2012 is a 2009 science fiction disaster film based loosely on the 2012 phenomenon and directed by Roland Emmerich. The film stars John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Danny Glover, Thandie Newton, and Woody Harrelson. The film was distributed by Columbia Pictures. Filming began in August 2008 in Vancouver.

The film briefly references Mayanism, the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar, and the 2012 phenomenon in its portrayal of cataclysmic events unfolding in the year 2012. Due to solar flare bombardment the Earth’s core begins heating up at an unprecedented rate. This results in a series of Doomsday event scenarios plunging the world into chaos, such as California falling into the Pacific Ocean, the eruption of the Yellowstone National Park caldera, shifting of the continents by crustal displacement, Megatsunami impacts along every coast line on the Earth, and the flooding of the entire planet. The film centers around an ensemble cast of characters as they narrowly escape multiple catastrophes in an effort to reach ships in the Tibetan Himalayan Mountains, along with scientists and governments of the world who are attempting to save as many lives as they can before the disasters ensue.

Reviews of the film have been mixed, with several critics pointing out the improbability of some of the Apocalyptic scenarios depicted in the film. The film also utilized a viral marketing campaign that has fallen under much criticism with the fictional organization Institute for Human Continuity, a fictitious book written by Jackson Curtis entitled Farewell Atlantis, and streaming media, blog updates and radio broadcasts from the apocalyptic zealot Charlie Frost at his website entitled This Is The End.

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License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
History: Links removed. Theatrical poster re-sized for fair use. Minor alterations.