Space movies are always a treat to watch. It is also a huge part of the sci-fi thriller genre.
The ambiguity of space makes these movies even more interesting.
Similar to the evolution of everything else, these space movies have changed so much overtime.
Most of them are added with some fantasy to make the viewer’s experience exciting and unforgettable.
Here are the top 10 best space films of all time for you to binge-watch.
1. Interstellar
- Director: Christopher Nolan
- Writer: Jonathan Nolan, Christopher Nolan
- Cast:Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn, Michael Caine
- IMDb Rating: 8.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 72%
- Platforms Available: For rent on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV
This movie is a masterpiece and one of the best space movies of all time by creator Christopher Nolan. He is both the producer as well as the director. Christopher Nolan and his brother Jonathan are also the ones to write the screenplay for this space movie. Featuring stars like Matt Damon, Michael Caine, Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain, Anne Hathaway, Bill Irwin, John Lithgow, and Ellen Burstyn in a dystopian setting. The story revolves in the near future when humanity is struggling to survive.
The year is 2017 when the only crop left on Earth is corn. Joseph Cooper is a primary protagonist in the story who was initially a pilot at NASA but is a farmer now. He is living with his two children and Donald, who is his father-in-law. Cooper notices mysterious dust patterns in his house after a sandstorm.
He realizes that these patterns are due to the changes in gravity. The patterns act as a binary code representing coordinates. These coordinates lead Cooper to his NASA supervisor, Professor John Brand, who runs a secret NASA facility.
The professor tells Cooper about the dust patterns and talks about unknown beings 48 years earlier, positioning a wormhole near Saturn in space.
This wormhole is the entrance to a completely new galaxy that can easily save humankind from destruction. Twelve volunteers go on the mission, and Professor Brand now has two strategies to save the world. They need Cooper’s help to complete their mission. Will he be able to save the world?
2. Star Wars
- Director: George Lucas
- Writer: George Lucas
- Cast:Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Peter Cushing, Alec Guinness
- IMDb Rating: 8.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 92%
- Platforms Available: Dinsey+, Hotstar,
The Star Wars Universe franchise is huge and vast, with numerous sci-fi movies gaining success by the day. George Lucas is the creator behind this fantastic universe.
The first Star Wars was out in 1977, with Lucasfilm as the producers and 20th Century Fox as the distributors.
The space movies compiling up to this franchise also hold a title in the Guinness book of world records for being one of the most popular and successful franchises by George Lucas.
The Star Wars establishment is isolated into three sections with three films each. The first Star Wars story comprises of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Following this, the prequel set of three comprises of Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Episode II: Attack of the Clones, and Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. At long last, the last prequel Star Wars story has Episode VII: The Force Awakens, Episode VIII: The Last Jedi, and Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker as a piece of it.
The Star Wars story 2016 is one of the most successful, and all are about a galaxy where humans, aliens, and robots co-exist. Robots help humans in day to day chores, and space travel is nothing new.
The modes of communication here are through holograms or screens that can be either audio or visual. The Force is a type of fantasy energy that keeps all of these things together, and some people living here can also perform tasks such as telepathy or telekinesis because of a stronger force in them.
This mystic energy has two powerful orders fighting against each other. On one side, the Jedi Knights are positive and want to maintain peace, whereas, on the other hand, there are the Sith who want to misuse the power of The force.
The Star Wars space universe’s fictional timeline is The age of Rebellion, after which there is The Age of Resistance and finally The Age of Republic.
The Star Wars franchise also has numerous series, games, and spin-off movies under its umbrella, with all of them focusing on outer space. Will he be able to provide justice to the Galaxy?
3. Apollo 13
- Director: Ron Howard
- Writer: William Broyles Jr., Al Reinert
- Cast:Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton, Ed Harris, Gary Sinise, Kathleen Quinlan
- IMDb Rating: 7.6/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 96%
- Platforms Available: For rent on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV
A gem among the documentary drama movies is Apollo 13 1995, which is all about space. Ron Howard is the director of this magnificent space movie starring Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Gary Sinise, Kevin Bacon, and Ed Harris. The inspiration behind this film’s story is from Lost Moon: The Perilous Voyage of Apollo 13, a 1994 book by Jeffrey Kluger and Jim Lovell. The director Ron Howard has put in a tremendous amount of effort in making this film one of the most accurate movies of all time. Apollo 13 depicts the story of the abortion of the Apollo 13 mission in 1970.
