San Andreas (2015)
12-month trend
12-month trend
Monthly article views
2025-09 to 2026-08
A massive earthquake along the San Andreas Fault forces a rescue pilot and his estranged wife to navigate a crumbling California to find their daughter.
The story
When a massive earthquake caused by the San Andreas Fault devastates the West Coast of the United States, a Caltech seismologist discovers that the entire fault is shifting, triggering a chain reaction of destruction. Amidst the chaos, Ray Gaines, a chief rescue helicopter pilot, must navigate the crumbling landscape to find his estranged wife and daughter. As the infrastructure of California collapses, Ray and his wife must fight through debris and natural disasters to reach their daughter, who is trapped in San Francisco. The film follows their desperate journey across a fractured landscape to reunite their family before the destruction becomes absolute.
Full plot (contains spoilers)
A Caltech seismologist, Dr. Lawrence Hayes, and his colleague Dr. Kim Park are at Hoover Dam when a 7.1 earthquake collapses the dam. Hayes discovers the San Andreas Fault is shifting, causing a chain reaction of earthquakes. He attempts to warn the population as a 9.1 earthquake hits Los Angeles. Simultaneously, Ray Gaines, a rescue pilot, finds his estranged wife, Emma, in a skyscraper during the quake. Their daughter, Blake, is in San Francisco with Emma's new boyfriend, Daniel Riddick. When a massive quake hits San Francisco, Blake is trapped in a car by falling debris. Daniel abandons her, but she is rescued by others. Ray and Emma's helicopter fails, forcing them to travel by truck and then a small plane toward San Francisco. They encounter a massive fissure in the earth. As a 9.6 earthquake—the largest in history—hits, they parachute into a park and eventually use a boat to navigate a tsunami. They find Blake in a collapsing building and rescue her just as it falls. The film ends with the family reunited at a relief camp as the city begins to rebuild.
- First release year
- 2015
- Runtime (minutes)
- 114
- Production countries
- United States
- Original languages
- English
- Directors
- Brad Peyton
- Writers
- Carlton Cuse · screenplay; Andre Fabrizio · story; Jeremy Passmore · story
- Cast and characters
- Dwayne Johnson · Ray Gaines; Carla Gugino · Emma; Alexandra Daddario · Blake; Ioan Gruffudd · Daniel Riddick; Archie Panjabi; Paul Giamatti
- Genres
- disaster; thriller; action
- Tone and mood
- action-packed; tense
- Premise and plot tags
- earthquake; tsunami; rescue mission
- Reported review scores
- Metacritic · score: 43 · scale: 100 · review count: 42; IGN · score: 7.5 · scale: 10
- Awards and nominations
- Choice Movie: Action · Teen Choice Awards · 2015 · Nomination; Choice Movie Actress: Action · Teen Choice Awards · 2015 · Nomination; Choice Summer Movie Star: Male · Teen Choice Awards · 2015 · Nomination; Outstanding Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature · Visual Effects Society Awards · 14th · Nomination; Outstanding Effects Simulations in a Photoreal Feature · Visual Effects Society Awards · 14th · Nomination; Outstanding Compositing in a Feature Motion Picture · Visual Effects Society Awards · 14th · Nomination; Best Action Performance · MTV Movie Awards · 2016 · Nomination; Best Hero · MTV Movie Awards · 2016 · Nomination
- Production trivia
- The film was the first Warner Bros. Pictures film to be released in Dolby Vision.; The film's production was set to begin in April 2014 in Queensland, Australia.
Film metadata comes from the open sources listed in Credits & Contact. Catalogue details may be incomplete.
Your lists
Loading your lists…