The Day After Tomorrow

Corrected entry: When the pilot from the downed helicopter freezes, the skin on his face kind of shrinks inward. However, when you see the frozen bodies of the policeman and the other people who left the library, they are perfect frozen replicas, some with round cheeks, etc.

Correction: The helicopter flies into the eye of the storm where the temperature falls rapidly, which makes the pilots skin shrink inwards (he's instantly frozen, like the fuel was). This is different to the frozen people who left the library. They died due to hypothermia and not the sudden freezing which the pilot suffered (the eye of the storm hadn't reached New York when we are shown the people who left the library, it reaches it much later in the film).

Corrected entry: When the 'eye of the super-cell' hits New York, wee see the buildings start to freeze, including a shot where the spire of the Empire State building falls off. Later, when Jack and Jason are entering the city (after the storm has cleared), there is a wide shot of the city where you can see the Empire State building completely intact.

Davidian

Correction: The top of the Empire State Building is not shown falling off - just freezing over in the extreme cold.

Corrected entry: Just after the tornado passes through the office where the guy was with the girl, the cleaner looks under the door and there is a very bright light shining through, but in the external shot, we see it is very dark and the sun is shining on the other side of the building.

Malaver

Correction: It only looks bright because he is in the dark and the light is coming through a slit, so it looks much brighter than it really is.

Sereenie

Corrected entry: Laura cuts her left leg when the tidal wave hits New York. When the others find out about the wound late in the film the cut is on her right leg.

Correction: Laura cuts her right leg - the shot underwater when we see it happen shows her from the back.

STP

Corrected entry: Somebody, I think the US president, says that a part of Florida has been flooded but when we get a view from space at the end of the film, Florida is intact.

Dr Wilson

Correction: The only time that Florida is mentioned is when Jack is asked where people should evacuate to. He replies saying "parts of Florida that have not flooded"

Correction: Most likely there was some unsubstantiated information where there may have been some flooding in Florida but the waters receded quickly and there wasn't the devastation that occurred further north.

Tobin OReilly

Corrected entry: When the wave hits New York and washes around the library building you can see in the bottom right of the shot vehicles being rolled over before wave has even touched them.

Brian Boulnois

Correction: They're being pushed by other vehicles caught at the front of the wave, and in turn push other vehicles in front of them.

Xofer

Corrected entry: There is no street facing the front of the New York public library as is shown in the movie when the tidal wave is coming down the street to the main entrance.

daniel hoppins

Correction: Incorrect - The NYPL at this location bridges the entire two blocks from 42nd Street down to 40th. 41st Street comes to an end at 5th Avenue right in front of it, then picks up again behind Bryant Park at 6th Avenue (Avenue of the Americas).

Rooster of Doom

Corrected entry: When we see the report from New Delhi we briefly see the Taj Mahal, which i s really located at Agra, which is about 200km from New Delhi.

Malaver

Correction: It is not the Taj Mahal, but a government building in the same style. The Taj Mahal is not situated in a crowded city.

Zaphod Beeblebrox

Corrected entry: The characters who remain and get trapped in the New York Public Library, in spite of being largely well-educated, seem hell-bent on using the least effective fuel on hand (the paper of the books). Even if they did have to use that to start the fire, it would make much more sense to burn the wooden chairs, tables, desks, bookshelves, even the carpets for heat - which, additionally, would preserve the valuable book collection.

Rooster of Doom

Correction: Varnished wood doesn't burn as well, plus there's a near endless supply of books - not once do they mention that they're running out. The book collection isn't all valuable - no doubt the majority of books were just standard, widely available copies. Wood might technically be a better source of fuel, but the books are plentiful and easy to light, so why not use them? No real reason not to.

Corrected entry: A fire of library books would never stop a deep freeze of -135 from coming into a big room as the group was sleeping in. That room would have been frozen from top to bottom, except for maybe a few feet in and around the fireplace.

Correction: First of all the temperature was -150. Also they were huddled around the fire so they would have been in that few feet that was not frozen.

Corrected entry: Why would people cross through the river if there are bridges (El Paso, Tx - Juarez, Chih. have around 24 lanes for cars)? If Americans are coming into Mexico illegally by hundreds, they wouldn't have any trouble crossing walking by the car lanes. And, why would there be any Border Patrol officers at the American side when people are crossing southbound, not the other way around?

Correction: It is explained in the movie just before the shots of the river crossing that Mexico has closed its borders. This means that the roads/bridges are closed, which is why people are forced to cross over the river, where the Mexicans are unable to stop the sheer weight of numbers getting through.

Corrected entry: In the scene where they are searching for medicine aboard the tanker Sam climbs out of a window and breaks another with a simple hammer. Anyone who has been on a ship know that those water tight windows won't break that easily.

Correction: Given the extremely low temperature, it's highly likely that the windows have become extremely brittle and have lost much of their structural integrity.

Corrected entry: When the survivors go to the ship for antibiotics and find the door to the dispensary locked, our hero finds a fire ax, climbs out a window, crawls along a railing, and breaks out a window. Wouldn't it be easier and simpler to use the fire axe on the flimsy dispensary door?

Correction: If I recall correctly, the door was a bulkhead door, which is far from flimsy. This is more than likely correct given the nature of dispensaries on ships and elsewhere which are locked from the inside and reinforced to keep the drugs secure.

Corrected entry: At the end of the movie, the President of the United States says, "It is telling that my first address comes to you from foreign soil." The only problem is that the US Embassy in Mexico (and any other foreign country) is considered US soil. That is why they are havens for travellers abroad.

