Sci-Fi movies with hidden or Esoteric meanings!
by wlltheprince | created - 16 Feb 2012 | updated - 7 months ago | PublicThese are my favorite movies which I absolutely love. However, I also believe that these movies are all clues given to us by Hollywood letting us know that our reality is not merely what it seems to be, and that oftentimes truth can be —and is— stranger than fiction.
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1. The Wizard of Oz (1939)
PG | 102 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Young Dorothy Gale and her dog Toto are swept away by a tornado from their Kansas farm to the magical Land of Oz, and embark on a quest with three new friends to see the Wizard, who can return her to her home and fulfill the others' wishes.
Directors: Victor Fleming, King Vidor | Stars: Judy Garland, Frank Morgan, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr
Votes: 428,554 | Gross: $2.08M
2. The Thirteenth Floor (1999)
R | 100 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A computer scientist running a virtual reality simulation of 1937 becomes the primary suspect when his colleague and mentor is murdered.
Director: Josef Rusnak | Stars: Craig Bierko, Gretchen Mol, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Vincent D'Onofrio
Votes: 77,262 | Gross: $15.50M
3. The Truman Show (1998)
PG | 103 min | Comedy, Drama
An insurance salesman discovers his whole life is actually a reality TV show.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Jim Carrey, Ed Harris, Laura Linney, Noah Emmerich
Votes: 1,196,081 | Gross: $125.62M
4. The Matrix (1999)
R | 136 min | Action, Sci-Fi
When a beautiful stranger leads computer hacker Neo to a forbidding underworld, he discovers the shocking truth--the life he knows is the elaborate deception of an evil cyber-intelligence.
Directors: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving
Votes: 2,052,652 | Gross: $171.48M
5. The Matrix Reloaded (2003)
R | 138 min | Action, Sci-Fi
Freedom fighters Neo, Trinity and Morpheus continue to lead the revolt against the Machine Army, unleashing their arsenal of extraordinary skills and weaponry against the systematic forces of repression and exploitation.
Directors: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving
Votes: 630,461 | Gross: $281.49M
6. The Matrix Revolutions (2003)
R | 129 min | Action, Sci-Fi
The human city of Zion defends itself against the massive invasion of the machines as Neo fights to end the war at another front while also opposing the rogue Agent Smith.
Directors: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving
Votes: 543,388 | Gross: $139.31M
7. Cool World (1992)
PG-13 | 102 min | Animation, Comedy, Fantasy
When Jack Deebs was behind bars he found escape by creating Cool World, a cartoon series featuring a vixen named Holli Would. The flesh proves weaker than ink, however, as Holli takes human form in Las Vegas.
Director: Ralph Bakshi | Stars: Gabriel Byrne, Kim Basinger, Janni Brenn, Brad Pitt
Votes: 24,949 | Gross: $14.11M
8. Equilibrium (2002)
R | 107 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
In an oppressive future where all forms of feeling are illegal, a man in charge of enforcing the law rises to overthrow the system and state.
Director: Kurt Wimmer | Stars: Christian Bale, Sean Bean, Emily Watson, Taye Diggs
Votes: 346,972 | Gross: $1.20M
9. Surrogates (2009)
PG-13 | 89 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Set in a futuristic world where humans live in isolation and interact through surrogate robots, a cop is forced to leave his home for the first time in years in order to investigate the murders of others' surrogates.
Director: Jonathan Mostow | Stars: Bruce Willis, Radha Mitchell, Ving Rhames, Rosamund Pike
Votes: 180,277 | Gross: $38.58M
10. Dark City (1998)
R | 100 min | Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A man struggles with memories of his past, which include a wife he cannot remember and a nightmarish world no one else ever seems to wake up from.
Director: Alex Proyas | Stars: Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt
Votes: 212,246 | Gross: $14.38M
11. The Sixth Sense (1999)
PG-13 | 107 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Malcolm Crowe, a child psychologist, starts treating a young boy, Cole, who encounters dead people and convinces him to help them. In turn, Cole helps Malcolm reconcile with his estranged wife.
