Will the World End in 2012?

Thousands Worldwide Prepare for the Apocalypse, Expected in 2012

Two years ago, Patrick Geryl, then 51, quit his job as a laboratory worker for a French oil company. He’d saved up just enough money to last him until December 2012. After that, he thought, he wouldn’t need it anyway.

Instead, Geryl, a soft-spoken man who had studied chemistry in his younger years, started preparing for the apocalypse. He founded a “survival group” for likeminded men and women, aimed at living through the catastrophe he knew was coming.

He started gathering materials necessary to survive — water purifiers, wheelbarrows (with spare tires), dust masks and vegetable seeds. His list of survival goods runs 11 pages long.

“You have to understand, there will be nothing, nothing left,” Geryl told ABC News from his home in Antwerp, Belgium. “We will have to start an entire civilization from scratch.”

That’s because Geryl believes the world as we know it will end in 2012. He points to the ancient Mayan cyclical calendars, the longest of which last renewed itself approximately 5,125 years ago and is set to end again, supposedly with catastrophic consequences, in 2012. He speaks of the ancient Egyptians, who, he claims, saw 2012 as a year of great change too. And he points to science: NASA predicts a sharp increase in the number of sunspots and sun flares for 2012, he said, sure to cause electrical failures and satellite disruptions.

All this adds up, Geryl said, to unprecedented catastrophe. First, a polar reversal will cause the north to become the south and the sun to rise in the west. Shattering earthquakes, massive tidal waves and simultaneous volcanic eruptions will follow. Nuclear reactors will melt, buildings will crumble, and a cloud of volcanic dust will block out the sun for 40 years. Only the prepared will survive, Geryl said, and not even all of them.

These may sound like the ravings of a madman, or perhaps the head of a small apocalyptic sect. But Geryl is not the only one who believes in the apocalypse. Thousands of people worldwide seem to be preparing, in one way or another, for the end of days in 2012. Survival groups exist in Europe, Canada and the United States. A simple Google search for “2012? and “the end of the world” brings up nearly 300,000 hits. And the video-sharing Web site YouTube hosts more than 65,000 clips informing and warning viewers about their fate in 2012…

When asked what would happen if December 2012 were to come and go without the earthquakes and tsunamis of his predictions, Geryl fell silent.

2012 movie Review

2012 movie review and 2012 end of the world. Sony that has forked out $200 million in its production is rolling it out in 105 global territories. Spending hefty money in marketing, the company is expecting to do a business of around $55 million-$65 million in North America in just three days.

The plot is simple: several groups of people claw their ways out of crumbling cities to survive the mass destruction and make their way to what is basically Noah's Ark for the 21st century. Among our survivors is John Cusack, a failed novelist who moonlights as a limo driver in LA, who must get his estranged family to safety, and manages to do so while constantly looking like one of the Reservoir Dogs in his black suit with a skinny tie. Chiwetel Ejiofor plays a government scientist who discovers the oncoming disaster and warns President Danny Glover, while trying to evade Oliver Platt, who is only interested in saving wealthy people. Woody Harrelson is also sprinkled in there as the wily conspiracy theorist radio DJ, because Roland Emmerich loves to stick to formula.

That is a huge business. But backed by surveys the target is achievable. The film's 158-minute running can do the magic. Directed by Roland Emmerich ("The Day After Tomorrow") the film is sure to be a hit in box office. The major attraction is presence of John Cusack and Woody Harrelson.

Reviews surfacing in media have praised its splashy digital disaster scenes. And executives at Sony who have invested money and time in the film are cautiously optimistic about opening prospects for "2012."

"Tracking is terrific, not just in the U.S. but everywhere in the world -- and this is a worldwide play for us," Sony distribution president Rory Bruer said. "We're excited about our weekend."

Also Friday saw the launch of the Working Title-produced comedy "Pirate Radio" in about 900 theaters. Scripted by Richard Curtis ("Love Actually"), "Radio" failed to stay up to expectation. The coming week will be crucial.

Jackson Curtis (John Cusack) is a divorced father who works as a limousine driver and writer, while ex-wife Kate Curtis (Amanda Peet) and children Noah (Liam James) and Lily (Morgan Lily) live with Kate's new boyfriend, Gordon (Thomas McCarthy).

Plot
In the Mayan city of Tikal in Guatemala, the victims of a mass suicide adhere to the Mayan Long Count Calendar, which predicts the end of the world will occur at the end of the current cycle on or around December 21, 2012, which also coincides with the Galactic Alignment of December 21, 2012 (the northern hemisphere's winter solstice).

The Institute for Human Continuity, a covert organization aware of the situation, begins building huge arks beneath the Himalayan Mountains designed to withstand natural disasters, in order to save humanity, significant species, and mankind's greatest treasures. There are debates about how and when the world's governments will alert their citizens, and how to select those who will survive Armageddon. Meanwhile, on a trip to Yellowstone with his children, Jackson meets Charlie Frost (Woody Harrelson), who hosts a radio segment on the Mayans' predictions.

Vast cracks soon develop in the San Andreas Fault, California. Despite government assurance that all is fine, Jackson isn't convinced. Hiring a private plane and gathering supplies, he drives to Kate's home to save his family and Gordon from the impending earthquakes of the Earth's crust displacement.

Jackson quickly collects his family, and after a dangerous drive through collapsing streets to the airport, Gordon then uses his pilot skills to fly them out. The crumbling city of Los Angeles collapses into the Pacific Ocean. When the plane runs low on fuel, they are forced to land in Wyoming. Jackson uses this chance to contact Charlie. Against Kate's will, Jackson and Lily go to look for Charlie, though discover his van empty. Via the radio, they learn that Charlie has gone to the mountains to watch the nearing catastrophe.

Jackson takes the van to save Charlie, though Charlie refuses to leave. As Jackson and Lily escape from the now-erupting Yellowstone Supervolcano, Charlie mentions a map in the van that shows an escape route. Jackson and Lily drive back to the plane through a fiery maelstrom of lava, which kills Charlie. Upon arriving, Lily runs to the plane, while Jackson searches for the map, but takes too long to find it. As the earth opens up, the van falls into a crevasse. The family is horrified, but must leave. Jackson grabs onto a ledge, and runs to the plane as the ground collapses. He is just fast enough to enter the plane.