Best Space Movies
by littlenorthernlight | created - 10 Aug 2013 | updated - 23 Jan 2020 | PublicList is based on set design and effects that deliver authenticity and intrigue, not a judgement on the finished film.
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1. Pandorum (2009)
R | 108 min | Action, Horror, Mystery
Two crew members of a spaceship wake up from hypersleep to discover that all their colleagues are missing. Despite this, it appears that they are not alone.
Director: Christian Alvart | Stars: Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet, Antje Traue
Votes: 159,582 | Gross: $10.33M
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
G | 149 min | Adventure, Sci-Fi
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: 719,941 | Gross: $56.95M
3. Alien (1979)
R | 117 min | Horror, Sci-Fi
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: 951,484 | Gross: $78.90M
4. Moon (2009)
R | 97 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.
Director: Duncan Jones | Stars: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, Dominique McElligott, Rosie Shaw
Votes: 376,808 | Gross: $5.01M
5. 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: 644,466 | Gross: $126.48M
6. Apollo 13 (I) (1995)
PG | 140 min | Adventure, Drama, History
NASA must devise a strategy to return Apollo 13 to Earth safely after the spacecraft undergoes massive internal damage putting the lives of the three astronauts on board in jeopardy.
Director: Ron Howard | Stars: Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise
Votes: 315,737 | Gross: $173.84M
7. Gravity (2013)
PG-13 | 91 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Dr Ryan Stone, an engineer on her first time on a space mission, and Matt Kowalski, an astronaut on his final expedition, have to survive in space after they are hit by debris while spacewalking.
Director: Alfonso Cuarón | Stars: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney, Ed Harris, Orto Ignatiussen
Votes: 863,439 | Gross: $274.09M
8. Sunshine (2007)
R | 107 min | Sci-Fi, Thriller
A team of international astronauts is sent on a dangerous mission to reignite the dying Sun with a nuclear fission bomb in 2057.
Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Cliff Curtis
Votes: 267,588 | Gross: $3.68M
9. Event Horizon (1997)
R | 96 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A rescue crew is tasked with investigating the mysterious reappearance of a spaceship that had been lost for seven years.
Director: Paul W.S. Anderson | Stars: Laurence Fishburne, Sam Neill, Kathleen Quinlan, Joely Richardson
Votes: 197,268 | Gross: $26.67M
10. Solaris (1972)
PG | 167 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A psychologist is sent to a station orbiting a distant planet in order to discover what has caused the crew to go insane.
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky | Stars: Natalya Bondarchuk, Donatas Banionis, Jüri Järvet, Vladislav Dvorzhetskiy
Votes: 98,305
11. Solaris (2002)
PG-13 | 99 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
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: 86,285 | Gross: $14.97M
12. Interstellar (2014)
PG-13 | 169 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
When Earth becomes uninhabitable in the future, a farmer and ex-NASA pilot, Joseph Cooper, is tasked to pilot a spacecraft, along with a team of researchers, to find a new planet for humans.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Mackenzie Foy
Votes: 2,101,991 | Gross: $188.02M
13. Blade Runner (1982)
R | 117 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
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: 823,436 | Gross: $32.87M
14. The Fifth Element (1997)
PG-13 | 126 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
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: 506,552 | Gross: $63.54M
15. Gattaca (1997)
PG-13 | 106 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
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: 323,357 | Gross: $12.34M
16. Contact (1997)
PG | 150 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
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: 293,215 | Gross: $100.92M
17. Star Trek (2009)
PG-13 | 127 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
The brash James T. Kirk tries to live up to his father's legacy with Mr. Spock keeping him in check as a vengeful Romulan from the future creates black holes to destroy the Federation one planet at a time.
Director: J.J. Abrams | Stars: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg, Leonard Nimoy
Votes: 620,380 | Gross: $257.73M
18. Star Trek Into Darkness (2013)
PG-13 | 132 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
After the crew of the Enterprise find an unstoppable force of terror from within their own organization, Captain Kirk leads a manhunt to a war-zone world to capture a one-man weapon of mass destruction.
Director: J.J. Abrams | Stars: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Zoe Saldana, Benedict Cumberbatch
Votes: 497,151 | Gross: $228.78M
19. Europa Report (2013)
PG-13 | 90 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery
An international crew of astronauts undertakes a privately funded mission to search for life on Jupiter's fourth largest moon.
Director: Sebastián Cordero | Stars: Sharlto Copley, Michael Nyqvist, Christian Camargo, Embeth Davidtz
Votes: 75,533 | Gross: $0.13M
20. The Black Hole (1979)
PG | 98 min | Action, Sci-Fi
A research vessel finds a missing ship, commanded by a mysterious scientist, on the edge of a black hole.