Director: M. Night Shyamalan | Stars: Bruce Willis, Haley Joel Osment, Toni Collette, Olivia Williams
Votes: 1,051,124 | Gross: $293.51M
12. Man of Steel (2013)
PG-13 | 143 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
An alien child is evacuated from his dying world and sent to Earth to live among humans. His peace is threatened when other survivors of his home planet invade Earth.
Director: Zack Snyder | Stars: Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Michael Shannon, Diane Lane
Votes: 811,763 | Gross: $291.05M
13. Warm Bodies (2013)
PG-13 | 98 min | Comedy, Horror, Romance
After a highly unusual zombie saves a still-living girl from an attack, the two form a relationship that sets in motion events that might transform the entire lifeless world.
Director: Jonathan Levine | Stars: Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer, John Malkovich, Lio Tipton
Votes: 243,555 | Gross: $66.38M
14. 1984 (1984)
R | 113 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
In a totalitarian future society, a man, whose daily work is re-writing history, tries to rebel by falling in love.
Director: Michael Radford | Stars: John Hurt, Richard Burton, Suzanna Hamilton, Cyril Cusack
Votes: 78,985 | Gross: $8.40M
15. They Live (1988)
R | 94 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
They influence our decisions without us knowing it. They numb our senses without us feeling it. They control our lives without us realizing it. They live.
Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Roddy Piper, Keith David, Meg Foster, George 'Buck' Flower
Votes: 145,434 | Gross: $13.01M
16. Hancock (2008)
PG-13 | 92 min | Action, Comedy, Drama
Hancock is a superhero whose ill-considered behavior regularly causes damage in the millions. He changes when the person he saves helps him improve his public image.
Director: Peter Berg | Stars: Will Smith, Charlize Theron, Jason Bateman, Jae Head
Votes: 511,543 | Gross: $227.95M
17. Last Action Hero (1993)
PG-13 | 130 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
With the help of a magic ticket, a young movie fan is transported into the fictional world of his favorite action movie character.
Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, F. Murray Abraham, Art Carney, Charles Dance
Votes: 163,767 | Gross: $50.02M
18. Eagle Eye (2008)
PG-13 | 118 min | Action, Mystery, Thriller
Jerry and Rachel are two strangers thrown together by a mysterious phone call from a woman they have never met. Threatening their lives and family, she pushes Jerry and Rachel into a series of increasingly dangerous situations, using the technology of everyday life to track and control their every move.
Director: D.J. Caruso | Stars: Shia LaBeouf, Michelle Monaghan, Rosario Dawson, Michael Chiklis
Votes: 195,215 | Gross: $101.11M
19. Bamboozled (2000)
R | 135 min | Comedy, Drama, Music
A frustrated African-American TV writer proposes a blackface minstrel show in protest, but to his chagrin, it becomes a hit.
Director: Spike Lee | Stars: Damon Wayans, Savion Glover, Jada Pinkett Smith, Michael Rapaport
Votes: 12,351 | Gross: $2.27M
20. The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
PG-13 | 106 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The affair between a politician and a contemporary dancer is affected by mysterious forces keeping the lovers apart.
Director: George Nolfi | Stars: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Lisa Thoreson, Florence Kastriner
Votes: 270,127 | Gross: $62.50M
21. Transformers (2007)
PG-13 | 144 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
An ancient struggle between two Cybertronian races, the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons, comes to Earth, with a clue to the ultimate power held by a teenager.
Director: Michael Bay | Stars: Shia LaBeouf, Megan Fox, Josh Duhamel, Tyrese Gibson
Votes: 674,711 | Gross: $319.25M
22. In Time (2011)
PG-13 | 109 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
In a future where people stop aging at 25, but are engineered to live only one more year, having the means to buy your way out of the situation is a shot at immortal youth. Will Salas is accused of murder and on the run with a hostage.
