Top 150 Sci-Fi films

by p_rice | created - 24 Jan 2013 | updated - 17 Nov 2018 | Public

It seems after listing these movies in chronological order I'm stuck on 1982 as the best year. Please excuse the absence of anything from the 1940s. The best Sci-Fi from the '40s is Mighty Joe Young if your interested. I'm not. The '40s were a great time for fantasy. Sci-Fi? Not so much.

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1. The Lost World (1925)

Passed | 110 min | Adventure, Fantasy, Horror

The first film adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic novel about a land where prehistoric creatures still roam.

Director: Harry O. Hoyt | Stars: Wallace Beery, Bessie Love, Lloyd Hughes, Lewis Stone

Votes: 5,826 | Gross: $1.19M

2. Metropolis (1927)

Not Rated | 153 min | Drama, Sci-Fi

98 Metascore

In a futuristic city sharply divided between the working class and the city planners, the son of the city's mastermind falls in love with a working-class prophet who predicts the coming of a savior to mediate their differences.

Director: Fritz Lang | Stars: Brigitte Helm, Alfred Abel, Gustav Fröhlich, Rudolf Klein-Rogge

Votes: 185,595 | Gross: $1.24M

3. Frankenstein (1931)

Passed | 70 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi

91 Metascore

Dr Henry Frankenstein is obsessed with assembling a living being from parts of several exhumed corpses.

Director: James Whale | Stars: Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, Boris Karloff, John Boles

Votes: 79,738

4. King Kong (1933)

Passed | 100 min | Adventure, Horror

92 Metascore

A film crew goes to a tropical island for a location shoot, where they capture a colossal ape who takes a shine to their blonde starlet, and bring him back to New York City.

Directors: Merian C. Cooper, Ernest B. Schoedsack | Stars: Fay Wray, Robert Armstrong, Bruce Cabot, Frank Reicher

Votes: 91,001 | Gross: $10.00M

5. The Invisible Man (1933)

TV-PG | 71 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

87 Metascore

A scientist finds a way of becoming invisible, but in doing so, he becomes murderously insane.

Director: James Whale | Stars: Claude Rains, Gloria Stuart, William Harrigan, Henry Travers

Votes: 39,958

6. The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

G | 92 min | Drama, Sci-Fi

83 Metascore

An alien lands in Washington, D.C. and tells the people of Earth that they must live peacefully or be destroyed as a danger to other planets.

Director: Robert Wise | Stars: Michael Rennie, Patricia Neal, Hugh Marlowe, Sam Jaffe

Votes: 85,785

7. When Worlds Collide (1951)

Approved | 83 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller

As a new star and planet hurtle toward a doomed Earth, a small group of survivalists frantically work to complete the rocket which will take them to their new home.

Director: Rudolph Maté | Stars: Richard Derr, Barbara Rush, Peter Hansen, John Hoyt

Votes: 9,235

8. The Man in the White Suit (1951)

Approved | 85 min | Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi

An altruistic chemist invents a fabric which resists wear and stain as a boon to humanity, but big business and labor realize it must be suppressed for economic reasons.

Director: Alexander Mackendrick | Stars: Alec Guinness, Joan Greenwood, Cecil Parker, Michael Gough

Votes: 10,815 | Gross: $0.01M

9. The Thing from Another World (1951)

Approved | 87 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

Scientists and American Air Force officials fend off a bloodthirsty alien organism while at a remote arctic outpost.

Directors: Christian Nyby, Howard Hawks | Stars: Kenneth Tobey, Margaret Sheridan, James Arness, Robert Cornthwaite

Votes: 33,395

10. The War of the Worlds (1953)

G | 85 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller

78 Metascore

A small town in California is attacked by Martians, beginning a worldwide invasion.

Director: Byron Haskin | Stars: Gene Barry, Ann Robinson, Les Tremayne, Robert Cornthwaite

Votes: 38,550 | Gross: $4.36M

11. Invaders from Mars (1953)

Approved | 78 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

A young boy learns that space aliens are taking over the minds of earthlings.

