The 30 Best Space Movies of All Time

This tense Swedish drama, based on a 1968 epic poem, follows a huge space freight carrying human refugees from an Earth destroyed by climate change—which suddenly veers off course with no hope of reaching its destination. Fair warning: don’t expect much optimism here, but it’s still a profoundly beautiful and sweeping film.

Andrei Tarkovsky’s science fiction masterpiece was overshadowed by 2001: A Space Odyssey upon its initial 1972 release, but it’s a beautiful film in its own right, with many poignant things to say about humanity. The film follows a psychologist who comes to observe a small crew of a space station orbiting the planet Solaris, and begins to experience the supernatural phenomena that have been driving all the crew members into emotional disarray.

Prospect came and went with little fanfare, which is unfortunate—because audiences missed a gripping thriller anchored by excellent lead performances from Pedro Pascal, Jay Duplass, and newcomer Sophie Thatcher. This indie feature made great use of Washington’s Olympic National Park to replicate the environment of a hostile alien moon.

This campy and imaginative '60s space romp starring Jane Fonda was panned upon its premiere, but has earned a well-deserved critical reevaluation in recent years after attaining cult-classic status. A remake starring Sydney Sweeney is reportedly in development at Sony Pictures, but it’ll take a miracle to reproduce the unique vibe of the original.

Gattaca is a stone-cold classic with a dystopian setting and themes that still feel relevant today. Ethan Hawke plays a man who dreams of going to space, but faces discrimination in this futuristic society because he was born outside of a widely-accepted eugenics program, where parents select children’s ideal hereditary traits.

If you want an interstellar psychological thriller with a fantastic ensemble cast including Cillian Murphy, Michelle Yeoh, Rose Byrne, and Chris Evans, Sunshine—from director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland—still holds up. Our stars play a small crew tasked with revitalizing the Sun from its impending heat death in the year 2057.

This historical drama, based on the Tom Wolfe book of the same name, dramatizes the first United States spaceflight mission Project Mercury. Its release in 1983 was a whiplash, bombing at the box office but lighting critics ablaze, later winning four Academy Awards out of eight nominations—including Best Film Editing and Best Original Score.

Don’t go into this film if you aren’t ready for a challenging (and staggering) experience, but Claire Denis’s slow-burn science fiction horror is worth experiencing. In a nonlinear narrative, criminals aboard a spaceship heading for a black hole are forced to be guinea pigs to a scientist’s experiments. Physicist Aurélien Barrau, an expert in black holes, consulted on the film, adding a shade of authenticity to this chilling movie.

This cerebral and gorgeously-shot survival adventure features a small, but stellar cast including Anna Kendrick, Daniel Dae Kim, Toni Collette and Shamier Anderson. Anderson plays an accidental stowaway on a Mars spaceflight mission, immediately endangering the crew—as their vessel is only equipped to support three people.

Of course we’re serious! The first non-musical Muppets film was a touching tale of Gonzo finally finding out where he came from... space, of course! This film was full of hilarious moments and had a surprising amount of celebrity cameos. Remember Hulk Hogan and Ray Liotta’s bit parts?

Whether you’re a Wrath of Kahn purist or you can get behind the Chris Pine-fronted reboot series as well, the Star Trek universe has a solid place in film, not just TV! There’s so much great material in the Trek-verse to make a movie from, and both the classic films and new series continue to impress, with rock-solid visuals and excellent performances from their ensemble casts.

Hardly any other film out there captures the space western idea as well as Serenity and its preceding Fox series, Firefly. It stands on its own if you haven’t seen the series, but you’ll be much more invested in these fantastic characters if you watch the show. Plus, Firefly is only fourteen episodes total, so it’s worth your time.

Some of you may be questioning this inclusion, but here’s our argument that this Disney animated classic deserves a mention. There’s a lengthy intro of the film set in the spaceship Stitch escapes from—and from his perspective, Earth is actually an alien planet that he touches down on for the first time. We rest our case!

Sure, some may prefer to read the book instead, but this hyperactive space comedy is still damn good fun. Even for 2005, the direction is especially strong, and the Jim Henson’s Creature Shop renditions of characters from the books, such as Vogons, Marvin the Paranoid Android, and The Whale are incredibly memorable.

This fun, swashbuckling space adventure is often overlooked when remembering classic Disney animations—but Treasure Planet certainly deserves more love. At the time, this film’s blending of 3D backdrops with traditional 2D characters, sets, and props was revolutionary.

This is the absolute best of the worst space movies. When a giant asteroid is headed for Earth, Billy Bob Thornton enlists the drilling expertise of Bruce Willis because the only way to stop this bad boy of a space rock is to drill a giant hole into it, drop in a bomb, and blow it up in space. Why not just teach astronauts how to drill? Who knows!? At least there’s also a strangely erotic scene where Ben Affleck runs an animal cookie across Liv Tyler’s body while explaining space.

Independence Day is America wrapped right up in a movie. There’s not a lot that happens in actual space—a knock that keeps it from ranking higher—but it does involve Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum going to space to fight aliens who are looking to destroy humanity and the world they inhabit, so it tracks.

Ah, the 127 Hours of space movies. Matt Damon gets left behind on Mars after a giant space storm in The Martian, leaving him to fend for himself. Like many space films, this one hones in on human resilience and also shines a wonderful musical spotlight on “Don’t Leave Me This Way.”

Christopher Nolan's visually-stunning space epic follows Matthew McConaughey as a pilot tasked with finding a new home for the human species. His character sets off into the unknown leaving his family on a dust-filled Earth that's rapidly becoming unable to support life. Prepare to bend your brain trying to understand the concept of relativity as McConaughey races against the clock in an extremely sci-fi way.

On paper, Galaxy Quest sounds like just a throwaway space comedy about a group of washed up sci-fi actors who accidentally get embroiled in a real intergalactic battle. But with a brilliant cast that consists of Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub, and Sam Rockwell—Galaxy Quest goes well beyond its expectations. In hindsight, this might be the greatest sci-fi comedy this side of Spaceballs.