Brace for Impact: Jake Gyllenhaal's The Day After Tomorrow Is Now on Hulu

Remember when Jake Gyllenhaal outran a new ice age, and it somehow became one of the biggest hits of early-2000s cinema? Well, buckle up – because The Day After Tomorrow is back in the spotlight, and honestly, it's just as over-the-top now as it was when we all thought the Mayans might have a point.

The World Nearly Froze Over – Again

Here’s the quick refresher: back in 2004 (no, not 2014 – source probably got a little tripped up), Gyllenhaal teamed up with Dennis Quaid and director Roland Emmerich, who still has more disaster movies under his belt than most directors have movies, period. We’re talking about the guy who blew up the White House in Independence Day.

The Day After Tomorrow rides that same “the world is ending in spectacular fashion” energy, but this time via runaway climate change, flash-freeze tsunamis, wolves escaping the zoo – it’s a lot. Gyllenhaal plays Sam Hall, a high schooler trapped in New York when the weather starts going full apocalypse. His dad, Jack (Dennis Quaid), is a paleoclimatologist who’s basically the only person who saw it coming (the scientists in these movies always are).

Quaid embarks on a cross-country journey to rescue his son, while Sam and a small group of survivors (including Emmy Rossum, pre-Shameless) do their best “don’t die in the library” impression. The cast is stacked with familiar faces: Sela Ward, Ian Holm doing his wise scientist thing, and Arjay Smith as the much-needed comic relief.

Now Streaming… and Ready to Chill You All Over Again

If you completely missed it the first time, or you’re just ready to relive the glory days of CGI tornadoes, here’s what you need to know:

• The Day After Tomorrow is now streaming on Hulu (US viewers only – international listeners, it’s over on Disney+).
• The film officially hit Hulu on April 1, so, no, this is not a prank. You really can revisit disaster movie mayhem whenever the mood strikes.
• This was a massive hit: $125 million budget, $552 million at the box office, proving there’s nothing like global extinction to pack theater seats.
• Roland Emmerich and Jeffrey Nachmanoff (who went on to work on Daredevil: Born Again) co-wrote the script, so expect some… creative science.

The Golden Age of Hollywood Doom

Real talk: it’s kind of wild how much Hollywood has cooled on disaster flicks in the last decade or so. Back in the 2000s, we seriously loved watching the world get destroyed, usually by something that couldn't care less about superheroes or magic. It started in the 90s – Independence Day and company – but really went nuts the following decade.

Here’s a (non-exhaustive) run of what the “sky is falling” genre looked like in its prime:

• 2012 (apocalypse by calendar), The Day the Earth Stood Still (sort of), and the supremely under-loved The Road
• Alien occupation was back in style with War of the Worlds (Tom Cruise dodging tripods)
• Horror tried its hand with Cloverfield
• Stephen King served up misty nightmares in… well, The Mist
• Even I Am Legend tried (and fumbled) the apocalyptic ball

We were genuinely obsessed with watching things fall apart, and every studio wanted in.

Critics Were… Not Impressed

Here’s the part nobody remembers: while audiences showed up in droves, critics would have gladly left The Day After Tomorrow out in the snow. Despite all those impressive box office numbers, the movie absolutely tanked with reviewers – we’re talking 45% on Rotten Tomatoes (ouch) and a split-down-the-middle 50% from audiences.

The consensus? Quote from RT:

'Clunkily written but bolstered by some still-fantastic visual effects.'

That’s… not inaccurate. The movie’s script is, let’s say, “questionable,” but even now, some of those mid-2000s VFX still look pretty solid. Not that it explains the wolves, but we all have our guilty pleasures.

The (Disaster) Crew

Cast breakdown, for anybody keeping score:

• Jake Gyllenhaal as Sam Hall
• Dennis Quaid as Jack Hall
• Emmy Rossum as Laura Chapman (Sam’s fellow survivor/love interest)
• Sela Ward as Dr. Lucy Hall
• Ian Holm as British scientist Terry Rapson
• Arjay Smith as Brian Parks

So, if you’ve got a craving for glacial storms, dad rescues, and the peak of 2000s disaster-movie cheese, fire up The Day After Tomorrow and enjoy watching Jake Gyllenhaal try not to freeze solid while outrunning the laws of physics.