Director: William Cameron Menzies | Stars: Helena Carter, Arthur Franz, Jimmy Hunt, Leif Erickson

Votes: 8,837

12. The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953)

Approved | 80 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

A ferocious dinosaur awakened by an Arctic atomic test terrorizes the North Atlantic and, ultimately, New York City.

Director: Eugène Lourié | Stars: Paul Hubschmid, Paula Raymond, Cecil Kellaway, Kenneth Tobey

Votes: 8,729 | Gross: $5.00M

13. Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954)

G | 79 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

68 Metascore

A strange prehistoric beast lurks in the depths of the Amazonian jungle. A group of scientists try to capture the animal and bring it back to civilization for study.

Director: Jack Arnold | Stars: Richard Carlson, Julie Adams, Richard Denning, Antonio Moreno

Votes: 34,446 | Gross: $1.30M

14. Godzilla (1954)

Not Rated | 96 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

79 Metascore

American nuclear weapons testing results in the creation of a seemingly unstoppable dinosaur-like beast.

Director: Ishirô Honda | Stars: Takashi Shimura, Akihiko Hirata, Akira Takarada, Momoko Kôchi

Votes: 39,709 | Gross: $2.42M

15. Them! (1954)

Not Rated | 94 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

74 Metascore

The earliest atomic tests in New Mexico cause common ants to mutate into giant man-eating monsters that threaten civilization.

Director: Gordon Douglas | Stars: James Whitmore, Edmund Gwenn, Joan Weldon, James Arness

Votes: 24,201

16. Conquest of Space (1955)

Approved | 81 min | Sci-Fi

An American-led team of International astronauts leave their space station on the first mission to Mars, but the captain's religious beliefs may get in the way.

Director: Byron Haskin | Stars: Walter Brooke, Eric Fleming, Mickey Shaughnessy, Phil Foster

Votes: 1,787

17. Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956)

Unrated | 83 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi

Extraterrestrials traveling in high-tech flying saucers contact a scientist as part of a plan to enslave the inhabitants of Earth.

Director: Fred F. Sears | Stars: Hugh Marlowe, Joan Taylor, Donald Curtis, Morris Ankrum

Votes: 9,114

18. Forbidden Planet (1956)

G | 98 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi

80 Metascore

A starship crew in the 23rd century goes to investigate the silence of a distant planet's colony, only to find just two survivors, a powerful robot, and the deadly secret of a lost civilization.

Director: Fred M. Wilcox | Stars: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens

Votes: 53,236 | Gross: $3.00M

19. Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)

Approved | 80 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi

92 Metascore

A small-town doctor learns that the population of his community is being replaced by emotionless alien duplicates.

Director: Don Siegel | Stars: Kevin McCarthy, Dana Wynter, Larry Gates, King Donovan

Votes: 54,784

20. X the Unknown (1956)

Approved | 81 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

A radioactive, mud-like creature terrorizes a Scottish village.

Directors: Leslie Norman, Joseph Losey | Stars: Dean Jagger, Edward Chapman, Leo McKern, Anthony Newley

Votes: 3,268

21. The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)

Approved | 81 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

73 Metascore

After Scott Carey begins to shrink because of exposure to a combination of radiation and insecticide, medical science is powerless to help him.

Director: Jack Arnold | Stars: Grant Williams, Randy Stuart, April Kent, Paul Langton

Votes: 19,976

22. On the Beach (1959)

Approved | 134 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi

55 Metascore

After a global nuclear war, the residents of Australia must come to terms with the fact that all life will be destroyed in a matter of months.

Director: Stanley Kramer | Stars: Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins

Votes: 14,419 | Gross: $11.00M

23. The Time Machine (1960)

G | 103 min | Adventure, Romance, Sci-Fi

67 Metascore

A man's vision for a utopian society is disillusioned when travelling forward into time reveals a dark and dangerous society.

