# Movie Scenes that Involve a Shocking Change in the Natural Landscape or Famous Landmarks **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** movies\ **Created:** [August 28, 2025, 5:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549 "2025-08-28T05:18:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549/41 "2025-08-29T01:21:31Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > The aliens in _Independence Day_ blowing up various worldwide landmarks comes to mind. The real laser would be a lot like that. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/BRAkobf-tVI/maxresdefault.jpg "100 Billion Dollars!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRAkobf-tVI&t=33) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Q](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/898d66/32.png) [@Johnny\_Q](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Q)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549/42 "2025-08-29T03:27:03Z")
In Superman III, Evil Supes straightens the Leaning Tower of Pisa. ---
**Author:** ![Clearbluesky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Clearbluesky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clearbluesky)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549/43 "2025-08-29T04:06:09Z")
Logan’s Run had an abandoned plant overgrown Washington DC ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549/44 "2025-08-29T04:11:21Z")
I’ve enjoyed all of these examples, as I do love scenes of epic destruction(in the movies, not IRL!) However, I probably didn’t express my thoughts well. I’m asking about scenes where we / the characters discover the change/ destruction after whatever the cause is. So, for instance, my example in the OP is of characters who look upon the usual view of the Irish coast, only to come back to the same spot and freak out to find the scenic vista no longer exists and all that can be seen is hills and forest, with no sign of the coast. Another example is from \*The Endless (\*great movie btw), where a character is standing in the road, looking all around him. He looks one way, continues looking around, then looks back and suddenly there’s a big ass mountain on the landscape that wasn’t there before. It’s a subtle wtf, and we see him kind of stagger at the shock of it. Maybe there aren’t that many instances of this kind of thing, in which case, keep the clips of mass destruction coming. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549/45 "2025-08-29T04:14:22Z")
> [@Clearbluesky](#): > > Logan’s Run had an abandoned plant overgrown Washington DC Yep, that’s a pretty good example. The special effects are rather primitive but that’s the idea. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549/46 "2025-08-29T07:13:42Z")
> [@Shoeless](#): > > But there’s always a Transamerica pyramid, because how else would you know it’s San Francisco? The Golden Gate Bridge and the Palace of Fine Arts are both there. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549/47 "2025-08-29T14:39:16Z")
Speaking of the Golden Gate Bridge, it has fallen victim to both Godzilla (2014) and a plus-sized octopus (in It Came From Beneath The Sea) ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549/48 "2025-08-29T14:42:46Z")
And appropriated as a causeway to Alcatraz by Magneto in an X-Men movie. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549/49 "2025-08-29T15:05:24Z")
Not a movie scene, but there’s an episode of _The Last Man on Earth_ where the characters arrive in post-apocalyptic San Francisco and discover that the entire city has burned to the ground. Flash back to the title character setting off an entire factory’s worth of fireworks two years earlier and then driving away… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549/50 "2025-08-29T15:05:52Z")
> [@blondebear](#): > > Speaking of the Golden Gate Bridge, it has fallen victim to both Godzilla (2014) and a plus-sized octopus (in It Came From Beneath The Sea) The Brooklyn Bridge has fallen to the American version of **Godzilla** (1998) and, ten years later, to the bigger monster in **Cloverfield** (2008). It also got blasted in the Will Smith **I Am Legend** (2007). As noted (and shown) above, it got washed away in the mega-tsunami in **Deep Impact** (also 1998) ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549/51 "2025-08-29T15:31:52Z")
> [@Clearbluesky](#): > > Logan’s Run had an abandoned plant overgrown Washington DC Which is strange when you think about it because whatever caused the founders of Logan’s city to withdraw from the outside world, it was almost certainly not a nuclear war. ---
**Author:** ![dorvann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/df705f/32.png) [@dorvann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dorvann)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549/52 "2025-08-29T15:46:49Z")
Speaking of Futurama… \>Madison _Square_ Garden has shockingly been rebuilt as a _CUBE_!!! ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549/53 "2025-08-29T16:40:33Z")
It’s pretty much the premise if the series. The Atlanta one also has one of my favorite lines from the show. A lovely mermaid is showing Fry around her underwater kingdom and they spot some wildlife. > Mermaid: Do you have sea lions on the surface? > Fry: Yep, we call them landsea lions. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549/54 "2025-08-29T17:08:38Z")
> [@dorvann](#): > > Madison _Square_ Garden has shockingly been rebuilt as a _CUBE_!!! I worry what it will be in another 1000 years. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549/55 "2025-08-29T17:12:34Z")
Madison Tesseract Garden. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549/56 "2025-08-29T17:18:38Z")
Make sure it is stable in three dimensions! ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549/57 "2025-08-29T17:29:08Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > I worry what it will be in another 1000 years. A Tesseract ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549/58 "2025-08-29T17:35:19Z")
Just don’t have it designed by Quintus Teal. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 29, 2025, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549/59 "2025-08-29T17:35:39Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > > [@Clearbluesky](#): > > > > Logan’s Run had an abandoned plant overgrown Washington DC > > Which is strange when you think about it because whatever caused the founders of Logan’s city to withdraw from the outside world, it was almost certainly not a nuclear war. The founders were deserting national guard troops tired of taking orders from demented old men. That’s why they offed people at 30. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/movie-scenes-that-involve-a-shocking-change-in-the-natural-landscape-or-famous-landmarks/1022549.md?page=2)