Action movies, disaster movies, monster flicks, and many others all enjoy and embrace destroying major U.S. cities, but no other monument or iconic structure has been through the thick and thin of it more than San Francisco’s Golden Gate Bridge... save perhaps for New York's Statue of Liberty.
For one reason or another, Hollywood studios love to hate the famous bridge, and, even when it isn’t being destroyed by tentacled sea monsters and evil mutants, there are apes hanging off it and people getting shot on it. In of getting completely annihilated, ever since 1950s, the bridge has been shattered by earthquakes, collapsed by tsunamis, and obliterated by Bombs.
It Came From Beneath The Sea (1955)
Being the oldest movie to destroy the Golden Gate Bridge, It Came From Beneath The Sea started a trend that has now been going on for more than 65 years. The monster in the movie wraps its giant tentacles around the world-famous bridge and tears it apart.
Watching it today, it’s stranger to think that this was considered a horror movie, but the stop-motion effects are interesting and it’s such a time capsule, as 1955 San Francisco is on show in every shot.
Superman (1978)
After a huge earthquake hits the West Coast, the Golden Gate Bridge is damaged the most, and the biggest crack in the bridge just happens to be where a school bus full of children is sitting. But, Superman, of course, comes to the rescue, and not a single person gets injured.
The visual effects are incredible for its time, which is one of the reasons why it’s the best Superman movie according to IMDb, as the bridge getting destroyed looks more real than it does in any other movie, even if it is a miniature.
The Core (2003)
With the most bizarre and convoluted plot to a sci-fi movie ever, The Core follows a team of scientists who have to drill a hole to the center of the earth in order to trigger a bunch of nuclear explosions, which will restart the rotation of the earth’s core.
Somehow, the Golden Gate Bridge gets the brunt of this, as the iconic monument snaps apart like taffy. It’s actually a complete tragedy, as literally hundreds of cars can be seen plummeting into the sea, but, hilariously, the movie never mentions anything about it afterward.
10:5 (2004)
Though it’s technically a movie, 10:5 was split in two by NBC and was aired as a two-part miniseries. Being about earthquakes, it wouldn’t be a disaster movie if the bronze bridge didn’t get obliterated.
Before completely falling to bits, the bridge waves almost like a bendy plastic ruler would. Then, the entire structure gives way, and, though there aren’t as many vehicles falling into the bay when compared to The Core, the whole bridge eventually collapses, with thousands falling to their deaths.
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
Sometimes, X-Men fans must get the feeling that Magneto just likes to show off. The mutant lifted an entire stadium out of the ground in Days of Future Past, and now he’s messing around with the Golden Gate Bridge in reasons the movie isn’t as bad as people say it is.
Monsters vs. Aliens (2009)
Already having grown to the size of a rollercoaster and wearing cars as roller skates, Susan is unstoppably gliding through San Francisco in Monsters vs. Aliens, trying to avoid harming anybody. She inevitably ends up racing over the Golden Gate, but it isn’t her who causes all of the destruction.
A giant robot with clamps for hands starts grabbing at the middle of the bridge. However, before he can damage it too much, a monster, which has a suspiciously similar likeness to a porg —though this film debuted years before The Last Jedi—saves the day by sneezing over the robot.
Pacific Rim (2013)
Almost seen as the mature version of Transformers, movies to watch if you love big giant robot cartoons. As giant robots are deployed on to the streets to fight off giant monsters, San Francisco becomes a battleground for 80-foot tall creatures and sentinel beings. It doesn’t take long at all for the bridge to become collateral damage, as one of the monsters crushes it within a matter of seconds.
Godzilla (2014)
Godzilla is one of the best depictions of the Golden Gate Bridge getting completely wrecked, as the tension is completely felt when the army tanks come rolling in. It’s like they are preparing for war.
The whole scene is like a masterclass in how to build suspense; a pack of seagulls fly away in fear and crushing waves in the sea build as Godzilla swims closer. In the end, Godzilla only tore the bridge apart because it kept getting shot at, but the amount of sheer destruction the creature causes is why Godzilla vs. Kong is one of the most anticipated sci-fi movies of 2021.
San Andreas (2015)
The success of the Rock’s best movies, but the so-bad-it’s-good moments can be stupidly funny at times, and that’s no more obvious than in the Golden Gate Bridge sequence.
During the movie, a giant tsunami all but washes away the bridge, but not before a cargo ship blasts through it with one of the shipping containers hilariously landing directly on a erby, which is one of the funniest movie deaths of all time.
Terminator: Genisys (2015)
In fairness, it isn’t just the Golden Gate Bridge that is picked on in Terminator: Genisys, but the whole of San Francisco is completely obliterated. Whether it the Transamerica Pyramid or the city’s beloved trams, Genisys blows everything to smithereens.
In the five years since the fifth movie in the franchise was released, there hasn’t been another movie to wreak havoc on the bridge, making it the longest break the structure has had since 2003’s The Core. However, it might have something to do with screenwriters not wanting to repeat the mistakes of the worst Terminator movie.