Director: George Pal | Stars: Rod Taylor, Alan Young, Yvette Mimieux, Sebastian Cabot

Votes: 44,864

24. The Day the Earth Caught Fire (1961)

Unrated | 99 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi

When the U.S. and Russia unwittingly test atomic bombs at the same time, it alters the nutation (axis of rotation) of the Earth.

Director: Val Guest | Stars: Edward Judd, Janet Munro, Leo McKern, Michael Goodliffe

Votes: 6,205

25. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)

PG | 95 min | Comedy, War

97 Metascore

An unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn

Votes: 518,446 | Gross: $0.28M

26. Fantastic Voyage (1966)

PG | 100 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi

72 Metascore

When a blood clot renders a scientist comatose, a submarine and its crew are shrunk and injected into his bloodstream in order to save him.

Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Stephen Boyd, Raquel Welch, Edmond O'Brien, Donald Pleasence

Votes: 20,839

27. Seconds (1966)

R | 106 min | Sci-Fi, Thriller

71 Metascore

An unhappy middle-aged banker agrees to a procedure that will fake his death and give him a completely new look and identity - one that comes with its own price.

Director: John Frankenheimer | Stars: Rock Hudson, Frank Campanella, John Randolph, Frances Reid

Votes: 22,215

28. Quatermass and the Pit (1967)

Approved | 97 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi

A mysterious artifact is unearthed in London, and famous scientist Bernard Quatermass is called in to divine its origins and explain its strange effects on people.

Director: Roy Ward Baker | Stars: James Donald, Andrew Keir, Barbara Shelley, Julian Glover

Votes: 11,519

29. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

G | 149 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi

84 Metascore

After uncovering a mysterious artifact buried beneath the Lunar surface, a spacecraft is sent to Jupiter to find its origins: a spacecraft manned by two men and the supercomputer HAL 9000.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood, William Sylvester, Daniel Richter

Votes: 719,865 | Gross: $56.95M

30. Barbarella (1968)

Approved | 98 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy

51 Metascore

In the 41st century, an astronaut partakes in sexy misadventures while seeking to stop an evil scientist who threatens to bring evil back into the galaxy.

Director: Roger Vadim | Stars: Jane Fonda, John Phillip Law, Anita Pallenberg, Milo O'Shea

Votes: 37,736

31. Planet of the Apes (1968)

G | 112 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi

79 Metascore

An astronaut crew crash-lands on a planet where highly intelligent non-human ape species are dominant and humans are enslaved.

Director: Franklin J. Schaffner | Stars: Charlton Heston, Roddy McDowall, Kim Hunter, Maurice Evans

Votes: 193,428 | Gross: $33.40M

32. Colossus: The Forbin Project (1970)

M | 100 min | Sci-Fi, Thriller

Thinking this will prevent war, the US government gives an impenetrable supercomputer total control over launching nuclear missiles. But what the computer does with the power is unimaginable to its creators.

Director: Joseph Sargent | Stars: Eric Braeden, Susan Clark, Gordon Pinsent, William Schallert

Votes: 10,159

33. A Clockwork Orange (1971)

R | 136 min | Crime, Sci-Fi

77 Metascore

In the future, a sadistic gang leader is imprisoned and volunteers for a conduct-aversion experiment, but it doesn't go as planned.

Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Patrick Magee, Michael Bates, Warren Clarke

Votes: 881,583 | Gross: $6.21M

34. The Andromeda Strain (1971)

G | 131 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller

60 Metascore

Top scientists work feverishly in a secret, state-of-the-art laboratory to discover what killed the citizens of a small town and how the deadly contagion can be stopped.

Director: Robert Wise | Stars: James Olson, Arthur Hill, David Wayne, Kate Reid

Votes: 40,457 | Gross: $3.42M

35. THX 1138 (1971)

R | 86 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller

75 Metascore

In the 25th century, a time when people have designations instead of names, a man, THX 1138, and a woman, LUH 3417, rebel against their rigidly controlled society.