Director: Andrew Niccol | Stars: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Olivia Wilde
Votes: 446,240 | Gross: $37.52M
23. Looper (2012)
R | 119 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
In 2074, when the mob wants to get rid of someone, the target is sent into the past, where a hired gun awaits - someone like Joe - who one day learns the mob wants to 'close the loop' by sending back Joe's future self for assassination.
Director: Rian Johnson | Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, Emily Blunt, Paul Dano
Votes: 602,894 | Gross: $66.49M
24. The Book of Eli (2010)
R | 118 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A drifter fights his way across a ravaged, post-apocalyptic America while protecting a sacred book that holds the secrets to humanity's salvation.
Directors: Albert Hughes, Allen Hughes | Stars: Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis, Ray Stevenson, Gary Oldman
Votes: 339,300 | Gross: $94.84M
26. The Terminator (1984)
R | 107 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A human soldier is sent from 2029 to 1984 to stop an almost indestructible cyborg killing machine, sent from the same year, which has been programmed to execute a young woman whose unborn son is the key to humanity's future salvation.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Michael Biehn, Paul Winfield
Votes: 923,988 | Gross: $38.40M
27. The Purge (I) (2013)
R | 85 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A wealthy family is held hostage for harboring the target of a murderous syndicate during the Purge, a 12-hour period in which any and all crime is legal.
Director: James DeMonaco | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Lena Headey, Max Burkholder, Adelaide Kane
Votes: 239,952 | Gross: $64.47M
28. Prometheus (I) (2012)
R | 124 min | Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Following clues to the origin of mankind, a team finds a structure on a distant moon, but they soon realize they are not alone.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Noomi Rapace, Logan Marshall-Green, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron
Votes: 644,081 | Gross: $126.48M
29. Terminator Salvation (2009)
PG-13 | 115 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In 2018, a mysterious new weapon in the war against the machines, half-human and half-machine, comes to John Connor on the eve of a resistance attack on Skynet. But whose side is he on, and can he be trusted?
Director: McG | Stars: Christian Bale, Sam Worthington, Anton Yelchin, Moon Bloodgood
Votes: 377,240 | Gross: $125.32M
30. World War Z (2013)
PG-13 | 116 min | Action, Adventure, Horror
Former United Nations employee Gerry Lane traverses the world in a race against time to stop a zombie pandemic that is toppling armies and governments and threatens to destroy humanity itself.
Director: Marc Forster | Stars: Brad Pitt, Mireille Enos, Daniella Kertesz, James Badge Dale
Votes: 719,271 | Gross: $202.36M
31. Source Code (2011)
PG-13 | 93 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
A soldier wakes up in someone else's body and discovers he's part of an experimental government program to find the bomber of a commuter train within 8 minutes.
Director: Duncan Jones | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, Jeffrey Wright
Votes: 549,680 | Gross: $54.71M
32. The Island (2005)
PG-13 | 136 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A man living in a futuristic sterile colony begins to question his circumscribed existence when his friend is chosen to go to the Island, the last uncontaminated place on earth.
Director: Michael Bay | Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Ewan McGregor, Djimon Hounsou, Steve Buscemi
Votes: 327,615 | Gross: $35.82M
33. Limitless (I) (2011)
PG-13 | 105 min | Sci-Fi, Thriller
A mysterious pill that enables the user to access 100% of his brain's abilities transforms a struggling writer into a financial wizard, but it also puts him in a new world with many dangers.
Director: Neil Burger | Stars: Bradley Cooper, Anna Friel, Abbie Cornish, Robert De Niro
Votes: 612,303 | Gross: $79.25M
34. Lucy (I) (2014)
R | 89 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A woman, accidentally caught in a dark deal, turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic.
Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-sik, Amr Waked
Votes: 534,181 | Gross: $126.66M
35. Tomorrowland (2015)
PG | 130 min | Action, Adventure, Family
Bound by a shared destiny, a teen bursting with scientific curiosity and a former boy-genius inventor embark on a mission to unearth the secrets of a place somewhere in time and space that exists in their collective memory.
