diff --git a/bin/annotate b/bin/annotate
index e4a298d0e..24a8f9cca 100755
--- a/bin/annotate
+++ b/bin/annotate
@@ -182,6 +182,10 @@ OptionParser.new do |opts|
     ENV['hide_limit_column_types'] = "#{values}"
   end
 
+  opts.on('--ignore-unknown-models', "don't display warnings for bad model files" ) do |values|
+    ENV['ignore_unknown_models'] = "true"
+  end
+
 end.parse!
 
 options = Annotate.setup_options({ :is_rake => ENV['is_rake'] && !ENV['is_rake'].empty? })
diff --git a/lib/annotate.rb b/lib/annotate.rb
index c4e7da416..fa9b6607e 100755
--- a/lib/annotate.rb
+++ b/lib/annotate.rb
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ module Annotate
     :exclude_fixtures, :exclude_factories, :ignore_model_sub_dir,
     :format_bare, :format_rdoc, :format_markdown, :sort, :force, :trace,
     :timestamp, :exclude_serializers, :classified_sort, :show_foreign_keys,
-    :exclude_scaffolds, :exclude_controllers, :exclude_helpers
+    :exclude_scaffolds, :exclude_controllers, :exclude_helpers, :ignore_unknown_models,
   ]
   OTHER_OPTIONS=[
     :ignore_columns, :skip_on_db_migrate, :wrapper_open, :wrapper_close, :wrapper, :routes,
diff --git a/lib/annotate/annotate_models.rb b/lib/annotate/annotate_models.rb
index 5ddb31d60..72c0a1c5e 100644
--- a/lib/annotate/annotate_models.rb
+++ b/lib/annotate/annotate_models.rb
@@ -488,7 +488,7 @@ def get_model_class(file)
       model_path = file.gsub(/\.rb$/, '')
       model_dir.each { |dir| model_path = model_path.gsub(/^#{dir}/, '').gsub(/^\//, '') }
       begin
-        get_loaded_model(model_path) or raise LoadError.new("cannot load a model from #{file}")
+        get_loaded_model(model_path) or raise BadModelFileError.new
       rescue LoadError
         # this is for non-rails projects, which don't get Rails auto-require magic
         file_path = File.expand_path(file)
@@ -556,6 +556,11 @@ def annotate_model_file(annotated, file, header, options)
             annotated << file
           end
         end
+      rescue BadModelFileError => e
+        unless options[:ignore_unknown_models]
+          puts "Unable to annotate #{file}: #{e.message}"
+          puts "\t" + e.backtrace.join("\n\t") if options[:trace]
+        end
       rescue Exception => e
         puts "Unable to annotate #{file}: #{e.message}"
         puts "\t" + e.backtrace.join("\n\t") if options[:trace]
@@ -632,4 +637,10 @@ def silence_warnings
       $VERBOSE = old_verbose
     end
   end
+
+  class BadModelFileError < LoadError
+    def to_s
+      "file doesn't contain a valid model class"
+    end
+  end
 end
diff --git a/lib/generators/annotate/templates/auto_annotate_models.rake b/lib/generators/annotate/templates/auto_annotate_models.rake
index c75ee7979..fc9c2d6a7 100644
--- a/lib/generators/annotate/templates/auto_annotate_models.rake
+++ b/lib/generators/annotate/templates/auto_annotate_models.rake
@@ -29,6 +29,7 @@ if Rails.env.development?
       'exclude_helpers'         => 'false',
       'ignore_model_sub_dir'    => 'false',
       'ignore_columns'          => nil,
+      'ignore_unknown_models'   => 'false',
       'hide_limit_column_types' => '<%= AnnotateModels::NO_LIMIT_COL_TYPES.join(',') %>',
       'skip_on_db_migrate'      => 'false',
       'format_bare'             => 'true',