Director: George Lucas | Stars: Robert Duvall, Donald Pleasence, Don Pedro Colley, Maggie McOmie

Votes: 54,635 | Gross: $2.44M

36. Silent Running (1972)

G | 89 min | Drama, Sci-Fi

67 Metascore

In a future where all flora is extinct on Earth, an astronaut is given orders to destroy the last of Earth's botany, kept in a greenhouse aboard a spacecraft.

Director: Douglas Trumbull | Stars: Bruce Dern, Cliff Potts, Ron Rifkin, Jesse Vint

Votes: 31,478 | Gross: $0.69M

37. Westworld (1973)

PG | 88 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

77 Metascore

A robot malfunction creates havoc and terror for unsuspecting vacationers at a futuristic, adult-themed amusement park.

Director: Michael Crichton | Stars: Yul Brynner, Richard Benjamin, James Brolin, Norman Bartold

Votes: 62,990 | Gross: $16.06M

38. Soylent Green (1973)

PG | 97 min | Crime, Mystery, Sci-Fi

66 Metascore

A nightmarish futuristic fantasy about the controlling power of big corporations and an innocent cop who stumbles on the truth.

Director: Richard Fleischer | Stars: Charlton Heston, Edward G. Robinson, Leigh Taylor-Young, Chuck Connors

Votes: 70,593 | Gross: $7.92M

39. Dark Star (1974)

G | 83 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi

66 Metascore

In the far reaches of space, a small crew, 20 years into their solitary mission, find things beginning to go hilariously wrong.

Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Dan O'Bannon, Dre Pahich, Brian Narelle, Cal Kuniholm

Votes: 27,266

40. A Boy and His Dog (1975)

R | 91 min | Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi

68 Metascore

A young man and his telepathic dog wander a post-apocalyptic wasteland.

Director: L.Q. Jones | Stars: Don Johnson, Jason Robards, Susanne Benton, Tim McIntire

Votes: 19,235 | Gross: $6.90M

41. Logan's Run (1976)

PG | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

53 Metascore

A police officer in the future uncovers the deadly secret behind a society that worships youth.

Director: Michael Anderson | Stars: Michael York, Jenny Agutter, Richard Jordan, Roscoe Lee Browne

Votes: 61,059 | Gross: $25.00M

42. The Man Who Fell to Earth (1976)

R | 139 min | Drama, Sci-Fi

81 Metascore

An alien must pose as a human to save his dying planet, but a woman and greed of other men create complications.

Director: Nicolas Roeg | Stars: David Bowie, Rip Torn, Candy Clark, Buck Henry

Votes: 28,683 | Gross: $0.10M

43. Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)

PG | 138 min | Drama, Sci-Fi

90 Metascore

Roy Neary, an Indiana electric lineman, finds his quiet and ordinary daily life turned upside down after a close encounter with a UFO, spurring him to an obsessed cross-country quest for answers as a momentous event approaches.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Richard Dreyfuss, François Truffaut, Teri Garr, Melinda Dillon

Votes: 216,971 | Gross: $132.09M

44. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977)

PG | 121 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

90 Metascore

Luke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a Wookiee and two droids to save the galaxy from the Empire's world-destroying battle station, while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the mysterious Darth Vader.

Director: George Lucas | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Alec Guinness

Votes: 1,450,201 | Gross: $322.74M

45. Alien (1979)

R | 117 min | Horror, Sci-Fi

89 Metascore

The crew of a commercial spacecraft encounters a deadly lifeform after investigating a mysterious transmission of unknown origin.

Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt, Veronica Cartwright

Votes: 951,385 | Gross: $78.90M

46. Mad Max (1979)

R | 88 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

73 Metascore

In a self-destructing world, a vengeful Australian policeman sets out to stop a violent motorcycle gang.

Director: George Miller | Stars: Mel Gibson, Joanne Samuel, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Steve Bisley

Votes: 222,510 | Gross: $8.75M

47. Stalker (1979)

Not Rated | 162 min | Drama, Sci-Fi

85 Metascore

A guide leads two men through an area known as the Zone to find a room that grants wishes.

