2012 (pronounced "twenty twelve") is a 2009 American disaster film directed by Roland Emmerich. It stars John Cusack, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Amanda Peet, Oliver Platt, Zlatko Burić, Thandie Newton, 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.
The film includes references to Mayanism, the Mesoamerican Long Count calendar and the 2012 phenomenon in its portrayal of cataclysmic events unfolding in 2012.
In 2009, Adrian Helmsley (Chiwetel Ejiofor), an American geologist, visits astrophysicist Dr. Satnam Tsurutani (Jimi Mistry) in India and 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 Staff Carl Anheuser (Oliver Platt) and United States President Thomas Wilson (Danny Glover ) that this will trigger a catastrophic chain of natural disasters. In 2010, Wilson, along with other international leaders, begins a secret project intended to ensure humanity's survival. Approximately 400,000 people are chosen to board ships called "arks" that are constructed at Cho Ming, Tibet, in the Himalayas. Additional funding for the project is raised by selling tickets to the private sector for €1 billion per person. By 2011, humanity's valuable treasures are moved to the Himalayas under the guise of protecting them from terrorist attacks.
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 (Zlatko Burić). Jackson's ex-wife Kate (Amanda Peet) and their son Noah (Liam James) and their daughter Lilly (Morgan Lily) live with Kate's boyfriend, plastic surgeon and amateur pilot Gordon Silberman (Thomas McCarthy). Jackson takes Noah and Lilly camping in Yellowstone National Park, where they meet Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson), who hosts a radio show from the park. Charlie references a theory that suggests the Mesoamerican Long Count Calendar predicts that the 2012 phenomenon is going to occur. He has a map of the ark project in addition to information about government officials and scientists from around the world who were murdered after planning to alert the public about the project and the upcoming apocalypse. The family returns home as seismic activity increases along the west coast of the United States. Jackson grows suspicious and rents a plane to rescue his family. He collects his family and Gordon as the Earth crust displacement begins, and they escape Los Angeles using first using a limosine and then a Cessna 340 as the city slides into the Pacific Ocean in a mega earthquake that ruptures the San Andreas Fault.
As millions die in catastrophic earthquakes worldwide, the group flies to Yellowstone to retrieve Charlie's map, escaping as the Yellowstone Caldera erupts. Staying behind to broadcast the eruption, Charlie is killed in the blast. Learning the arks are in China, the group lands in Las Vegas. They meet Yuri, his twin sons Alec and Oleg (Alexandre Haussmann and Philippe Haussmann), girlfriend Tamara (Beatrice Rosen) and pilot Sasha (Johann Urb). The group secures an Antonov 500 aircraft and departs for China. Also heading for the arks aboard Air Force One are Anheuser, Helmsley and First Daughter Laura Wilson (Thandie Newton). President Wilson chooses to remain in Washington, D.C. to address the nation one last time. With the Vice President dead and the Speaker of the House missing, Anheuser assumes de facto leadership of the United States. President Wilson is later killed by a megatsunami that sends the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy crashing into the White House.
Arriving in China in a crash landing that kills Sasha, the group is spotted by the People's Liberation Army. Yuri and his sons, possessing tickets, are taken to the arks. The Curtis family, Gordon and Tamara are picked up by Nima (Osric Chau), a Buddhist monk on his way to the arks. They stow away with the help of Nima's brother Tenzin (Chin Han), who has been working on the ark project's construction crew. As a megatsunami approaches the site, an impact driver becomes lodged between the gears of the ark's hydraulics chamber, preventing a boarding gate from closing and rendering the ship unable to start its engines. In the ensuing chaos, Yuri, Gordon and Tamara are killed, Tenzin is wounded and the flooding ark is set adrift. Jackson and Noah dislodge the impact driver and the crew regains control of the ark, preventing a collision with Mount Everest.
After flood waters from the tsunamis recede, the arks set sail for the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa where the Drakensberg Mountains have risen in relation to sea level and become the tallest mountains in the world. Jackson is reconciled with his family and Adrian starts a relationship with Laura. The Earth is shown from space, revealing a drastically changed landscape of Africa.