Asteroid City: Is Asteroid Day Real?
Prepare to discover your new favorite (existentially terrifying) holiday!
In Wes Anderson's latest star-studded film, "Asteroid City," a group of young scientists and their parents assemble in a western desert for a Junior Stargazer convention, which, in part, commemorates Asteroid Day — the anniversary of a meteorite falling from the cosmos into the titular city below, creating a large crater in which the convention takes place. While the event depicted in "Asteroid City" is entirely fictional, both it and the holiday it spawned are seemingly inspired by reality.
Asteroid Day is a real-life holiday sanctioned by the United Nations and currently sponsored by the Luxembourg Space Agency, with the expressed purpose of raising public awareness of the potential danger asteroid impacts pose to the planet. It was first established in 2014, a year after a meteor crashed into Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia. Originally founded by a number of public figures concerned with planetary threats (including physicist Stephen Hawking and Queen's Brian May), the holiday currently takes place on June 30, the anniversary of the historic Tunguska event.
Curiously, "Asteroid City" was released just a week shy of the real Asteroid Day (likely to avoid competing with "Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny" at the box office). Even though you'll likely have already watched the only Asteroid Day-themed movie in theaters by the 30th, there are still a few great films out there to keep you in the planet-protecting spirit.
The best movies to celebrate Asteroid Day with
Other than "Asteroid City," the quintessential Asteroid Day movie may be 2021's "Don't Look Up." Directed by Adam McKay, the dark comedy follows two scientists as they attempt to warn the planet of a large so-called near-Earth object (NEO) on a collision course with the planet. While the film can be viewed as an allegory for the ongoing climate crisis, its urgent and scientifically accurate approach to asteroid impact events has likely raised awareness about the importance of NEO preparedness. "Don't Look Up" is currently streaming on Netflix.
If you have nerves of steel and are looking for something closer to a disaster film, you may consider the science fiction drama "51 Degrees North." Through the medium of found footage, the film explores the last days before an apocalyptic impact event from the perspective of a filmmaker tasked with capturing Earth's demise on film. In addition to providing a fairly unique take on an old cinema trope, "51 Degrees North" stands out for being written and directed by one of Asteroid Day's co-founders: German filmmaker Grigorij Richters.
Whether you take our recommendations, revisit old favorites like "Armageddon" or "Deep Impact," or take another trip to the theater for "Asteroid City," it may be beneficial to use the day as an opportunity to research what safeguards we have in place to protect ourselves from objects in the stars. But above all else, we here at Looper would like to be the first to wish you a safe and happy Asteroid Day.