San Andreas

After a catastrophic earthquake rips along the San Andreas Fault, rescue-chopper pilot Ray Gaines drops everything in Los Angeles to get to his estranged daughter, Blake, who is trapped amid the chaos. As aftershocks topple bridges and trigger secondary disasters, Ray pushes through ruined highways, flooded sections of the city, and infernos to reach her, intermittently aided by his ex-wife Emma and other survivors. The film follows intense rescue set pieces and improvised survival tactics, while keeping the emotional core on a fractured family trying to reconnect under extreme pressure. It balances nonstop action with quieter moments that show parental loyalty clearly.

Released in 2015, San Andreas was directed by Brad Peyton, with screenplay credits to Andre Fabrizio, Carlton Cuse, and Jeremy Passmore, and stars Dwayne Johnson, Alexandra Daddario, Carla Gugino, Ioan Gruffudd, and Archie Panjabi. It embraced large-scale digital effects throughout.

The movie performed strongly worldwide, earning roughly $475 million at the global box office, a healthy return on its production budget and making it one of the more commercially successful disaster films of the 2010s, and a notable international draw.

San Andreas reinforced Dwayne Johnson's image as a dependable action lead and became a go-to reference for modern disaster spectacle, its large-scale destruction sequences showing up in trailers, parodies, and online discussions, while images of collapsing landmarks helped shape visual shorthand for cinematic earthquakes, and influenced special effects standards industry-wide.

Critics gave mixed reviews, the film scoring about 6.2 out of 10 from audience votes across platforms, with praise aimed at its spectacle and Johnson's performance, and criticism aimed at its thin plotting and predictable character beats, though many viewers appreciated its straightforward focus on family, survival, and resilience themes.