The Poseidon Adventure - a dramatic tale of a capsized ocean liner - is the best disaster movie of all time, according to a new poll.

The survey, which was carried out by UCI cinemas, is strongly slanted towards the 1970s, the golden age of disaster films. The Poseidon Adventure, which stars Gene Hackman and Ernest Borgnine, was made in 1972, while others in the top ten included 1974's The Towering Inferno, starring Steve McQueen and Paul Newman, and Airport, which was made in 1970 and stars Burt Lancaster. Only Titanic, which had the runner-up spot, stopped the 70s taking a clean sweep of the top three places.

"The early years spawned some truly wonderful and often completely over the top storylines that built on people's growing experiences of the modern world," said UCI cinemas spokeswoman Lianne Butterfield.

The study was carried out to tie in with the forthcoming release of The Day After Tomorrow, the new film from Roland Emmerich. It visualises a world destroyed by global warming and New York in the grip of a new ice age.