The story starts with a party at the house of Jim Lovell, an astronaut, where everyone is busy watching the first human steps on Neil Armstrong, who is the first man on the moon. Lovell was a part of the Apollo 8 mission, and he was willing to be a part of the future missions to the moon and outer space as well. Following these three astronauts- Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Ken Mattingly were going to travel to space for the Apollo 13 mission. A few days into the training before the launch, Mattingly was diagnosed with German measles and replaced by astronaut Jack Swigert. After three days of leaving Earth, the crew onboard experience an accident with the liquid oxygen tanks. This forces them to abort the mission in order to save their lives. Will they find new hope and return to their families on earth? One has to watch this space movie to discover.
4. Apollo 11
- Director: Todd Douglas Miller
- Cast:Edwin Aldrin, Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, Charles Duke, Bruce McCandless
- IMDb Rating: 8.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 99%
- Platforms Available: Hulu
This movie is an American space documentary drama that was out in 2019. Todd Douglas Miller is the producer and director for Apollo 11, one of the best space movies in film history. The world premiere was during the Sundance Film Festival in January 2019. Matt Morton is the composer of the soundtrack for the movie.
Electronic instruments that were prevalent during the mission’s original time are used to create the soundtrack for this movie. The movie stars Neil Armstrong, who is also the first man to walk on the moon, Charles Duke, Edwin Aldrin, Michael Collins, and Bruce McCandless.
This movie features an unreleased 70mm film of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin, and Michael Collins as a part of the Apollo program and their space travel. The film also shows incidents on the engineers of the earth’s mission operations.
Along with the 70mm film, the movie also features some archival footage about the activities happening during the mission. The idea of this space movie was by Stephen Slater, who is a film editor motivating Douglas to create something for the 50th anniversary of the mission. CNN films were onboard with the movie plan, with Neon getting the film’s worldwide distribution theatrical rights. Will we get to see the real truth?
5. Hidden Figures
- Director: Theodore Melfi
- Writer: Allison Schroeder, Theodore Melfi
- Cast:Taraji P. Henson, Octavia Spencer, Janelle Monáe, Kevin Costner, Kirsten Dunst, Jim Parsons
- IMDb Rating: 7.8/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 93%
- Platforms Available: Disney+
Hidden Figures 2016 is another one of the best space movies of all time. It is a dramatic biography with Theodore Melfi as the director. He is also the co-writer for the story with Allison Schroeder. The story’s adaptation is from a book with the same name about mathematicians who are of African American origin.
These women were working for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The role of Katherine Johnson is by Taraji P. Henson, who is a part of Project Mercury and similar missions to calculate flight trajectories. Along with Katherine, there are two other women. These women are Dorothy Vaughan, who is a mathematician, and NASA supervisor by Octavia Spencer. Janelle Monae plays Mary Jackson, who is a NASA engineer.
Apart from these magnificent women, the star cast includes Kirsten Dunst, Mahershala Ali, Glen Powell, Kevin Costner, Jim Parsons, and Aldis Hodge. 20th Century Fox were the distributors of Hidden Figures. The movie follows Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, and Dorothy Vaughan, who travel to their work together. They work at the Langley Research Center in Hampton at the computing unit of the west area.
Due to the lack of computers, mathematicians support engineers with all their work. Katherine works for the space task force, which looks into sending humans into space.
Mary Jackson is working on developing space capsules, and Dorothy Vaughan works supervising colored computers. Dorothy’s job is at stake when a large computer arrives at NASA, but she takes up the challenge and learns the new technology. The three women are strong headed, smart, and efficient in their jobs. Will the women be able to achieve their goals?
6. Blade Runner
- Director: Ridley Scott
- Writer: Hampton Fancher, David Peoples
- Cast:Harrison Ford, Rutger Hauer, Sean Young, Edward James Olmos
- IMDb Rating: 8.1/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 90%
- Platforms Available: For rent on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV
Blade Runner is a sci-fi cult classic from 1982 with David Peoples and Hampton Fancher as the writers. Warner Bros was the distributor.
Ridley Scott is the director of this movie and includes Harrison Ford, Sean Young, Rutger Hauer, and Edward James Olmos in the primary star cast. The story’s adaptation is loosely from “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep,” which is a 1968 novel by Philip K Dick. Blade Runner is an inspiration behind multiple video games, Television series, and even anime.
This movie has seven different versions of itself due to continuous controversial changes by multiple studio executives. The final version was out on the 25th anniversary of the movie in 2007; the version is popularly called The Final Cut by Ridley Scott. The film is indeed a sci-fi epic with a whole lot of special effects.
The plot revolves around Rick Deckard, who is an ex-policeman in Los Angeles. The movie is set in 2019 and introduces Deckard as someone who tracks down replicants, which are bioengineered humanoids. This job of his is defined as the blade runner.
