Why do you think there are so many movies about 9/11; yet, a very small amount about disasters like Hurricane Katrina?

Only reason I can think of is one was manmade which lends itself to conspiracy theories, while the other was largely a natural disaster.

I think the weather channel had a pretty good program on hurricane Katrina.

I think your perception is skewed. Do you know about these Katrina movies?

@6rant6 Yes, I actually found that page during my search. There are more documentaries, of course. The amount still doesn’t seem like a lot to me. I’m also looking for more movies that actually made it to the big screen (which I didn’t state in the question).

“When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts” by Spike Lee

“Trouble the Water” by Tia Lessin and Carl Deal

“The Axe in the Attic” directed by Ed Pincus and Lucia Small

“God Provides” a short by Brian Cassidy and Melanie Shatzky

“Happy Here and Now” by independent director Michael Almereyda

“Hurrican Season” starring Forest Whitaker

“Low and Behold”

“New Orleans, Mon Amour”

“Fullness of Time”

“Waiting for Godot”

“Circles of Confusion”

“The Second Line”

“Glory at Sea”

From the above NY Times site.

The cachet of terrorism. The drama of the towers falling.

The only film about 9/11 that I know of is the absolutely factually correct Fahrenheit 911.

Looking for movies that made it to the big screen. I actually can’t think of hurricane movies that made it to the big screen. Not ones that are about a real hurricane or a documentary type flick. I can think of airplane hijackings and other terrorist incidents. But, I am working off of memory, there definitely could be movies I am unaware of.

Maybe Katrina was about incompetence on so many levels, from start to finish, so it wasn’t anything anyone wants to really remember. 9/11 was more shocking, but the response was much more professional and the bravery of those responders was unbelieveable. Over 300 fire fighters and police went to those buildings, looked up, and said we’ll try. And the people in the buildings dug down and helped each other get out. Plus the passengers that tried to take back the plane over PA.

Cynical response: assuming that the premise is factually sound, the reason would have to be that there’s more money to be made (i.e., greater return on investment) from dramatizing an enemy attack as entertainment than from dramatizing a hurricane.

One factor might be the cost of the requisite special effects versus expected return.

@Adirondackwannabe I would think during Katrina people helped each other also. The police and emergency workers were pushed to the brink trying tootheir jobs from what I remember.

Sony actually did the opposite of what almost every other studio was doing and moved Black Hawk Down’s release date to take advantage of the patriotic climate following 9/11—and it worked. The film went on to earn a hefty $108 million at the domestic box office.

There are plenty of links that say that was at the request of the Bush administration but they all look kinda sketchy so I won’t link to them.

Conspiracy theorists wet dream?
You see, the narrative that comes with all “fairy tales” is far more seductive to these individuals than boring plain old facts.

Hurricanes and their aftermath are ultimately impersonal. You’re dealing either with a natural disaster (and one too weak, really, to milk for disaster movie points) or faceless crowds looting or else languishing in a football stadium. And there’s a distinct danger of forgetting to leave out the Wal-Mart relief effort, something that no doubt plagues many an aspiring Katrina-minded studio.~