2012 is a 2009 Canadian American science creative writing disaster movie directed by Roland Emmerich. It stars John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Thandie Newton, George Segal, Danny Glover, and Woody Harrelson. It was produced by Emmerich’s production company, Centropolis Entertainment and distributed by Columbia Pictures. Filming began in August 2008 in Vancouver. Although it received generally mixed reviews, its worldwide theatrical revenue reached about $770 million.
The movie includes references to Mayanism, the Mesoamerican extended Count Calendar and the 2012 phenomenon in its portrayal of catastrophic events unfolding in 2012. Emmerich has announced that the movie will be his last involving disasters
Movie Plot
In 2009, Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an American geologist, visit astrophysicist Dr. Satnam Tsurutani (Jimi Mistry) in India plus learns that neutrinos from a massive solar flare are causing the temperature of the Earth’s core to increase. Adrian informs White House Chief of employees Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt) and United States President Thomas Wilson (Danny Glover) that this will activate a catastrophic chain of disasters.
In 2010, Wilson plus other international leaders begin a clandestine project to make sure humanity’s survival. Approximately 400,000 people are selected to board “arks” that are constructed at Cho Ming, Tibet, in the Himalayas. While the People’s Liberation Army is gathering volunteers, a Buddhist monk named Nima (Osric Chau) is evacuated while his brother Tenzin (Chin Han) join the workers in the Ark scheme. Additional funding for the plan is raised by advertising tickets to the private sector for €1 billion per person. By 2011, humanity’s valuable treasures are enthused to the Himalayas under the appearance of protecting them from radical attacks with the help of art expert/First Daughter Dr. Laura Wilson (Thandie Newton).
In 2012, Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) is a science fiction writer in Los Angeles who works part-time as a limousine driver for billionaire Yuri Karpov (ZlatkoBurić). Jackson’s ex-wife Kate (Amanda Peet) plus their children Noah (Liam James) and Lilly (Morgan Lily) live with Kate’s boyfriend, plastic surgeon and amateur pilot Gordon Silberman (Thomas McCarthy).
Jackson takes Noah plus Lilly camping in Yellowstone National Park. After an encounter with Helmsley, they meet Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson), who hosts a radio demonstrate from the park. Charlie plays a video of Charles Hapgood’s hypothesis that polar shifts plus the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar predict that the 2012 phenomenon will occur. He have a map of the ark plan in addition to information concerning officials and scientists from around the world who were murdered following planning to alert the public. 
As millions die in catastrophic earthquakes, the collection flies to Yellowstone to retrieve Charlie’s map, escaping as the Yellowstone Caldera erupts. Charlie stays behind to transmit the eruption and is killed in the blast as an ashcloud is unleashed. Learning the arks are in China, the group lands in Las Vegas to find a larger plane. They meet Yuri, his twin sons Alec with Oleg (Alexandre Haussmann and Philippe Haussmann), girlfriend Tamara plus pilot Sasha. The group secures an Antonov 500 aircraft plus departs for China upon escaping the ashcloud. Also title for the arks aboard Air Force One are Anheuser, Helmsley and Laura Wilson. President Wilson remains in Washington, D.C. to address the nation one last time. With the Vice President dead and the Speaker of the home missing, Anheuser assumes de facto leadership. A megatsunami then capsizes the Genesis cruiseship in which Helmsley’s father was on. Another megatsunami then make its way toward Washington D.C. President Wilson is killed by the megat sunami that sends the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy crashing into the White House.
Arriving in China in a crash hallway so as to kills Sasha, the group is spotted by the People’s Liberation Army. Yuri and his sons, possessing ticket, are taken to the arks, leaving Tamara and the others behind. They are picked up by Nima and are in use to the arks with his grandparents (Lisa Lu and Chang Tseng). They stow away on the ark with the help of Tenzin. As a megatsunami approaches the site, a crash driver becomes lodged between the gears of the ark’s Hydraulics Chamber, preventing a boarding gate from closing and depiction the ship unable to start its engines. In the ensuing chaos Yuri, Gordon and Tamara are killed, Tenzin is wounded, and the ark is set adrift. Jackson and Noah dislodge the impact driver and the crew regains control of the ark previous to it could impact Mount Everest.
After flood waters from the tsunamis recede, the arks journey to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa where the Drakensberg Mountains have risen in relation to sea level and turn out to be the tallest mountain in the world. Jackson is reconciled with his family and Helmsley starts a relationship with Laura.