Don't Look Up

Don't Look Up is an American satirical science-fiction comedy fantasy film written, produced and directed by Adam McKay. The movie tells the story of two low-level astronomers, who must go on a giant media tour to warn mankind of an approaching comet that will destroy planet earth.

The film is based on a story McKay penned with David Sirota and also produced the film with Kevin Messick. It hails from McKay’s Hyperobject Industries.^[1]

On November 8, 2019, it was reported that the picture would be distributed by Paramount Pictures and that Adam McKay would write, direct, and produce it under his Hyperobject Industries banner.^[2] Netflix acquired the film from Paramount on February 19, 2020.^[3]

On December 10, 2021, the film will have a limited theatrical premiere before streaming on Netflix on December 24, 2021.

389,580,000 million hours were watched on Netflix between December 19th, 2021 and February 13th, 2022.

Summary[]

"Don’t Look Up tells the story of two low-level astronomers, who must go on a giant media tour to warn mankind of an approaching comet that will destroy planet earth."

—Official Netflix synopsis

In this new film, “Kate Dibiasky (Jennifer Lawrence), an astronomy grad student, and her professor Dr. Randall Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio) make an astounding discovery of a comet orbiting within the solar system. The problem — it’s on a direct collision course with Earth. The other problem? No one really seems to care. Turns out warning mankind about a planet-killer the size of Mount Everest is an inconvenient fact to navigate. With the help of Dr. Oglethorpe (Rob Morgan), Kate and Randall embark on a media tour that takes them from the office of an indifferent President Orlean (Meryl Streep) and her sycophantic son and Chief of Staff, Jason (Jonah Hill), to the airwaves of The Daily Rip, an upbeat morning show hosted by Brie (Cate Blanchett) and Jack (Tyler Perry). With only six months until the comet makes impact, managing the 24-hour news cycle and gaining the attention of the social media obsessed public before it’s too late proves shockingly comical — what will it take to get the world to just look up?!”

Plot[]

Astronomy student at Michigan State University, Kate Dibiasky discovers the existence of an unidentified comet. Her professor, Dr. Randall Mindy, calculates that the trajectory of the asteroid crosses that of the Earth and that an impact will take place in about six months, killing all life in the process.

Accompanied by scholar Teddy Oglethorpe, Kate and Randall travel to the White House to present their findings, but are met with apathy from President Janie Orlean and her staff, including her son, Chief of Staff Jason Orlean. The attempt to inform the population through a television program also fails, though Kate's on-camera antics go viral online. When Orlean becomes involved in a sex scandal, she announces the threat of the comet to divert attention.

The news is finally spread by the media and the launch of a spaceship that can hit and divert the comet, saving the planet, is announced. However, the operation is canceled mid-flight when Peter Isherwell, a tech billionaire and prominent funder of Orlean, discovers that the comet is composed of trillions of dollars worth of precious minerals that have become scarce on Earth. The White House plans to commercially exploit the comet by crushing it to reduce its size and recovering the fragments.

Kate and Teddy immediately abandon the operation in protest, while Randall submissively becomes a prominent voice in advocating for the comet's commercial opportunities, as well as starting an affair with talk show host Brie Evantee. The world becomes ideologically divided between those who demand the total destruction of the comet, those who decry unjustified alarmism, and those who deny that a comet even exists. Meanwhile, Kate returns home to Illinois, her parents kick her out of the house and begins a relationship with a young man named Yule. After his wife June discovers his infidelity, Randall becomes angered and voices his frustrations on live television, launching into a rant criticising Orlean's administration for downplaying the impending apocalypse and questions humanity's indifference, before leaving the operation and reconciling with Kate.

Orlean and Isherwell's plan to recover the comet's materials fails, leaving them, along with a group of wealthy Americans, to flee in a spaceship designed to find the nearest Earth-like planet. However, they accidentally leave Jason behind in the process. Before leaving, Orlean offers Randall a place on the ship, but he turns her down, choosing to spend his last moments in the company of Kate, his family, Yule and Teddy. The comet finally hits the planet, killing everyone.

In a mid-credits scene set twenty-two thousand years later, the presidential ship lands on a lush alien planet. Its passengers wake up from cryogenic sleep and take a look at the surrounding environment only to immediately be attacked and killed by the planet's wild animals as Peter's technology had predicted.

In a post-credits scene, Jason is shown that he got lucky and had survived the extinction of life on Earth, wondering if his mother is still coming back, and documents the aftermath on his phone.