# Worst onscreen (fictional) destruction, by city **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 6, 2014, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909 "2014-08-06T00:30:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909/1 "2014-08-06T00:30:07Z")
Coming out of **Godzilla** this year, I can’t remember a single movie that kicked San Francisco’s ass as badly as that film did–at least since **San Francisco** (w/Gable, Tracy & Jeanette MacDonald), which was at least based on historical events. Between that and the latest Apes movie, it’s been a banner year for my city on the bay. So, the challenge: name a city (US or otherwise) and the _worst_ onscreen _fictional_ (non-historical) destruction it has been subjected to in a movie or television. Examples: Houston gets nuked in **Independence Day**. Baltimore fares equally poorly in **The Sum of All Fears**. Vegas (also appearing in _Godzilla_) arguably gets it even worse in **Mars Attacks!** Your nominees? ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909/2 "2014-08-06T00:59:20Z")
For the purposes of this discussion, we should probably [leave out Tokyo.](https://allthetropes.orain.org/wiki/The_Tokyo_Fireball) I can think of at least a couple of works where the city was totally destroyed _twice_. Actually, I can probably think of a few where the city was infected and sexually assaulted to death. Not it’s population—the actual _city_. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909/3 "2014-08-06T01:01:12Z")
L.A. got it pretty bad in **Terminator 2**. ---
**Author:** ![Ike\_Witt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ike_witt/32/283_2.png) [@Ike\_Witt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ike_Witt)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 1:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909/4 "2014-08-06T01:56:56Z")
New York took it pretty hard in Cloverfield. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909/5 "2014-08-06T02:00:28Z")
> [@Ike\_Witt](#): > > New York took it pretty hard in Cloverfield. Both New York and Moscow get it good in “Fail-Safe”. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909/6 "2014-08-06T02:04:34Z")
In 2012 we see a news report of Rio getting shaken apart. Of course, that movie also did in Los Angeles, Honolulu, Las Vegas, Washington, and a few other places. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909/7 "2014-08-06T02:04:41Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > Both New York and Moscow get it good in “Fail-Safe”. On-screen, not a whistling noise on the telephone or a montage of New York street scenes. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909/8 "2014-08-06T02:05:31Z")
Worst destruction of New York City: _The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy_. Worst destruction of Los Angeles: _The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy_. Worst destruction of London: _The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy_. Worst destruction of Tokyo: _The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy_. Worst destruction of Paris: _The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy_. Worst destruction of Kalamazoo: _The Hitchhikers’ Guide to the Galaxy_. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Tooth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c67d28/32.png) [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909/9 "2014-08-06T02:46:17Z")
Metropolis took quite the sound drubbing in _Man of Steel_, and it was lot more visceral than, say, _Independence Day_. ---
**Author:** ![Baker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bb73d2/32.png) [@Baker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baker)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909/10 "2014-08-06T02:50:05Z")
Vegas in _The Stand_. ---
**Author:** ![Declan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecae2f/32.png) [@Declan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Declan)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909/11 "2014-08-06T03:24:41Z")
Toronto gets taken out by a nuke (hogtown was a stand in for Raccoon city) in resident evil Chicago looks like it got the treatment in Transformers 3 Declan ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909/12 "2014-08-06T10:48:59Z")
It’s practically harder to think of movies that don’t destroy New York. I appreciate when filmmakers branch out and nuke a different town on occasion. ---
**Author:** ![zoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zoid/32/336_2.png) [@zoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoid)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909/13 "2014-08-06T11:14:15Z")
Chicago takes a pretty good beating in Transformers: Dark of the Moon ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909/14 "2014-08-06T12:29:53Z")
Terre Haute, in Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid. Sunnydale, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer (huh… I don’t know that it ever occurred to me that it got collapsed exactly the same way as the Dark Matter research station at the beginning of The Avengers…). San Francisco got plowed under pretty good in Star Trek: Into Darkness ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909/15 "2014-08-06T12:35:38Z")
Buenos Aires in _Starship Troopers_. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909/16 "2014-08-06T12:37:21Z")
Buenos Aries got totally trashed in **Starship Troppers**. So did the original book, according to a lot of folk on this board 😉 ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909/17 "2014-08-06T12:40:56Z")
> [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](#): > > Buenos Aries got totally trashed in **Starship Troppers**. > > So did the original book, according to a lot of folk on this board 😉 When I named the movie, I spelled it correctly… 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909/18 "2014-08-06T13:36:02Z")
But I got the joke in! ---
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909/19 "2014-08-06T13:42:04Z")
The judges speak: Tapioca for the /qin. 😉 Atlanta gets it (off-screen) in **Independence Day**. Of course, the most famous on-screen destruction of the city is prohibited by the OP’s rules… I currently live in San Antonio, TX which hasn’t been destroyed on-screen yet… unless somebody made a film based upon the book **[War Day](http://www.amazon.com/War-Day-Whitley-Strieber/dp/0030707315)**. _The Alamo_ also doesn’t count because of the OP’s rules… and also, the city itself wasn’t destroyed. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2014, 1:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909/20 "2014-08-06T13:48:46Z")
In Resident Evil: Afterlife, [Tokyo got destroyed pretty good](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WqA1GFZOhJ4)by some sort of [Akira bomb](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udikJqEFj4U). Just noticing Ranchoth’s link. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/worst-onscreen-fictional-destruction-by-city/694909.md?page=2)