Director: Andrei Tarkovsky | Stars: Alisa Freyndlikh, Aleksandr Kaydanovskiy, Anatoliy Solonitsyn, Nikolay Grinko

Votes: 144,824 | Gross: $0.23M

48. Star Trek: The Motion Picture (1979)

G | 143 min | Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi

50 Metascore

When an alien spacecraft of enormous power is spotted approaching Earth, Admiral James T. Kirk resumes command of the overhauled USS Enterprise in order to intercept it.

Director: Robert Wise | Stars: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan

Votes: 96,642 | Gross: $82.26M

49. Time After Time (1979)

PG | 112 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi

69 Metascore

H.G. Wells pursues Jack the Ripper to the 20th Century when the serial murderer uses the future writer's time machine to escape his time period.

Director: Nicholas Meyer | Stars: Malcolm McDowell, Mary Steenburgen, David Warner, Charles Cioffi

Votes: 20,647

50. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

PG | 124 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

82 Metascore

After the Rebel Alliance are overpowered by the Empire, Luke Skywalker begins his Jedi training with Yoda, while his friends are pursued across the galaxy by Darth Vader and bounty hunter Boba Fett.

Director: Irvin Kershner | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams

Votes: 1,380,312 | Gross: $290.48M

51. Time Bandits (1981)

PG | 110 min | Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy

79 Metascore

A young boy accidentally joins a band of time travelling dwarves, as they jump from era to era looking for treasure to steal.

Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, John Cleese, Katherine Helmond

Votes: 68,384 | Gross: $42.37M

52. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior (1981)

R | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

77 Metascore

In the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, a cynical drifter agrees to help a small, gasoline-rich community escape a horde of bandits.

Director: George Miller | Stars: Mel Gibson, Bruce Spence, Michael Preston, Max Phipps

Votes: 193,801 | Gross: $12.47M

53. Blade Runner (1982)

R | 117 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

84 Metascore

A blade runner must pursue and terminate four replicants who stole a ship in space and have returned to Earth to find their creator.

Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos

Votes: 823,399 | Gross: $32.87M

54. The Thing (1982)

R | 109 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi

57 Metascore

A research team in Antarctica is hunted by a shape-shifting alien that assumes the appearance of its victims.

Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Kurt Russell, Wilford Brimley, Keith David, Richard Masur

Votes: 466,904 | Gross: $13.78M

55. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

PG | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

68 Metascore

With the assistance of the Enterprise crew, Admiral Kirk must stop an old nemesis, Khan Noonien Singh, from using the life-generating Genesis Device as the ultimate weapon.

Director: Nicholas Meyer | Stars: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan

Votes: 129,250 | Gross: $78.91M

56. E.T. (1982)

PG | 115 min | Adventure, Family, Sci-Fi

92 Metascore

A troubled child summons the courage to help a friendly alien escape from Earth and return to his home planet.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Henry Thomas, Drew Barrymore, Peter Coyote, Dee Wallace

Votes: 437,708 | Gross: $435.11M

57. Tron (1982)

PG | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

58 Metascore

A computer hacker is abducted into the digital world and forced to participate in gladiatorial games where his only chance of escape is with the help of a heroic security program.

Director: Steven Lisberger | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Bruce Boxleitner, David Warner, Cindy Morgan

Votes: 129,345 | Gross: $33.00M

58. WarGames (1983)

PG | 114 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

77 Metascore

A young man finds a back door into a military central computer in which reality is confused with game-playing, possibly starting World War III.

Director: John Badham | Stars: Matthew Broderick, Ally Sheedy, John Wood, Dabney Coleman

Votes: 110,808 | Gross: $79.57M

59. Videodrome (1983)

R | 87 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller

58 Metascore

A programmer at a Toronto TV station that specializes in adult entertainment searches for the producers of a dangerous and bizarre broadcast.

Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: James Woods, Debbie Harry, Sonja Smits, Peter Dvorsky

Votes: 103,041 | Gross: $2.12M

60. Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)

PG | 131 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy

58 Metascore

After rescuing Han Solo from Jabba the Hutt, the Rebel Alliance attempt to destroy the second Death Star, while Luke struggles to help Darth Vader back from the dark side.

Director: Richard Marquand | Stars: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams

Votes: 1,121,820 | Gross: $309.13M

61. 2010 (1984)

PG | 116 min | Adventure, Mystery, Sci-Fi

53 Metascore

A joint USA-Soviet expedition is sent to Jupiter to learn exactly what happened to the "Discovery" and its H.A.L. 9000 computer.

Director: Peter Hyams | Stars: Roy Scheider, John Lithgow, Helen Mirren, Bob Balaban

Votes: 57,290 | Gross: $40.20M

62. Starman (1984)

PG | 115 min | Romance, Sci-Fi

70 Metascore

An alien takes the form of a young Wisconsin widow's husband and makes her drive him to his departure point in Arizona. Distrustful government agents, along with a more ambivalent scientist, give pursuit in hopes of intercepting them.

Director: John Carpenter | Stars: Jeff Bridges, Karen Allen, Charles Martin Smith, Richard Jaeckel

Votes: 52,241 | Gross: $28.70M

63. The Terminator (1984)

R | 107 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

84 Metascore

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: 924,579 | Gross: $38.40M

64. The Last Starfighter (1984)

PG | 100 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

67 Metascore

High schooler Alex Rogan conquers the Starfighter video game, only to find out it was just a test, and is transported to another planet. He has been recruited to join a team of the best starfighters to defend their world from the attack.

Director: Nick Castle | Stars: Lance Guest, Robert Preston, Kay E. Kuter, Dan Mason

Votes: 46,045 | Gross: $28.73M

65. Back to the Future (1985)

PG | 116 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi

87 Metascore

Marty McFly, a 17-year-old high school student, is accidentally sent 30 years into the past in a time-traveling DeLorean invented by his close friend, the maverick scientist Doc Brown.

Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover

Votes: 1,307,470 | Gross: $210.61M

66. Brazil (1985)

R | 132 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller

84 Metascore

A bureaucrat in a dystopic society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.

Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond

Votes: 211,281 | Gross: $9.93M

67. The Quiet Earth (1985)

R | 91 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

A scientist awakens to find himself alone in the world. In a desperate attempt to search for others, he finds only two who have their own agenda.

Director: Geoff Murphy | Stars: Bruno Lawrence, Alison Routledge, Pete Smith, Anzac Wallace

Votes: 27,638 | Gross: $2.12M

68. Aliens (1986)

R | 137 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

84 Metascore

Decades after surviving the Nostromo incident, Ellen Ripley is sent out to re-establish contact with a terraforming colony but finds herself battling the Alien Queen and her offspring.

Director: James Cameron | Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn, Paul Reiser

Votes: 763,404 | Gross: $85.16M

69. The Fly (1986)

R | 96 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi

81 Metascore

A brilliant but eccentric scientist begins to transform into a giant man/fly hybrid after one of his experiments goes horribly wrong.

Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jeff Goldblum, Geena Davis, John Getz, Joy Boushel

Votes: 202,017 | Gross: $40.46M

70. Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)

PG | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy

71 Metascore

To save Earth from an alien probe, Admiral James T. Kirk and his fugitive crew go back in time to San Francisco in 1986 to retrieve the only beings who can communicate with it: humpback whales.

Director: Leonard Nimoy | Stars: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan

Votes: 91,504 | Gross: $109.71M

71. Predator (1987)

R | 107 min | Action, Adventure, Horror

47 Metascore

A team of commandos on a mission in a Central American jungle find themselves hunted by an extraterrestrial warrior.

Director: John McTiernan | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Kevin Peter Hall, Elpidia Carrillo

Votes: 455,079 | Gross: $59.74M

72. RoboCop (1987)

R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi

70 Metascore

In a dystopic and crime-ridden Detroit, a terminally wounded cop returns to the force as a powerful cyborg haunted by submerged memories.

Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Peter Weller, Nancy Allen, Dan O'Herlihy, Ronny Cox

Votes: 283,250 | Gross: $53.42M

73. The Abyss (1989)

PG-13 | 140 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery

62 Metascore

A civilian diving team is enlisted to search for a lost nuclear submarine and faces danger while encountering an alien aquatic species.

Director: James Cameron | Stars: Ed Harris, Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio, Michael Biehn, Leo Burmester

Votes: 193,487 | Gross: $54.46M

74. Total Recall (1990)

R | 113 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

60 Metascore

When a man goes in to have virtual vacation memories of the planet Mars implanted in his mind, an unexpected and harrowing series of events forces him to go to the planet for real - or is he?

Director: Paul Verhoeven | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sharon Stone, Michael Ironside, Rachel Ticotin

Votes: 354,719 | Gross: $119.39M

75. Darkman (1990)

R | 96 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller

65 Metascore

A brilliant scientist left for dead returns to exact revenge on the people who burned him alive.

Director: Sam Raimi | Stars: Liam Neeson, Frances McDormand, Colin Friels, Larry Drake

Votes: 69,876 | Gross: $33.88M

76. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

R | 137 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

75 Metascore

A cyborg, identical to the one who failed to kill Sarah Connor, must now protect her ten year old son John from an even more advanced and powerful cyborg.

Director: James Cameron | Stars: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Edward Furlong, Robert Patrick

Votes: 1,174,603 | Gross: $204.84M

77. Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)

PG | 110 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

65 Metascore

On the eve of retirement, Kirk and McCoy are charged with assassinating the Klingon High Chancellor and imprisoned. The Enterprise crew must help them escape to thwart a conspiracy aimed at sabotaging the last best hope for peace.

Director: Nicholas Meyer | Stars: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan

Votes: 80,913 | Gross: $74.89M

78. Jurassic Park (1993)

PG-13 | 127 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

68 Metascore

A pragmatic paleontologist touring an almost complete theme park on an island in Central America is tasked with protecting a couple of kids after a power failure causes the park's cloned dinosaurs to run loose.

Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum, Richard Attenborough

Votes: 1,067,632 | Gross: $402.45M

79. 12 Monkeys (1995)

R | 129 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller

75 Metascore

In a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.

Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt, Joseph Melito

Votes: 646,875 | Gross: $57.14M

80. Ghost in the Shell (1995)

TV-MA | 83 min | Animation, Action, Crime

76 Metascore

A cyborg policewoman and her partner hunt a mysterious and powerful hacker called the Puppet Master.

Directors: Mizuho Nishikubo, Mamoru Oshii | Stars: Atsuko Tanaka, Iemasa Kayumi, Akio Ôtsuka, Kôichi Yamadera

Votes: 156,970 | Gross: $0.52M

81. Independence Day (1996)

PG-13 | 145 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

59 Metascore

The aliens are coming and their goal is to invade and destroy Earth. Fighting superior technology, mankind's best weapon is the will to survive.

Director: Roland Emmerich | Stars: Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell

Votes: 605,883 | Gross: $306.17M

82. Contact (1997)

PG | 150 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

62 Metascore

Dr. Ellie Arroway, after years of searching, finds conclusive radio proof of extraterrestrial intelligence, sending plans for a mysterious machine.

Director: Robert Zemeckis | Stars: Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey, Tom Skerritt, John Hurt

Votes: 293,202 | Gross: $100.92M

83. Gattaca (1997)

PG-13 | 106 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller

64 Metascore

A genetically inferior man assumes the identity of a superior one in order to pursue his lifelong dream of space travel.

Director: Andrew Niccol | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, Jude Law, Gore Vidal

Votes: 323,338 | Gross: $12.34M

84. Face/Off (1997)

R | 138 min | Action, Crime, Sci-Fi

82 Metascore

To foil a terrorist plot, FBI agent Sean Archer assumes the identity of the criminal Castor Troy who murdered his son through facial transplant surgery, but the crook wakes up prematurely and vows revenge.

