Once again, rumors are spreading. Judgment Day, this time, is set to happen on December 21st, 2012. The date originated from the Mayan calendar, but actually gained popularity through the hit movie, "2012".  How will the world end? And how do we know the exact date? There are many theories: A meteoroid from outer space; a solar storm; a shift in the earth's poles; bla bla bla. They all supposedly pointed to the date of December 21st, 2012. Unfortunately, none of it is true.  Zhu Jin, director of Beijing Planetarium, said, "For earth itself, the end will be billions of years away from now.And for us humans, there is a very small chance that we may be affected by some astronomical factors.However, we don't have the ability to foresee such events so far.So when someone tells you the world is going to end on an exact date, it must be fake." But the truth hasn't stopped people from believing. In the sci-fi movie "2012", the director imagined the end of the world based on the Mayan calendar. The film earned nearly 770 million US dollars worldwide. Ning Hong, Hebei Province, said. "The movie 2012 did get one thing right. There are arks  being made in China, But they're not being built secretly inside the mountains.They are constructed here in the courtyard of a factory." In April, Liu Qiyuan quit his furniture business and devoted himself to developing these huge round balls. He doesn't believe the end is near, but he wants to be prepared just in case. Liu Qiyuan, the "Ark" builder, said, "The concept originated twenty years ago. The Tangshan earthquake had flattened our house, so I wanted to build a shelter that wouldn't fall. Then in 2004, I saw the tsunami in Indonesia that killed so many people.Then I realized it should be something that could withstand the earthquake and float on water." Liu is hoping to use his invention as a life boat on the sea.He's planning to test his product on the water next year.   It turns out that rumor, though false, is good for business. Doomsday discounts and products are hot on many online stores. While it's surely attracted attention, many complain that it misleads consumers. Their purpose is to promote products. If they believe the world is going to end, who would buy things? Money would be useless, too. The purpose of the movie "2012" was_.
to make a profit from the viewers to popularize scientific knowledge for the viewers to tell the viewers an interesting factual story to warn the viewers of a disastrous event