Correction: He says "first broadcast from a consulate on foreign soil" so no mistake.

Tailkinker

Corrected entry: In the beginning of the film where the storm starts to really take off, you see buses, cars etc flying around and buildings being destroyed, yet so many people are using their mobile (cell) phones. Strange how despite all this destruction, mobile phone masts are still intact.

pierpp

Correction: In many large cities there are mobile cell phone masts located on a considerable amount of buildings and like TV and radio antennas are secured down to withstand very high winds.

Cliff Corson

Corrected entry: In the scene where Dennis Quaid drops into the Wendy's he lights various restaurant quality gas burning stove elements. Nothing is flame broiled or pan fried in a Wendy's. Just a flat top grill, deep fat fryers, and a vat to stir the cheese.

Correction: I used to work at Wendy's a while ago. I believe they still have a gas stove to cook their chili.

Corrected entry: How on earth did Dennis Quaid's ice pick not shatter the glass below him when they were on top of the shopping mall? There wasn't enough ice for it to dig in, as proved by the fact that it wipes clean so easily.

Graeme Chicken 1

Correction: Actually, if you looked closer, it seemed to me that the icepick's flat edge part (not the pointy end) latched onto a piece of framing between two sheets of the glass that makes up the roof. So, in essence, that's what's holding the ax in place, the edge of that glass framing.

Stormsigma

Corrected entry: Through the movie, the storm sucks down "super-cooled air from the upper troposphere." The troposphere is the lowest level in the atmosphere, where we live. The coldest layer is the third, the mesosphere, but this only drops to -90 degrees F; not low enough to freeze any kind of fuel line.

Correction: "Fuel line freezing" usually refers to crystals of water ice condensing out of the fuel and forming blockages in the narrow line. This can happen at "normal" freezing temperatures or Prestone wouldn't sell a product (Cold Start) that helps fight it.

Corrected entry: At the last leg of Dennis Quaid's trek to New York, he is shown entering New York coming from the east by the Statue of Liberty through Staten Island. This is inconsistent seeing as how they began their journey at Washington DC. We see the GPS is working on several occasions - no way to get lost.

Correction: Actually a quick look at a map of the area will show you that the Statue of Liberty is south and a little west of Manhattan, which is the direction that Jack would be coming from.

Corrected entry: In the closing scenes we see rescue helicopters, including Chinooks, flying into Manhattan to pick up the survivors. These came from Mexico? That's an epic journey for these helicopters - at less than 200mph - and they'd need refueling several times along the way, which seems equally unlikely given that most of the US is now iced up.

Correction: At the end of the movie when one of the astronauts in the space station comments how clear the air looks and we get a view of the United States, we can see that most of the upper portion of the country is snowed in while the southern part is snow free. The helicopters that were probably used were a UH-60 series Blackhawk helicopter and Ch-47D Chinook that is more durable and able to take on harsh weather conditions. Both have air refueling capabilities and since there are military bases that dot along the southern part of the country, there is a possibility of a KC-130 Hercules or another military refueling plane that could provide them with the fuel they need to get to New York and back.

Tobin OReilly

Other mistake: At the end of the film when they arrive in NYC looking for the library, we know that they survived because they are inside with a roaring fire burning. But where is the smoke up above, as Jack Hall approaches? There must be a chimney, or else they would have all died of asphyxiation.

kiazersoza

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: As already corrected, just because we can't see an outlet for the smoke doesn't mean there isn't one. White smoke against white snow is very hard to see.

Nik Rolls

But they were still burning the books, which meant the smoke should be black, if they stop burning the books, the smoke would have been white, which isn't the case in the movie.

Just looked at a boatload of videos of burning books, including one in a fireplace, and the smoke was indeed white.

More mistakes in The Day After Tomorrow

Sam Hall: Look, I got every question right on the final, and the only reason Mr. Spengler failed me is because I didn't write out the solutions.
Jack Hall: Why not?
Sam Hall: I do 'em in my head.
Jack Hall: Did you tell him that?
Sam Hall: I did. He said he didn't believe me. He said that if he couldn't do them in his head, then I must be cheating.
Jack Hall: Well, that's ridiculous! How can he fail you for being smarter than he is?
Sam Hall: That's what I said.
Jack Hall: You did? How did he take it?
Sam Hall: He flunked me, remember?

More quotes from The Day After Tomorrow
The Day After Tomorrow trivia picture

Trivia: There is a party at J.D.'s school after the academic decathlon. Most of the students are wearing name tags. Sam's name tag says "Hello my name is Yoda." (00:21:50)

More trivia for The Day After Tomorrow

Question: Why would Sam and his friends go to the library?

Answer: Possibly because it was the closest building with height to it as they are about to be hit by a gigantic wave of water. There was no snow yet, so I don't believe burning books or snow was on anybody's mind yet. It turned out to be a great idea as snow soon starts to fall and those books were literally a life saver.

Susan D. Santos

Answer: It was the closest building they could access. While the smarter move would have been to just go back to JD's apartment (which Brian and Laura suggest) it may have been too far a walk to get out of the flooding streets.

Answer: Big building with lots of space and lots of books to burn for heat.

Ssiscool

Why did they burn the books and not the wooden shelves that the books were on?

As for burning books rather than shelves, it was just easier. They would have had to expend more energy to break down the shelves into manageable size.

More questions & answers from The Day After Tomorrow

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