Outbreak (film)

Outbreak (1995) is a suspense film starring Dustin Hoffman, Rene Russo, Morgan Freeman and Kevin Spacey. The film was directed by Wolfgang Petersen. In addition, Outbreak features Cuba Gooding Jr., Donald Sutherland, and Patrick Dempsey.

The film focuses on an outbreak of a fictional Ebola-like virus called Motaba. Its primary settings are government disease control centers USAMRIID and the CDC, and the fictional town of Cedar Creek, California. Outbreak shows how far the military and civilian agencies might go to contain the spread.

The film was released in March 1995 and proved a moderate box office success. The film was nominated for various awards but failed to garner any major award nominations. It also raised various "what-if" scenarios: media outlets began to question what the government would really do in a similar situation and the CDC has plans in case an outbreak ever does occur.

The film was shot at various locations in California and Hawaii. The locations used in California include Eureka, Ferndale, Los Angeles, and Pasadena. The lone spot used in Hawaii was Kauai, which was used to film some of the scenes that were supposed to be in Africa.

The film was inspired by a rival, never-produced virus outbreak movie, Crisis in the Hot Zone, an adaptation of Richard Preston's factual 1994 best-seller The Hot Zone.