Director: John Woo | Stars: John Travolta, Nicolas Cage, Joan Allen, Alessandro Nivola

Votes: 401,042 | Gross: $112.23M

85. The Fifth Element (1997)

PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi

52 Metascore

In the colorful future, a cab driver unwittingly becomes the central figure in the search for a legendary cosmic weapon to keep Evil and Mr. Zorg at bay.

Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Gary Oldman, Ian Holm

Votes: 506,509 | Gross: $63.54M

86. Men in Black (1997)

PG-13 | 98 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy

72 Metascore

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: 613,173 | Gross: $250.69M

87. Dark City (1998)

R | 100 min | Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi

66 Metascore

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: 212,361 | Gross: $14.38M

88. The Truman Show (1998)

PG | 103 min | Comedy, Drama

90 Metascore

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: 1,197,107 | Gross: $125.62M

89. eXistenZ (1999)

R | 97 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi

70 Metascore

A game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been damaged.

Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ian Holm, Willem Dafoe

Votes: 107,246 | Gross: $2.84M

90. Galaxy Quest (1999)

PG | 102 min | Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi

70 Metascore

The alumni cast of a space opera television series have to play their roles as the real thing when an alien race needs their help. However, they also have to defend both Earth and the alien race from a reptilian warlord.

Director: Dean Parisot | Stars: Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Rickman, Tony Shalhoub

Votes: 178,293 | Gross: $71.58M

91. The Iron Giant (1999)

PG | 86 min | Animation, Action, Adventure

85 Metascore

A young boy befriends a giant robot from outer space that a paranoid government agent wants to destroy.

Director: Brad Bird | Stars: Eli Marienthal, Harry Connick Jr., Jennifer Aniston, Vin Diesel

Votes: 227,595 | Gross: $23.16M

92. The Matrix (1999)

R | 136 min | Action, Sci-Fi

73 Metascore

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: 2,054,251 | Gross: $171.48M

93. Donnie Darko (2001)

R | 113 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi

88 Metascore

After narrowly escaping a bizarre accident, a troubled teenager is plagued by visions of a man in a large rabbit suit who manipulates him to commit a series of crimes.

Director: Richard Kelly | Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell, Holmes Osborne

Votes: 850,343 | Gross: $1.48M

94. Minority Report (2002)

PG-13 | 145 min | Action, Crime, Mystery

80 Metascore

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: 584,563 | Gross: $132.07M

95. Solaris (2002)

PG-13 | 99 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance

67 Metascore

A troubled psychologist is sent to investigate the crew of an isolated research station orbiting a bizarre planet.

Director: Steven Soderbergh | Stars: George Clooney, Natascha McElhone, Ulrich Tukur, Viola Davis

Votes: 86,284 | Gross: $14.97M

96. Equilibrium (2002)

R | 107 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi

33 Metascore

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: 347,119 | Gross: $1.20M

97. 28 Days Later (2002)

R | 113 min | Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi

73 Metascore

Four weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.

Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: Cillian Murphy, Naomie Harris, Christopher Eccleston, Alex Palmer

Votes: 446,041 | Gross: $45.06M

98. Code 46 (2003)

R | 93 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi

57 Metascore

A futuristic Brief Encounter (1945), this is a love story in which the romance is doomed by genetic incompatibility.

Director: Michael Winterbottom | Stars: Tim Robbins, Samantha Morton, Om Puri, Togo Igawa

Votes: 21,134 | Gross: $0.20M

99. Primer (2004)

PG-13 | 77 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller

68 Metascore

Four friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention.

Director: Shane Carruth | Stars: Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden, Anand Upadhyaya

Votes: 114,211 | Gross: $0.42M

100. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)

R | 108 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi

89 Metascore

When their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories forever.

Director: Michel Gondry | Stars: Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, Tom Wilkinson, Gerry Robert Byrne

Votes: 1,078,431 | Gross: $34.40M



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