Director: Brad Bird | Stars: George Clooney, Britt Robertson, Hugh Laurie, Raffey Cassidy
Votes: 191,375 | Gross: $93.44M
36. Black Panther (2018)
PG-13 | 134 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
T'Challa, heir to the hidden but advanced kingdom of Wakanda, must step forward to lead his people into a new future and must confront a challenger from his country's past.
Director: Ryan Coogler | Stars: Chadwick Boseman, Michael B. Jordan, Lupita Nyong'o, Danai Gurira
Votes: 837,450 | Gross: $700.06M
37. Ready Player One (2018)
PG-13 | 140 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
When the creator of a virtual reality called the OASIS dies, he makes a posthumous challenge to all OASIS users to find his Easter Egg, which will give the finder his fortune and control of his world.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe
Votes: 486,111 | Gross: $137.69M
38. Delete (2013)
TV-14 | 180 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A reporter and a young hacker uncover an artificial intelligence which has become sentient. It has one goal. Self preservation. Humans are trying to destroy it. So it's 'it' or them.
Stars: Keir Gilchrist, Erin Karpluk, Ryan Robbins, Gil Bellows
Votes: 1,500
39. Enemy of the State (1998)
R | 132 min | Action, Thriller
A lawyer becomes targeted by a corrupt politician and his N.S.A. goons when he accidentally receives key evidence to a politically motivated crime.
Director: Tony Scott | Stars: Will Smith, Gene Hackman, Jon Voight, Lisa Bonet
Votes: 258,894 | Gross: $111.55M
40. Men in Black (1997)
PG-13 | 98 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
James, an NYC cop, is hired by Agent K of a secret government agency that monitors extraterrestrial life on Earth. Together, they must recover an item that has been stolen by an intergalactic villain.
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld | Stars: Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Linda Fiorentino, Vincent D'Onofrio
Votes: 612,771 | Gross: $250.69M
41. Elysium (I) (2013)
R | 109 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
In the year 2154, the very wealthy live on a man-made space station while the rest of the population resides on a ruined Earth. A man takes on a mission that could bring equality to the polarized worlds.
Director: Neill Blomkamp | Stars: Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Alice Braga
Votes: 470,999 | Gross: $93.05M
42. Minority Report (2002)
PG-13 | 145 min | Action, Crime, Mystery
John works with the PreCrime police which stop crimes before they take place, with the help of three 'PreCogs' who can foresee crimes. Events ensue when John finds himself framed for a future murder.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Tom Cruise, Colin Farrell, Samantha Morton, Max von Sydow
Votes: 584,250 | Gross: $132.07M
43. Upside Down (I) (2012)
PG-13 | 109 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
Adam and Eden fell in love as teens despite the fact that they live on twinned worlds with gravities that pull in opposite directions. Ten years after a forced separation, Adam sets out on a dangerous quest to reconnect with his love.
Director: Juan Solanas | Stars: Jim Sturgess, Kirsten Dunst, Timothy Spall, Blu Mankuma
Votes: 73,926 | Gross: $0.10M
44. Demolition Man (1993)
R | 115 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A police officer is brought out of suspended animation in prison to pursue an old ultra-violent nemesis who is loose in a non-violent future society.
Director: Marco Brambilla | Stars: Sylvester Stallone, Wesley Snipes, Sandra Bullock, Nigel Hawthorne
Votes: 193,302 | Gross: $58.06M
45. After Earth (2013)
PG-13 | 100 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A crash landing leaves Kitai Raige and his father Cypher stranded on Earth, a millennium after events forced humanity's escape. With Cypher injured, Kitai must embark on a perilous journey to signal for help.
