in peace, Hollywood movie awards.  Rest in peace.