The Day After Tomorrow poster

The Day After Tomorrow (2004)

Film · 2h 4m · Rated PG-13

Adventure, Sci-Fi, Thriller

A paleoclimatologist races to save his son as a sudden, catastrophic ice age engulfs the world.

Suspenseful and epic. A full-attention watch at full speed. Emotionally it is heavy.

Not on a US subscription service as of Oct 25, 2026.

The Day After Tomorrow parents guide

No surprises for a PG-13: no sex or nudity and mild language.

Our estimate: fine from about 13. Rated PG-13.

Scare
Mildly scary
A few tense or eerie moments.
Jump scares
Several
More than a couple of sudden jolts.
Gore
Light gore
Some blood or injury, briefly.
Violence
Strong violence
Violence is frequent or intense.
Sex and nudity
None noted
Language
Mild
Mild words like damn, hell or crap.

How we rate: an AI reads what is known about each title and tags it 0 to 3; we check the tags against a hand-rated set and correct them by hand when readers tell us. Estimates, not a scene-by-scene review. Spot a mistake? Tell us.

Three questions

Is The Day After Tomorrow scary?
Only a little. The Day After Tomorrow has a few tense moments, nothing that follows you to bed.
How gory is The Day After Tomorrow?
Light gore and strong violence.
What is The Day After Tomorrow rated, and is it OK for kids?
It is rated PG-13, with strong violence and several jump scares. Your call for older kids.

What is The Day After Tomorrow about?

After paleoclimatologist Jack Hall is largely ignored by UN officials when presenting his environmental concerns about the beginning of a new Ice Age, his research proves true when a superstorm develops, setting off catastrophic natural disasters throughout the world. Trying to get to his son, Sam, who is trapped in New York City with his friend Laura and others, Jack and his crew must travel to get to Sam before it's too late.

Does it have a happy ending? (spoiler-safe)

Bittersweet. It earns its ending, but not everyone gets what they want.

Cast and crew

Directed byRoland Emmerich
StarringDennis Quaid, Jake Gyllenhaal, Emmy Rossum, Dash Mihok, Jay O. Sanders, Sela Ward

More like The Day After Tomorrow

The Day After Tomorrow is on our Disasters list.

More like this feeling

Prompts we typed into CouchRot, and the lists that share its tags.

Lists with the same feel: Edge of your seat.

Five more like The Day After Tomorrow

Say the mood. Five picks with where they stream, right here.

Uses the TMDB API; not endorsed or certified by TMDB. Intensity, content, tone and pace tags are CouchRot's own.