Director: M. Night Shyamalan | Stars: Jaden Smith, David Denman, Will Smith, Sophie Okonedo
Votes: 208,907 | Gross: $60.52M
46. Total Recall (I) (2012)
PG-13 | 118 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A factory worker, Douglas Quaid, begins to suspect that he is a spy after visiting Rekall - a company that provides its clients with implanted fake memories of a life they would like to have led - goes wrong and he finds himself on the run.
Director: Len Wiseman | Stars: Colin Farrell, Bokeem Woodbine, Bryan Cranston, Kate Beckinsale
Votes: 266,320 | Gross: $58.88M
47. The Hunger Games (2012)
PG-13 | 142 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
Katniss Everdeen voluntarily takes her younger sister's place in the Hunger Games: a televised competition in which two teenagers from each of the twelve Districts of Panem are chosen at random to fight to the death.
Director: Gary Ross | Stars: Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Stanley Tucci
Votes: 1,003,546 | Gross: $408.01M
48. Cloverfield (2008)
PG-13 | 85 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A group of friends venture deep into the streets of New York on a rescue mission during a rampaging monster attack.
Director: Matt Reeves | Stars: Mike Vogel, Jessica Lucas, Lizzy Caplan, T.J. Miller
Votes: 420,591 | Gross: $80.05M
49. Idiocracy (2006)
R | 84 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Corporal Joe Bauers, a decidedly average American, is selected for a top-secret hibernation program but is forgotten and left to awaken to a future so incredibly moronic that he's easily the most intelligent person alive.
Director: Mike Judge | Stars: Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, Terry Crews
Votes: 182,226 | Gross: $0.44M
50. Robot Jox (1989)
PG | 85 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
In the distant future, mankind has forsaken global wars for battles of single combat. The world has been divided into two opposing super powers, with each side represented by trained champions.
Director: Stuart Gordon | Stars: Gary Graham, Anne-Marie Johnson, Paul Koslo, Robert Sampson
Votes: 7,297 | Gross: $1.27M
51. Downsizing (2017)
R | 135 min | Drama, Fantasy, Sci-Fi
A social satire in which a man realizes he would have a better life if he were to shrink himself to five inches tall, allowing him to live in wealth and splendor.
Director: Alexander Payne | Stars: Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz, Hong Chau, Kristen Wiig
Votes: 124,455 | Gross: $24.45M
52. WALL·E (2008)
G | 98 min | Animation, Adventure, Family
In the distant future, a small waste-collecting robot inadvertently embarks on a space journey that will ultimately decide the fate of mankind.
Director: Andrew Stanton | Stars: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard
Votes: 1,200,203 | Gross: $223.81M
53. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)
PG-13 | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A soldier fighting aliens gets to relive the same day over and over again, the day restarting every time he dies.
Director: Doug Liman | Stars: Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton, Brendan Gleeson
Votes: 736,685 | Gross: $100.21M
54. The Happening (2008)
R | 91 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
A science teacher, his wife, and a young girl struggle to survive a plague that causes those infected to commit suicide.
Director: M. Night Shyamalan | Stars: Mark Wahlberg, Zooey Deschanel, John Leguizamo, Ashlyn Sanchez
Votes: 216,459 | Gross: $64.51M
55. Upgrade (2018)
R | 100 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Set in the near-future, technology controls nearly all aspects of life. But when the world of Grey, a self-labeled technophobe, is turned upside down, his only hope for revenge is an experimental computer chip implant.
Director: Leigh Whannell | Stars: Logan Marshall-Green, Melanie Vallejo, Steve Danielsen, Abby Craden
Votes: 206,754 | Gross: $11.98M
56. The Mandela Effect (2019)
TV-MA | 79 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi
A man becomes obsessed with facts and events that have been collectively misremembered by thousands of people. Believing the phenomena to be the symptom of something larger, his obsession eventually leads him to question reality itself.
Directors: Benjamin Epps, David Guy Levy | Stars: Charlie Hofheimer, Aleksa Palladino, Robin Lord Taylor, Clarke Peters
Votes: 4,826
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