There’s few tropes movies relish more than demolishing famous landmarks, firstly because of the pure scale of the CGI spectacle, but also because it can touch on powerful nationalistic fears. For American audiences, nothing says disaster like The White House reduced to rubble, but Washington is far from the only city to be the victim of cinematic devastation. Five of the most picked on are New York, Los Angles, Paris, Las Vegas and London, with Big Ben becoming an increasingly popular tourist destination for silver screen explosions. Not to mention that 2012 and The Day After Tomorrow managed to trash pretty much the entire planet between them.
In honour of such carnage, today’s Blastermind features some of movie history’s biggest bangs, as well a few trickier firecrackers. One point for the film, one point for the landmark.
Answers on the next page
Answers on the next page…
Batman Forever , Statue of Liberty
Deep Impact , the wave just after swallowing up the Empire State Building (we’ll give you New York)
Earth Vs. Flying Saucers , Washington Monument
GI Joe: Rise of Cobra , Eiffel Tower
Cloverfield , (what’s left of) the Statue of Liberty
Flood , the House of Parliament and The London Eye (two birds with one stone!)
Godzilla munches on Tokyo Tower
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince , The Millennium Bridge
Independence Day , The White House
Mars Attacks , Easter Island
Monster Vs. Aliens , the Golden Gate Bridge
Superman II , Mount Rushmore
The Core , The Colosseum
The Day After Tomorrow , The Hollywood Sign
Star Trek , the Golden Gate Bridge
Superman 4 , the Statue Of Liberty
Transformers 2 , Pyramids of Giza
V for Vendetta , Big Ben
X-Men 3 , The Golden Gate Bridge
The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008), Giant’s Stadium
