Directed by Mimi Leder

In his school astronomy club, fourteen-year-old Leo Beiderman (Elijah Wood) discovers something more dangerous than the typical science project: a comet which is on a collision course with the Earth. As the planet's denizens cope with the idea of potential total destruction, the President (Morgan Freeman) drafts a plan to keep as many humans alive as possible by creating large caves within the planet to serve as save havens on impact. The government holds a lottery to choose the 800,000 people who will fill the caves (along with 200,000 scientists, artists and doctors). Of course, this evacuation plan won't be needed if Plan A succeeds - former astronaut Spurgeon Tanner (Robert Duvall) will take a spacecrew to plant a nuclear device in the comet, with the hope that this will divert it's orbit away from the Earth.