What do you do if an elevator plummets from the top floor of a skyscraper? Scream, mostly. In the movies, any people in a falling elevator are sitting ducks, with the action focused on who made the elevator fall and who might be around to perform an unlikely rescue.
When it comes to real-life falling elevators, the statistics are not good. When elevators plunge dozens of floors, there tend not to be survivors. Fortunately, such accidents are rare. Modern elevators have multiple steel cables, so that if one breaks, the others will still hold. They also have several types of brakes, and safety systems that will automatically cut power to the motor and apply the brakes if something goes wrong.
Real-life danger rating: Low, unless the elevator is already falling, in which case you’re pretty screwed.
How to survive: The consensus among science experts is that lying on your back is probably the best way to survive the impact. To my knowledge, nobody has tested this empirically, but at least now you have something to do while you hurtle to your doom.