Will the coronavirus kill the disaster movie (for the short term)?

Tonight I watched, for the first time, the wonderfully lame 1997 disaster movie Volcano. Not only was it quaint -- how far special effects have come, my friends -- but it also feels like a relic of a genre that may have a longer than usual moratorium -- the disaster movie.

After a long heyday in the 1970s, these poorly reviewed, star-studded spectacles had a big resurgence in the 1990s. None of the films were particularly good (sorry but even Independence Day is overrated) but they tended to make money hand over fist.

In the last few years these movies haven't come out as frequently but they still come out at a relatively steady clip (think San Andreas).

There's no question that 9/11 has colored films that revel in death and destruction, but now that covd-19 has claimed even more lives (60,000 in the US and counting) we all have a lot more familiarity with living through a disaster in real time.

The escapism that movies like Volcano offered, or tried to offer, were low stakes during a relatively peaceful time. Today, I am not sure how much of an appetite people will have to see people running out of burning buildings or narrowly evading a some meteorological event.

Of course, it's an open question when and if we're ever going to see a movie in a theater again. The big budget behemoths are meant to be enjoyed on a big screen with a big audience, and while I would never recommend this movie I do miss that experience -- the summer blockbuster on opening weekend.

As of this moment, the only major tentpole picture hanging in there on the schedule is Christopher Nolan's highly anticipated Tenet. It's not a disaster film -- it appears to be a sophisticated crime thriller with a focus on Nolan's favorite theme -- time. It's the kind of visually and thematically cool movies you can best appreciate in a large theater with a crowd, which of could be cathartic for folks as long as it's deemed safe.

But I find it hard to believe they'll be an appetite for films that portray large scale destruction and misery for a long time. Even the relatively tame carnage of the Marvel movies feels too bleak right now.

I could see audiences being hungry for some good old belly laughs, although there doesn't appear to be any major comedies on the horizon. In fact there's nothing but uncertainty with movies right now. The Oscars opened up to streaming only movies for this year only, but I don't know what prestige movies have been shot and are going to be ready to go at the end of this year.

In the meantime, I'm going to be just watching fun bad movies like Volcano with friends and keeping my fingers crossed that something great, that we can all enjoy, is going to be coming around the corner.