The 30 Best Space Movies (2024) (2024)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968): A Grand Cosmic Adventure

Legendary director Stanley Kubrick has several items in his filmography that critics and audiences consider masterpieces, but his epic space movie 2001: A Space Odyssey might be his magnum opus.

Depicting the plight of humankind from prehistoric times to a futuristic space-faring era, 2001 uses innovative special effects, classical music, and stunning cinematography in following the journey of astronauts traveling to Jupiter, though they have to deal with their ship's nefarious AI program HAL 9000.

Solaris (1972): A Surreal Interstellar Dream

Directed by Soviet filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky, Solaris became a hugely influential movie to other filmmakers.

The story follows a psychologist who travels to a space station to evaluate why the scientists on it have become mentally unstable. The psychologist, unsurprisingly, falls victim to the same ailments and phenomena as the scientists.

The movie is a deep and emotional examination of the human psyche, beloved by critics. American filmmaker Steven Soderbergh made a remake of Solaris in 2002 starring George Clooney.

Star Wars (1977): The Iconic Science Fantasy Blockbuster

Beginning as a tribute to sci-fi and fantasy serials like Flash Gordon, the original Star Wars film spawned a multimedia franchise that spans television, video games, comics, and novels that continues to this day.

This movie, retroactively known as Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, is a classic take on the hero's journey, with a young farmer named Luke Skywalker learning about his lineage and leaving his home to go on a grand fantastical adventure.

For as big as Star Wars has gotten since the first release, it's hard to beat the original.

Alien (1979): A Haunted House in Space

Space movies can be awe-inspiring and optimistic, but Alien is downright terrifying.

Ridley Scott's film follows the crew of a commercial spacecraft who encounter a mysterious ship containing several alien eggs. Once one of the crew members violently becomes impregnated, a deadly alien begins stalking the rest.

Featuring iconic horror moments such as the chest-burster scene and the unique designs from artist H.R. Giger, the film was also a star-making vehicle for actor Sigourney Weaver. Alien inspired several sequels and spin-offs, including two prequels directed by Scott.

The Right Stuff (1983): America's First Trip to the Stars

This lengthy and massive ensemble piece focuses on the seven pilots who participated in Project Mercury, the first American space flight.

Though rooted in a historic event, The Right Stuff turns its subjects into interesting individual characters, even with some dramatic license. The film also features stunning flight footage, making for a cinematic experience that is both compelling and visually entertaining.

Aliens (1986): An Adrenaline Shot of Scifi Action

While Ridley Scott's Alien was decidedly a horror movie, The Terminator director James Cameron significantly amped up the action element in the sequel Aliens.

Following Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) after awakening in stasis 57 years after the events of the first film, Aliens has Ripley teaming up with a squad of Marines on an expedition to a planet when the human colony on it goes silent.

With memorable action scenes and a breakneck pace, the sequel was a total success, even garnering Weaver an Oscar nomination for her performance.

Spaceballs (1987): Mel Brooks Takes on Star Wars

The comedic brand of Mel Brooks was already a known quantity by the late 1980s, but Spaceballs was an unexpected turn to parodying big-budget science fiction.

Playing off the original Star Wars films, Spaceballs follows a mercenary (Bill Pullman) and his half-man, half-dog sidekick (John Candy) as they rescue a runaway princess from the eponymous Spaceballs.

The baddies include Brooks himself as the president and Rick Moranis as the Darth Vader parody character Dark Helmet. Along with Star Wars, the parody film also takes aim at Alien, Planet of the Apes, The Wizard of Oz, and other properties.

Apollo 13 (1995): Bringing the Boys Home

When attempting to depict the real story of the Apollo 13 crew, director Ron Howard sought consultation from NASA and other subjects to make his film as accurate as possible.

The film follows the failed lunar mission, thwarted by an explosion on board, and the resulting journey to bring the three astronauts (played by Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, and Kevin Bacon) back home.

Acclaimed for both its technical and storytelling finesse, Apollo 13 is one of Howard's finest movies.

Contact (1997): Carl Sagan's Book Brought to Life

The idea of making first contact with extraterrestrial life is a dream for scientists, and in a story based on a novel by astronomer Carl Sagan, one scientist gets that very chance.

Jodie Foster portrays Dr. Ellie Arroway, who finds evidence of intelligent life in the stars. She also receives instructions on how to build a machine that will presumably take its passenger to communicate with these otherworldly beings.

Not everything goes to plan for Arroway, but the resulting film is still a thought-provoking wonder.

Starship Troopers (1997): A Brutal Dystopian Satire

Director Paul Verhoeven continued his streak of dystopian science fiction films featuring brutal violence with Starship Troopers, an adaptation of the novel of the same name by Robert A. Heinlein.

The action movie is set in a future where Earth is ruled by a militaristic regime, following a group of young troopers fighting in an interstellar war against giant insectoid creatures.

As a satire of authoritarianism and colonialism, critics believed the film to be sincere and pro-fascist, though later evaluations of the film recognize its savage irony.

