Jake Gyllenhaal’s apocalyptic action blockbuster is rumbling back onto streaming after a seismic haul at the box office. 22 years ago, Gyllenhaal teamed up with Dennis Quaid and Independence Day director, Roland Emmerich, for a world-ending blockbuster. As well as terrifying the world, especially when we were all slowly believing the Mayan 2012 prophecy, the 2014 movie also raked it in during its theatrical run. On a budget of $125 million, the film grossed over $552 million worldwide. Now it has landed on a new streaming platform, and we’re ready to be terrified all over again.
Jake Gyllenhaal’s The Day After Tomorrow is now streaming on Hulu. The disaster epic was added to the platform on Apr. 1. The film is available on Hulu for US viewers. International readers will find the film on Disney+ instead.
Co-written by Emmerich and Jeffrey Nachmanoff (Daredevil: Born Again), Jake Gyllenhaal starred as Sam Hall, the son of renowned paleoclimatologist Jack Hall. When a freak storm plunges the world into chaos, Jack races back to New York to rescue his son, who is desperately fighting to survive against the increasingly harsh elements. Tsunamis, a new ice age, and everything in between threaten the entire world. But can Jack reach his son before it’s too late? Alongside Gyllenhaal, The Day After Tomorrow also starred Shameless‘ Emmy Rossum as a fellow New York survivor, as well as Sela Ward, Ian Holm, and Arjay Smith.
We Were All Obsessed With Disaster Movies in the 2000s
It’s strange to think that Hollywood has mostly done away with big-budget disaster movies nowadays. How often is a world-ending event, told from the perspective of everyday people (not superheroes), actually the focal point of a major theatrical release? 2022’s Moonfall might be the most prominent recent example. But, as the title suggests, it wasn’t very good. But, back in the 2000s, we couldn’t get enough of them.
The Day After Tomorrow was just one in a long line of disaster movies that graced the big screen. The trend followed the sci-fi disaster trend of the 90s, which was partly a result of Emmerich’s Independence Day in 1996. But the 2000s took things to the extreme. 2012, The Day After Tomorrow and The Day the Earth Stood Still were just the tip of the iceberg. The decade also brought with it the severely underrated The Road, along with Tom Cruise’s War of the Worlds, the found footage horror film Cloverfield, the adaptation of Stephen King’s The Mist, and the botched adaptation of I Am Legend, among many, many more.
Critics Hated ‘The Day After Tomorrow’
Unfortunately, disaster was also the world of choice used by critics to review The Day After Tomorrow. Despite earning a fortune in theaters, The Day After Tomorrow was slammed by critics and audiences alike. The film holds a measly 45% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with a perfectly divided 50% user score. Per RT, The Day After Tomorrow is clunkily written and is only saved by its impressive VFX, which still holds up today.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
