Disaster and apocalypse films are a staple of Hollywood. The box-office success of blockbusters such as The Day the World Ended and 2012 are proofs.

On Friday, more businesses from hotels to restaurants and even filmmakers would be cashing in on the 2012 Mayan calendar doomsday scenario.

While ordinary folks will party it out on Friday, Dec 21, 2012, prophecy believers will hide in mystic mountains in the mistaken belief that they are in a doomsday-proof area.

On the same day, cameras will start grinding for two post-Dec 21 movies that capitalises on the frenzy created by the wrong interpretation of the start of the 13th Baktun of the Mayan Long Count Calendar.

The first movie will be titled La Ultima Pelicula (The Last Film), produced by Mexico-based Canana Films. The plot of the movie revolves around a filmmaker who goes to Mexico with a guide and translator to look for locations for his last masterpiece. The filming is cut short because the Mayan Apocalypse happens.

Canana Films was established by Gael Garcia Bernal and Diego Luna. The film project will be directed by Mike Peranson and Raya Martin.

The director disclosed that they are currently in Yucatan Peninsula, believed to be the site of an asteroid hit more than 65 million years ago which resulted in the extinction of dinosaurs. Mr Peranson said they will shoot documentary footage on Dec 21 which they will include in La Ultima Pelicula.

Canana Films' movies are mostly filmed in and have Latin American themes, but with a global perspective. It often uses English and Spanish languages. The film company was established in 2005 and has one film to its credit, Partes Usadas (Used Parts)

A second movie is titled Heart of Earth, Heart of Sky, a documentary by Eric Black and Frauke Sandig. The docu is an invitation for Mayan descendants to take a second look at their beliefs about creation and destruction, which they view in a more symbolic and mystical way, rather than from a cinematic perspective.

The pair has collaborated in previous movies such as After the Fall in 1999 and Frozen Angels in 2005. Heart of Earth, Heart of Sky will be their third joint project.

The first two films, which were shown in different international film festivals, tap into historical and social themes. After the Fall was about the Berlin Wall a decade after East and West Germany were reunified, while Frozen Angels delves on the future of the American Dream.

These two films are just two of movies expected to use the 2012 Mayan Calendar Doomsday scenario as the social milieu. More such films delving on the drama, action and mystery of Dec 21, 2012 are expected to be made and shown in 2013.

While filmgoers would cringe at the Armageddon scenes, film producers would be merrily laughing their way to the bank.

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