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10 Films that Make the COVID-19 Pandemic Seem Tame

These movies suggest we should be grateful Hollywood’s always exaggerated the apocalyptic nature of pandemics.

2020 was a year to remember — or forget — wasn’t it? Most people expected it would be a doozy, given the upcoming US Presidential Election, but few expected the outbreak of a virus in China to be felt around the world. You didn’t need to be a scientist working at the Center for Disease Control (CDC) to know this was all tragically possible. A savvy film enthusiast might have known such an event was on the horizon if they had seen any number of the films below.

Contagion (2011)

Steven Soderbergh’s fine film is cited by virtually everyone when discussing the pandemic. After Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) returns to the US from a business trip to Hong Kong, she begins showing strange flu-like symptoms before dying. Her young son meets the same fate later that day. Only her husband, Mitch (Matt Damon), seems immune to the mystery virus. As the deadly infection begins to spread, the CDC allows several days to pass…