Director: Gary Nelson | Stars: Maximilian Schell, Anthony Perkins, Robert Forster, Joseph Bottoms
Votes: 28,005
21. 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: 471,203 | Gross: $93.05M
22. Cargo (2009)
112 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Dr. Laura P. takes a job on a cargo spaceship for 4 years plus 4 years back. She'll join her sister on Rhea. 44 months later, in Laura's shift, strange things happen in cargo. The crew is reanimated and the captain dies mysteriously.
Directors: Ivan Engler, Ralph Etter | Stars: Anna Katharina Schwabroh, Martin Rapold, Regula Grauwiller, Yangzom Brauen
Votes: 20,116
23. Love (I) (2011)
Not Rated | 84 min | Drama, Music, Sci-Fi
A man spends years alone on a space station orbiting Earth after losing communication with Houston/Earth. He spends time on maintenance, exercise, watching old messages, and reading a journal by a soldier in the American Civil War.
Director: William Eubank | Stars: Gunner Wright, Corey Richardson, Bradley Horne, Nancy Stelle
Votes: 8,965
24. Pitch Black (2000)
R | 109 min | Action, Horror, Sci-Fi
A transport ship crashes and leaves its crew stranded on a desert planet inhabited by bloodthirsty creatures that come out during an eclipse.
Director: David Twohy | Stars: Radha Mitchell, Cole Hauser, Vin Diesel, Keith David
Votes: 253,050 | Gross: $39.24M
25. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
PG-13 | 121 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
A group of intergalactic criminals must pull together to stop a fanatical warrior with plans to purge the universe.
Director: James Gunn | Stars: Chris Pratt, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Zoe Saldana
Votes: 1,273,863 | Gross: $333.18M
26. Pulsar (2018)
17 min | Short, Drama, Horror
A Peacemaker, who rejects his final mission to save an endangered planet, is believed to be cursed when a solar storm hits his spaceship.
Director: Aurora Fearnley | Stars: Jessie Buckley, David Gyasi, Tahirah Sharif, Anna Koval
Votes: 243
27. The Martian (2015)
PG-13 | 144 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
An astronaut becomes stranded on Mars after his team assume him dead, and must rely on his ingenuity to find a way to signal to Earth that he is alive and can survive until a potential rescue.
Director: Ridley Scott | Stars: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Kate Mara
Votes: 925,998 | Gross: $228.43M
28. Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
PG-13 | 136 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
The Guardians struggle to keep together as a team while dealing with their personal family issues, notably Star-Lord's encounter with his father, the ambitious celestial being Ego.
Director: James Gunn | Stars: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldana, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel
Votes: 760,018 | Gross: $389.81M
29. Serenity (2005)
PG-13 | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
The crew of the ship Serenity try to evade an assassin sent to recapture telepath River.
Director: Joss Whedon | Stars: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Alan Tudyk
Votes: 305,727 | Gross: $25.51M
30. Sphere (1998)
PG-13 | 134 min | Action, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A spaceship is discovered under three hundred years' worth of coral growth at the bottom of the ocean.
Director: Barry Levinson | Stars: Dustin Hoffman, Sharon Stone, Samuel L. Jackson, Peter Coyote
Votes: 112,536 | Gross: $37.02M
31. Silent Running (1972)
G | 89 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
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: 31,477 | Gross: $0.69M
32. Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017)
PG-13 | 136 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
A dark force threatens Alpha, a vast metropolis and home to species from a thousand planets. Special operatives Valerian and Laureline must race to identify the marauding menace and safeguard not just Alpha, but the future of the universe.
Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Dane DeHaan, Cara Delevingne, Clive Owen, Rihanna
Votes: 196,985 | Gross: $41.19M
33. Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
PG-13 | 133 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
In a time of conflict, a group of unlikely heroes band together on a mission to steal the plans to the Death Star, the Empire's ultimate weapon of destruction.
Director: Gareth Edwards | Stars: Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk, Donnie Yen
Votes: 686,797 | Gross: $532.18M
34. Ad Astra (2019)
PG-13 | 123 min | Adventure, Drama, Mystery
Astronaut Roy McBride undertakes a mission across an unforgiving solar system to uncover the truth about his missing father and his doomed expedition that now, 30 years later, threatens the universe.
Director: James Gray | Stars: Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Donald Sutherland
Votes: 260,577 | Gross: $50.19M
35. High Life (2018)
R | 113 min | Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A father and his daughter struggle to survive in deep space where they live in isolation.
Director: Claire Denis | Stars: Robert Pattinson, Juliette Binoche, André 3000, Mia Goth
Votes: 41,054 | Gross: $1.23M
36. Proxima (2019)
107 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
An astronaut prepares for a one-year mission aboard the International Space Station.
Director: Alice Winocour | Stars: Eva Green, Zélie Boulant, Matt Dillon, Aleksey Fateev
Votes: 8,994
37. First Man (2018)
PG-13 | 141 min | Biography, Drama, History
A look at the life of the astronaut, Neil Armstrong, and the legendary space mission that led him to become the first man to walk on the Moon on July 20, 1969.
Director: Damien Chazelle | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler
Votes: 202,331 | Gross: $44.94M
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