Over the last 30 years, disaster movies have been thought of as many things. From 1996 to 2015, they were considered reliable moneymakers, trying to become as big as “Independence Day.” In the late 2010s and early 2020s, motion pictures like “Geostorm” and “Moonfall” turned the genre into a punchline that seemed out of step with the modern zeitgeist. This year’s “Twisters“ aims to revitalize some of the luster once associated with this blockbuster domain. However, long before Roland Emmerich became a fixture of the genre, there was another aura attached to the typical disaster movie: “Oscar Darling.“ In the 1970s, this genre dominated the major Academy Awards categories in a way that would be unthinkable today.
The 1970s were a glorious heyday for the genre that kicked off right at the start of the new decade with the 1970 feature “Airport.“ In the Connie Bruck book “When Hollywood Had a King: The Reign of Lew Wasserman, Who Leveraged Talent into Power and Influence,“ Bruck describes how “Airport“ became nothing short of a savior movie for its distributor, Universal Pictures. Bruck’s book quotes many anonymous media executives recounting how Universal’s pre-1970 reputation was that of a company that produced many hit TV movies. Still, they were not necessarily a grand birthplace of impactful theatrical features. “Airport“ turned all that around with its gargantuan box office haul and influenced a slew of further disaster movies in the ’70s.
Adding to its box office triumph, “Airport” also became an unexpected darling at the Oscars that year, securing nine nominations. In a pre-“Star Wars” era, the visual effects used to depict the high-flying tension of “Airport” were so impressive that the film earned nominations. But the surprises didn’t end there. “Airport” also scored a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination, a Best Picture nod, and two Best Supporting Actress nominations. One of these nominees, Helen Hayes, even took home an Oscar that year!
Back in the late ’60s and early ’70s, big lavish productions had a slightly easier time getting into the Best Picture race. Projects like “Doctor Dolittle“ and “Hello, Dolly!“ overcame mixed reviews in the ’60s to score Best Picture nominations. “Airport” wasn’t a critical darling when it opened in theaters. However, “Airport’s” significant pop culture impact and the Academy’s slightly more open attitude towards spectacle entertainment in this era allowed it to enter the biggest Oscar races.
It didn’t hurt that “Airport’s” star-studded ensemble cast was loaded with long-time film and stage acting staples like Dean Martin, Van Heflin, and Hayes. Such performers could ingratiate “Airport“ to older Academy members who are nostalgic for those performers. Even with all these reasonable factors at play, it’s still staggering to consider a disaster movie scoring an Oscar win in one of the acting races. Imagine if Jake Gyllenhaal got a Best Actor nod (let alone a win) for “The Day After Tomorrow.“ Ditto Linda Hamilton in “Dante’s Peak“ or Jim Sturgess in “Geostorm.” Today’s incomprehensible turn of events was a standard development in 1970.
Following in the footsteps of “Airport,” subsequent disaster movies adopted and ran with its blueprint. They featured groundbreaking visual effects and ensemble casts filled with Oscar darlings from the ’40s and ’50s, cementing these elements as staples of the genre. While the 1972 feature “The Poseidon Adventure” didn’t secure a Best Picture nomination, it did earn Shelley Winters a Best Supporting Actress nomination and eight additional nominations. Two years later, “The Towering Inferno” returned the disaster movie to the Best Picture category, further solidifying the genre’s influence. Notably, it also gave Fred Astaire a Best Supporting Actor, his only non-honorary Oscar nod in his entire career.
In hindsight, “The Towering Inferno“ was the capper to the disaster movie’s four years of pop culture domination. One year after “Inferno,” “Jaws“ hit movie theaters and invented our modern conception of blockbuster cinema. The more intimate scope of this feature (including a finale focusing on just three men and one hungry shark) was a sharp contrast to the sprawling ensemble casts of the typical disaster movie. Offering something new led to “Jaws“ becoming a box office sensation. Not only that, but it secured a Best Picture nomination the year of its release, alongside several other Oscar nods. “Jaws” marked a turning point in the disaster movie genre, paving the way for a new era of blockbusters and influencing the decline of disaster movies in the late 1970s.
Meanwhile, the 1970s disaster movies began to flicker out of style thanks to too many carbon copies and sequels. In the same year as “Jaws,” “The Hindenburg“ scored four Oscar nominations, and even the 1977 “Airport“ sequel, “Airport ’77,“ secured two Oscar nominations. However, most late 1970s disaster movies went nowhere at the Oscars. Worse, their box office hauls began to dwindle as a new era of blockbusters like “Star Wars“ and “Close Encounters of the Third Kind“arrived. People now wanted groundbreaking visual effects to take them to sights removed from everyday Earth. This shift in audience preferences, coupled with the saturation of the genre and the lack of innovation, led to the decline of disaster movies at the Oscars and in popular culture.
When disaster movies made a comeback in the 1990s, they did so with box office hauls that would’ve made “Airport” proud. However, their Oscar nominations were mainly confined to the Best Sound and Visual Effects categories. Even Roland Emmerich’s “Independence Day,” a cultural phenomenon that served as the “Star Wars” of the ’90s, didn’t break out of those two categories. There was no acting Oscar nod for Randy Quaid or anything of the sort. The days of disaster movies scoring major non-technical Oscar nominations were over, and future entries in the genre like “Twisters” would have to defy expectations to change that. While we’re unlikely to return to that era, the days of “Airport” winning a Best Supporting Actress Oscar or “The Towering Inferno” making it into Best Picture remain a nostalgically bizarre chapter in Oscar history.
Have you seen “Twisters” yet? If so, what did you think? Do you believe it could be nominated for any Academy Awards? Do you enjoy the disaster picture and wish to see Hollywood making more today? Please let us know in the comments section below or let us know on Next Best Picture’s X account.
You can follow Lisa and hear more of her thoughts on the Oscars & Film on her portfolio here
