diff --git a/framework/CHANGELOG.md b/framework/CHANGELOG.md
index 187dc2a8d0..67955eb05c 100644
--- a/framework/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/framework/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -4,6 +4,7 @@ Yii Framework 2 Change Log
 2.0.0-rc under development
 --------------------------
 
+- Bug #3194: Date formatter works only for timestamps in the year range 1970 to 2038.
 - Bug #2563: Theming is not working if the path map of the theme contains ".." or "." in the paths (qiangxue)
 - Bug #2801: Fixed the issue that GridView gets footer content before data cells content (ElisDN)
 - Bug #3042: `yii\widgets\Pjax` should end application right after it finishes responding to a pjax request (qiangxue)
diff --git a/framework/base/Formatter.php b/framework/base/Formatter.php
index 0907e1782c..d45551d339 100644
--- a/framework/base/Formatter.php
+++ b/framework/base/Formatter.php
@@ -342,18 +342,24 @@ class Formatter extends Component
 
     /**
      * Normalizes the given datetime value as one that can be taken by various date/time formatting methods.
+     *
      * @param mixed $value the datetime value to be normalized.
      * @return integer the normalized datetime value
      */
     protected function normalizeDatetimeValue($value)
     {
         if (is_string($value)) {
-            return is_numeric($value) || $value === '' ? (int) $value : strtotime($value);
+            if (is_numeric($value) || $value === '') {
+                $value = (double)$value;
+            } else {
+                $date = new DateTime($value);
+                $value = $date->format('U');
+            }
+            return $value;
         } elseif ($value instanceof DateTime || $value instanceof \DateTimeInterface) {
-            /** @var $value \DateTimeInterface */
-            return $value->getTimestamp();
+            return $value->format('U');
         } else {
-            return (int) $value;
+            return (double)$value;
         }
     }