ABOVE: Watch the trailer for the new movie Pompeii.
TORONTO — The mind-blowing, magma-flowing 3D epic Pompeii explodes into theatres on Friday. Shot last year in Toronto, it tells the story of the final days of the ancient Roman city destroyed by a volcano.
Pompeii is the latest in a long line of movies starring the erupting Mount Vesuvius. Various filmmakers have been inspired by Edward Bulwer-Lytton’s 1834 novel The Last Days of Pompeii — from Walter R. Booth’s 1900 movie to 1959’s Sergio Leone version.
The new Pompeii boasts state-of-the-art digital effects and a mostly-shirtless Kit Harrington (Game of Thrones) but it isn’t the only volcano-themed movie spewing forth this season.
Dean Cain and Robin Givens co-star in the decidedly more low-budget flick Airplane vs. Volcano, set for release in late March. It follows the passengers and crew on a commercial plane that is unable to land because it’s trapped within a ring of erupting volcanoes.
Also due out this year is Volcano Zombies, a horror film in which a sheriff (Thomas Downey) tries to save a family from an erupting volcano while fighting off lava-filled zombies.
Is this cinematic molten madness new? Hardly. Exploding mountains have figured prominently in dozens of films on both the big screen and small screen.
Here are 10 lava-loaded movies to check out:
Dante’s Peak (1997)
Pierce Brosnan plays a volcanologist who is sent to the titular town, located in the shadow of a volcano, to investigate recent activity. He soon realizes the mountain’s about to blow.
Volcano (1997)
Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Heche star in this movie about a volcano that spews all over Los Angeles.
Joe Versus the Volcano (1990)
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Tom Hanks plays terminally ill hypochondriac Joe Banks, who gets a life-changing offer that requires him to throw himself into an active volcano.
Stromboli (1950)
This Italian classic was directed by Robert Rossellini and stars Ingrid Bergman and Mario Vitale as young lovers whose lives are threatened by a volcano.
Supervolcano (2005)
In this made-for-TV movie, scientists reflect on the final days before the volcano beneath Yellowstone National Park erupted. It was partly filmed in Vancouver.
St. Helens (1981)
This dramatization of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens stars Art Carney.
Disaster Zone: Volcano in NYC (2006)
Costas Mandylor and Michael Ironside must come up with a plan to save New York City from an awakening volcano below its streets. Naturally, a movie about a volcanic eruption in Manhattan was made in Vancouver.
When Time Ran Out (1980)
Paul Newman stars in this film about guests at an island resort in the South Pacific who struggle to survive a volcanic eruption. Jacqueline Bisset and Ernest Borgnine are also in the cast.
Volcano Disaster (2005)
Burnaby, B.C. native Chris William Martin (Heartland) stars in this made-in-Bulgaria movie about a volcanologist who tries to save the residents of an Italian town from an impending eruption.
Magma: Volcanic Disaster (2006)
In this TV movie, Xander Berkeley (Nikita) and Amy Jo Johnson (Flashpoint) figure out that all the earth’s volcanoes are going to erupt and kill everyone and everything. They just have to convince the government that their plan to save the planet will work.
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