If you are a scientist in a Hollywood movie, your chances of surviving the plot might depend heavily on your field of study—and if you are a geologist, the odds are definitely not in your favor. A recent analysis has revealed that movie geologists are killed off at an alarmingly high rate, surviving only slightly better than notoriously doomed action characters.
The study, published in the journal Geology Today, was conducted by geologist Erik Sturkell and his colleagues at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden. Over the past decade, the team analyzed 141 movies released between 1919 and 2023, tracking the fates of 202 fictional geologists. They discovered that these characters primarily appear in action, adventure, drama, and science-fiction films. While cinematic geologists are generally portrayed as heroic and professionally responsible, they are also frequently targeted for demise.
According to the researchers, between 31.6% and 35.7% of movie geologists die during their films, with many meeting their ends very early in the story. In total, 69 of the 202 geologists in the dataset died, including 30 who were murdered. The most extreme case of geological slaughter occurs in the 1967 film The Money Jungle, where five different geologists are murdered through bizarre methods, including being electrocuted by a golf cart, poisoned by medicine, and killed by an exploding toy train.
Other common causes of death for movie geologists are work-related hazards, such as falling into volcanic craters, getting hit by volcanic bombs, drowning in quicksand, or being incinerated. Some even fall victim to science-fiction threats, like a geologist in the film Prometheus who is assimilated by aliens and subsequently killed by their own crewmates. The study’s lighthearted findings leave researchers wondering about the survival rates of other scientific professions, suggesting that paleontologists might face similarly high risks due to their cinematic encounters with resurrected monsters, while solid-state physicists likely enjoy far safer roles on screen.