History Film / TheDayAfterTomorrow

* InferredHolocaust: As stated, most of the Northern Hemisphere has become an Arctic wasteland, all surviving Americans have gone to Mexico, which won't be able to hold them all, leading to either an American uprising or Martial Law. Canada, Europe, and Russia are all stated or shown to have suffered a similar fate to the one depicted in the US, only worse (because they're further north). Europe is implied to have got hit particularly hard, as south for them would be the Mediterranean, so they were basically trapped. India and China aren't really mentioned but India at least (and parts of China) are probably far south enough the have escaped turning into an ice cube. So that's goodbye Europe (740 million), Russia (130 million), and Canada and most of the USA (call it 250 million?), plus an unknown amount of people in Asia and the victims of all the typhoons and tsunami around the world. It's not (quite) the end of the world, but you're looking at a death toll of at least a billion, possibly closer to 2 billion, with everything north of about 35' latitude now about as hospitable as the North Pole on a bad day.
** And then you consider that the above list includes most of the world's core agricultural regions...
** Potentially the fate of [[ButWhatAboutTheAstronauts the astronauts]] trapped upon the International Space Station.
*** Not necessarily. There are a number of alternate landing sites for the Shuttle, some in the southern hemisphere. Their families, on the other hand...

A climate summit is held in India. The American vice-president (who may not be named "Dick Cheney", but have no doubt of his identity) announces nothing needs to be done. When the conference ends, ''it is snowing''. (Normally, that region of India has a temperature of about 100° F [[note]]38 °C[[/note]]. at the time of year implied in the movie).

->''"White-Hot Liberal Porn!"''
--> {{Rifftrax}}

* SuspiciouslySimilarSong: The theme when Jake Gyllenhall and his buddies go inside the Russian ship to look for medicines sounds exactly like the main theme from "Panic Room".

----
!!The {{Rifftrax}} of this movie features examples of:
* BlackComedy: ''Hollywood, it's Armageddon here in Hollywood. Apocalyptic hijinks here in L.A, but it's a swell day, more fun than the Academy Awards...''
* {{Running Gag}}s
** Various comments on how STUPID the characters are.
** Mocking how pandering this is to the liberal mindset.
** ProductPlacement AfterTheEnd
** The various names for "Dick Cheney"
** Jokes about Ian Holm's other roles in other movies.
* ShoutOut: There's a shout out to ''PrinceOfSpace'' in during the scenes set in Japan.

A climate summit is held in India. The American vice-president (who may not be named "Dick Cheney", but have no doubt of his identity) announces nothing needs to be done. When the conference ends, ''it is snowing''. (Normally, that region of India has a temperature of about 100° F [[hottip:*:38 °C]]. at the time of year implied in the movie).

In Scotland, another group of scientists is measuring ocean temperatures in the North Atlantic. They aren't paying incredibly close attention when things first go wrong -- hey, Manchester United are playing![[hottip:*:(Be fair - Celtic are playing Man U, and HOLDING THEIR OWN... that's the most improbable thing in this movie of very improbable things)]] One of them intends to join his family for a holiday -- eventually.

* LogoJoke: The 20th Century Fox logo turns blue and storm starts to appear in the background.

* TooDumbToLive: Several characters die to sheer lack of common sense. Two that particularly stand out are [[spoiler: the helicopter pilot escorting the British Royal Family, who notices his instruments beginning to freezing over and decides to open the door, as well as the policeman who leads half the survivors to their death, trying to find non-existence rescue teams]].

* DeathBySex: Weather guy and the girl he was banging while the Tornadoes were blowing through LA.

* DownerEnding: A substantial portion of the world's population has been wiped out, most of the planet's fertile farmland is coated in ice, ''Europe, Russia, Canada, and the United States are uninhabitable wastelands''.

* PoliceAreUseless: During a city flood, where a cold tsunami is about to enter, a Hispanic family is trapped inside a cab, banging on the window pleading to be let out in French. Meanwhile, an English-speaking cop stands outside the cab, telling them, "I'm sorry, I can't understand French!"
** Also, the cop who [[spoiler:leads most of the survivors out of the safe library, in hope of being found by rescue teams. There are no rescue teams. The policeman's and the other survivors' frozen bodies are found later on.]]

** (Sort of) TruthInTelevision: Septicemia ''can'' attack the lungs - but that means it has progressed to something lovingly called "Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome" and [[WorstAid seeking a bottle of standard antibiotics]] is just risking lives of healthy people.

** (Sort of) TruthInTelevision: Septicemia ''can'' attack the lungs - but that means it has progressed to something lovingly called "Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome" and [[WorstAid seeking a bottle of standard antibiotics]] is just risking lives of people who might live...

* IncurableCoughOfDeath: For some reason, blood poisoning gives Laura one of these. It's how Sam figures out she's sick.

* BritishRoyalFamily: The helicopters carrying them hit a superstorm eye, froze, and crashed. Presumably, they froze to death alongside the crews.
** Interestingly enough, Roland Emmerich's next big disaster film explicitly shows them surviving.

* RedShirtReporter: Features a reporter giving up-to-the-minute reports on the tornadoes rampaging through downtown Los Angeles. He ends up flattened by flying debris, of course.

* [[AmericaSavesTheDay Mexico Saves The Day]]: Played straight and averted during the film. In a deliberately allegorical scene, Americans trying to flee the disaster are seen crossing the border illegally across the Rio Grande into Mexico, rather than the other way around. Mexico closes its borders to prevent Americans from coming in. Later in the film, the new president, who had served as ObstructiveBureaucrat to the extreme throughout the entire film, gives an address from the U.S. embassy in Mexico City.

In Scotland, another group of scientists is measuring ocean temperatures in the North Atlantic. They aren't paying incredibly close attention when things first go wrong -- hey, Manchester United is playing![[hottip:*:(Be fair - Celtic is playing Man U, and HOLDING THEIR OWN... that's the most improbable thing in this movie of very improbable things)]] One of them intends to join his family for a holiday -- eventually.