Worst Movies About Climate Change

Climatecrisis247 picked the worst movies ever made about climate change. 

We used a few different ways to judge these films. Some made the cut because of straight-up climate denialism. A shocking number of Americans do not believe in climate change at all. One argument they may make is that the climate follows cycles, some of which are thousands of years long. It was hot 2,000 years ago, they argue, and then it got cooler 1,000 years ago. Now, it is just getting hotter again. 

Denialism is so prevalent that, by some measures, 23% of members of Congress fall into the category of climate deniers or skeptics and many have stated as such in public. 

Another reason that some movies made the list was outright lying. There is undeniable evidence that the amount of plastic in the world’s water is rising, for example. No amount of fiction created to show otherwise can stand up to scientific scrutiny.

Yet another reason a film has made the list is that it has been influenced by an industry which benefits from dodging climate change evidence – like the largest fossil fuel polluters. In fact, several states and counties are actually suing major fossil fuel companies right now for environmental damage and, in some cases, for covering up evidence they had about this stuff decades ago.

To put this list together, we looked at reviews, data from film rating sites, and Rotten Tomatoes listing. We used several AI filters to find instances where there is evidence that facts were clearly distorted and how this distortion was accomplished. 

These are the worst movies about climate change. 

The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

• Rotten Tomatoes score: 45% (one critic called it “entertaining but intellectually numbing”)

This Roland Emmerich disaster movie works from the thesis that an abrupt, global super-freezing caused by climate change happens in  a matter of a week. Even most scientists depicted in the film thought the change was impossible. Among the most shocking images is one in which the Statue of Liberty freezes instantly. Americans rush the Mexican border to reach warm-weather safety. The movie grossed over $550 million

Geostorm (2017)

• Rotten Tomatoes score: 4% (among the lowest-rated blockbusters ever)

Action actor Gerard Butler saves the world from malfunctioning weather-control satellites which has caused massive hail storms and huge tsunamis. Critics dubbed it “a catastrophe of a movie” that makes actual climate solutions appear to be science fantasy. The movie grossed $220 million worldwide

2012 (2009)

• Rotten Tomatoes score: 37%

A Mayan-prophesied apocalypse has forecast solar flares and cracks in the Earth’s crust, with climate change as the vague culprit for mega-tsunamis and earthquakes. At the heart of the movie is that the Earth has an “expiration date.” Directed by Roland Emmerich, it grossed $790 million worldwide.

Waterworld (1995)

• Rotten Tomatoes score: 47%

Kevin Costner stars in a post-apocalyptic world which is flooded by melted polar ice caps. Islands in the film are made of trash. Some humans have become mutants. Budget overruns reach $175 million (equivalent to $350M today) making it one of the biggest flops in Hollywood history.  It is considered the worst movie Costner ever made.

Snowpiercer (2013)

• Rotten Tomatoes score: 94% (critics love the satire, hate the science)

A botched geoengineering experiment freezes Earth, What is left of mankind is crammed on a perpetual train. Among the flaws is that CW-7 (the fictional cooling agent) could not instantly freeze Earth. The movie was inspired by a TV series, which is novel. Many TV series are inspired by movies. (The exceptions include Batman and Star Trek.)

Climate: The Movie (The Cold Truth) (2024)

• Rotten Tomatoes score: N/A (too niche, but IMDb users rate it 8.7 from denier bubbles)

This “documentary” by climate denier Martin Durkin features skeptics which include Malaysian-born scientist and climate skeptic Willie Soon who claims CO2 isn’t a threat. Interestingly, several reviewers agreed with the movie’s premise which is a good example of how climate deniers have been able to spread misinformation. Not everyone was fooled. The movie only grossed $50 million worldwide.

Climate Hustle (2016)

• Rotten Tomatoes score: 0% (audience score is manipulated by activists)

Marc Morano’s “documentary” mocks Al Gore’s widely followed speeches about climate change and his 2006 movie “An Inconvenient Truth” which won an Oscar for Best Documentary. “Hustle” goes after Gore fact by fact with climate denier “factorids.”. Reviewers call it “childish” and “parody-level bad.” A reviewer from Ars Technica, wrote ‘the film offers “a fast-paced, uninterrupted delivery of superficial and false claims about climate science”’. The movie was screened at a Heartland Institute conference funded by oil interests.