Armageddon (1998): Over-the-Top Asteroid Action

Movies that feature spectacular action but require little brainpower to enjoy them are par the course with director Michael Bay, and Armageddon is one of his most explosive ones.

A gigantic asteroid is on a collision course with Earth, and NASA devises a plan that requires them to recruit an oil driller (Bruce Willis) and his crew to drill a bomb into the asteroid to destroy it.

While the movie lacks scientific accuracy, it makes up for it with intense action scenes, state-of-the-art visual effects, high emotional moments, and an iconic Aerosmith song.

Muppets from Space (1999): A Wacky Origin Story

Audiences are used to seeing Jim Henson's Muppet characters getting into all sorts of hijinks, so a brush with extraterrestrials in their cinematic adventures was inevitable.

Muppets from Space puts the spotlight on Gonzo, who has no knowledge of what species he is. After somehow making contact with aliens, government agents take him and Rizzo the Rat into custody, and Kermit the Frog leads an effort to rescue him.

It's a brief and silly entry in Muppets canon, and it's one that will definitely appeal to fans of Gonzo.

Galaxy Quest (1999): An Affectionate 'Star Trek' Parody

Following the cast of the in-universe, science-fiction show Galaxy Quest, this comedy film both makes fun of and pays homage to the long-running Star Trek franchise.

The plot kicks off when real aliens approach the washed-up cast members, believing their television show to be an authentic documentary. The actors must embrace their own fictional characters in order to resolve an actual interstellar conflict, with some profound results.

While the movie appears to make a mockery of the franchise and its fandom at first, Star Trek fans embraced the movie.

Treasure Planet (2002): A Sci-Fi Take on Treasure Island

One often-forgotten Disney animated film is Treasure Planet, a retelling of the novel Treasure Island set in space.

Like other versions of the story, this film follows the character Jim Hawkins, who goes on an expedition after finding a map to treasure. In this iteration of the tale, however, John Silver is a cyborg instead of a one-legged man. It's a departure for Disney, as this film is not a musical and features 2D animation while employing elements of 3D animation.

Despite its commercial failure, the film still has a fan following to this day.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (2005): British Sci-Fi Humo(u)r

The humorous and intelligent novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams was never going to be an easy book to adapt to film, but a good effort resulted from director Garth Jennings with a screenplay cowritten by the late Adams himself.

Martin Freeman takes the role of Arthur Dent, a rather ordinary man in his dressing robe who is taken onboard a spaceship right before Earth is about to be destroyed by aliens.

The film is chock full of unusual characters and gags, with some thoughtful and existential-based humor and concepts as well.

Serenity (2005): The Brief Return of a Cult-Classic Show

Space western sci-fi show Firefly had a short lifespan on the Fox television network, but creator Joss Whedon was able to get one more story out in the form of a feature film.

Following the exploits of the spaceship Serenity, the film delves deeper into the character of River Tam, exploring her backstory and special abilities. Nathan Fillion leads the ensemble cast as Captain Malcolm Reynolds as his crew faces off against the cannibalistic Reavers.

While fans loved the return of the Serenity crew, the film faltered at the box office and never got a sequel, once again putting the Firefly series to a halt.

Zathura (2005): 'Jumanji' in Space

Director Jon Favreau adapts the children's book Zathura, written by Chris Van Allsburg, the author of Jumanji and The Polar Express.

Zathura has a similar premise as Jumanji, although it inhabits a space setting rather than the jungle. The film adaptation expands on the original book, following three siblings who begin to play a mysterious science fiction-themed board game they find in their basement.

The game unexpectedly takes their house to space, with hazards like meteor showers and attacking aliens thrown at them. They also encounter an astronaut (Dax Shepard) who acts as their guide.

Sunshine (2007): A Desparate Mission to the Sun

In Sunshine, an international space crew on the ship Icarus II flies toward our dying sun on a dangerous mission to reignite it.

One thing after the next goes wrong, and the crew eventually finds the lost Icarus I ship and begins to uncover a mystery. The film takes an unexpected turn in genre later in the story, which divided critics and audiences.

Nevertheless, the solid ensemble cast and the thoughtful and suspenseful story made this thrilling and despairing mission an entertaining watch.

Wall-E (2008): Pixar's Robot Love Story

Pixar finally got to realize one of the studio's earlier ideas with Wall-E, which experiments with minimal dialogue, live-action footage, and animated space physics.

The Oscar-winning film follows a lonely garbage compacting robot left on Earth who encounters a sleek and otherworldly robot named EVE. The story becomes something of a romance while also exploring themes of consumerism and environmentalism.

The robots do not speak traditional dialogue, instead making sounds created by Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt.

Star Trek (2009): An Energetic Reboot of a Classic Series

There are plenty of films in the Star Trek franchise to enjoy, most notably Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.

Those looking for a modern-looking and energetic take on the property, however, might want to start with the 2009 reboot directed by J.J. Abrams. In this version, Chris Pine and Zachary Quinto take on the iconic roles of Kirk and Spock, respectively.

