Disaster blockbuster San Andreas features a series of earthquakes that rip cities apart in California. Photo provided to China Daily

Johnson stars as a rescue helicopter pilot who saves his ex-wife Emma (Gugino) and estranged daughter Blake (Alexandra Daddario), when they are trapped in the catastrophe.

The movie scores an average of 5.2 out of 10 on Rottentomatoes.com, and is rated 6.7 on IMDb.com.

The movie's director, Brad Peyton, shrugs off the reviews－and critics who have mocked the film for sloppy science.

"I'm happy with the movie. I've made the best movie I could make at the end of the day," he says. "It's not a movie built for critics."

"It's not a documentary about earthquakes, obviously. So it's not 100 percent about realistic things. When you put it into the big screen, it feels real," he insists.

He cites Johnson's showing his "never-before-seen vulnerable side" in the scene when the father thinks he is losing his daughter. Peyton says that the humanity embedded in the script prompted him to take the job.

The Canadian filmmaker, also known for Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore and Journey 2: The Mysterious Island, defines the movie as "an amazing story about a family that tries to unite after a disaster".

"As a director, you are signing on for a job that could last around two years. So you have to do something that you really believe in."

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