A time-travel incident involving an older Spock (Leonard Nimoy) creates a new origin story for the classic crew of the USS Enterprise. With a focus on thrilling action and an abundance of lens flares, it's a good entry point before getting into the heavier allegory-focused shows and movies that came before and after this reboot.

Moon (2009): Sam Rockwell Acts Against Himself in Isolation

It's a big ask to have an actor performing alone for the bulk of a movie, but Sam Rockwell does it with skill in Moon.

Rockwell portrays a lone astronaut operating a facility on the far side of the Moon when he experiences a psychological crisis from his isolation. Near the end of his stint on the station, Rockwell's character encounters a double of himself, and the two find a darker secret about the nature of their job.

Gravity (2013): A Tense Roller-Coaster Ride of Survival

Sandra Bullock carries most of the sci-fi thriller Gravity, portraying an astronaut fighting for her life after space debris destroys her space shuttle.

George Clooney plays her commander, who is on a spacewalk with her as the debris field rains destruction. The film makes use of director Alfonso Cuarón's signature long takes and utilizes advanced visual effects, with roughly 80% of the film being CGI.

It's a harrowing tale of survival and resilience, even when everything that can go wrong is, indeed, going wrong.

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014): Marvel Enters the Cosmic

Marvel Studios took a big leap with relatively obscure comic book characters in the Guardians of the Galaxy team, which this space-based action film depicts as a found family of scoundrels and criminals.

All of the characters are after an orb containing one of the Infinity Stones that intergalactic war criminal Thanos craves. Despite existing separately from the previous Earth-bound entries, Guardians serves an important function in the MCU by providing the first explanation of the Infinity Saga's most important object.

The main cast of characters, which includes mercenary Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and warrior Gamora (Zoe Saldana), are initially dysfunctional as a team, eventually learning to embrace each other and work as a unit to be the unexpected saviors of an entire planet.

Interstellar (2014): A Father-Daughter Story That Spans Galaxies

A ruinous blight has struck the Earth, and a desperate and downsized NASA sends former test pilot Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) on an expedition with other astronauts to find a new home for mankind.

Writer-director Christopher Nolan consulted theoretical physicist Kip Thorne to get the science of black holes and other concepts as accurate as possible.

Even underneath all of the cerebral themes of Interstellar is raw human emotion, as the relationship between Cooper and his daughter are at the heart of the story.

The Martian (2015): Saving Matt Damon on Mars

Based on the novel of the same name, The Martian follows a complicated mission to extract astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) from Mars after a dust storm leaves him stranded on the planet.

Ridley Scott's film switches from Earth, Mars, and in between, following those in NASA attempting to solve the problem, the astronauts on their way home dealing with their abandonment of Watney, and Watney himself as he logs his attempt to survive alone.

Watney is a wisecracking protagonist, which could be why this otherwise serious movie won the Golden Globe Award for Best Comedy or Musical.

Arrival (2016): An Emotional Tale About Communication

Sci-fi movie Arrival jumps between time, following a linguist portrayed by Amy Adams.

The United States military recruits her as they attempt to communicate with what appears to be extraterrestrial beings, with the tension of potential conflict slowly building up.

Adams' character develops an understanding of the alien language, and audiences realize towards the end of the film that the non-linear structure of the film is for a specific reason of plot importance.

Hidden Figures (2016): An Empowering True Story

Some space movies mostly take place on the ground, with Hidden Figures telling an often-forgotten story relating to one of the first major manned space missions by the United States.

Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, and Janelle Monáe portray three "human calculators" for NASA during the heated Space Race. The three women combat both sexism and racism, gaining the deserved respect of their colleagues and providing a pivotal role in one of astronaut John Glenn's missions.

High Life (2018): The Worst of Mankind in Space

Several people dream of being astronauts, but High Life presents a dark scenario in which condemned criminals serve on missions against their will.

Robert Pattinson plays a prisoner on a ship tasked with extracting energy from a black hole, and a scientist on board (Juliette Binoche) is experimenting with artificial insemination in space.

The behavior of the characters is troubling, making for a fascinating examination of human nature despite the years of technological progress made.

First Man (2018): Neil Armstrong Prepares For His Moonwalk

It's nearly impossible to have never heard of Neil Armstrong, known as the first man to ever walk on the moon. The appropriately titled First Man attempts to depict Armstrong (Ryan Gosling) in the years leading up to the famous Apollo 11 mission.

The narrative focuses on Armstrong's life at home, particularly with his wife (Claire Foy), and the psychological effects that preparing for the mission had on him. The film is notable for its personal focus as well as its technical feats in depicting air and space flights.

Ad Astra (2019): A Son Searches for His Father

Even with the grandiosity of a space movie, science fiction is an opportunity to tell real and personal stories. Ad Astra is ultimately about a son (Brad Pitt) looking for his father (Tommy Lee Jones).

Pitt's character goes on a harrowing journey across the stars, all while discovering more about the fateful mission his father was on.

Director James Gray compared the film to the novel Heart of Darkness, and Pitt's performance in the film is thought to be one of his finest.