There is positive news about an invasion of four replicants on Earth. All the blade runners also have a system to separate these replicants from humans by the answers they give to emotional questions. Will he answer the call of duty or the call of love?
7. 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Director: Stanley Kubrick
- Writer: Stanley Kubrick, Arthur C. Clarke
- Cast:Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood
- IMDb Rating: 8.3/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 92%
- Platforms Available: To rent on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV
2001: A Space Odyssey is one of the most interesting and best sci-fi films. Space Odyssey 1968 has Stanley Kubrick as the producer and the director. Arthur C Clarke is the writer for the screenplay, along with some help from Stanley Kubrick. The inspiration of the story is from 1951 The Sentinel, which is a short story by Clarke. Some of the other short stories by Clarke were also the source of inspiration.
The movie plot revolves around a mission to Jupiter from the earth. An alien monolith is suspected to be on Jupiter, which is acting as a barrier to human evolution. The film is said to have an accuracy while depicting space flight and space station. 2001: A Space Odyssey stars Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea. The story starts with two rival tribes fighting against a water hole.
The hominids lose from the other party but later on experience the powers of an alien monolith. This monolith teaches them the basic things that humankind knows today. These Hominids are quick learners, and they drive the rivals away to conquer what is theirs. The movie shifts to the present times and sees the Chairman of the United States National Council of Astronautics, Dr. Heywood Floyd, who is traveling to a US moon base, Clavius base. Dr. Floyd meets some Russian scientists at a space station.
The doctor’s mission is to investigate an artifact that is millions of years old. While going to investigate the artifact, Floyd and his team members come across the monolith, which taught the hominids various things. They stop to look at the alien monolith when suddenly it starts emitting a high-frequency radio signal due to the sunlight striking it. Following all these events, eighteen months later, Dr. Frank Poole and Dr. David Bowman, who are scientists, travel with their team members to Jupiter on Discovery One, which is a United States spacecraft. What will the astronauts find there?
8. The Right Stuff
- Director: Philip Kaufman
- Writer: Philip Kaufman, William Goldman
- Cast:Charles Frank, Scott Glenn, Ed Harris, Lance Henriksen, Scott Paulin, Dennis Quaid, S, Sam Shepard, Fred Ward, Kim Stanley, Barbara Hershey, Veronica Cartwright, Pamela Reed
- IMDb Rating: 7.8/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 96%
- Platforms Available: For rent on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV
This movie is one of the best space films by writer/director Philip Kaufman. This movie about space and the first human spaceflight is also the source of inspiration for the TV series by the same name. Although the adaptation of the film is from a 1979 novel by Tom Wolfe with the same name.
The movie stars Ed Harris, Fred Ward, Barbara Hershey, Sam Shepherd, Scott Glenn, and Dennis Quaid. The plot started in California at the Muroc Army Air Field in 1947.
Here pilots, both military and civilian, are testing high-speed aircraft, which also includes the Bell X-1, which is one of the most prominent aircraft of all time. Some events related to the Bell X-1 occur. After this, the story shifts six years later when the Muroc Army Air Field is now the Edwards Air Force Base.
The place is complete with the competition, risks, and danger. The story escalates to 1957, where the United States government is facing a crisis due to the launch of the Soviet Sputnik satellite. The establishment of NASA takes place, which becomes a new hope to train U.S. astronauts. The Mercury program on earth comes to an end in May 1963, but before that, there are numerous events that take place. The movie also consists of archival footage at numerous places, which feature the original people who were the inspiration behind the book.
What all is there to witness?
9. Wall E
- Director: Andrew Stanton
- Writer: Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon
- Cast:Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, John Ratzenberger, Kathy Najimy, Sigourney Weaver
- IMDb Rating: 8.4/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 95%
- Platforms Available: Disney+
Wall E 2008 is one of those best science fiction films, which is computer-animated galaxy quest. Jim Morris is the producer along with Pixar Animation Studios in charge of production for Walt Disney Pictures. Andrew Stanton and Jim Reardon are the co-writers, with Stanton also as the director.
Wall E is an animation movie and includes voice artists for all its characters that include Elissa Knight, John Ratzenberger, Sigourney Weaver, Ben Burtt, Jeff Garlin, Kathy Najimy, and Fred Williard. It is a live action film that follows a robot that reduces the size of waste in the future.
Earth is no more habitable, and this robot has to get rid of all the garbage around him. The story is years later, in the 29th century, when one day, Wall E comes across another robot, EVE, who travels on a galaxy quest in spaceship Axiom. EVE visits earth to find a living seedling, and Wall E falls in love and finds himself on a galaxy quest.
The plant goes missing as EVE reaches her destination. Both of them are declared rogue robots. Events follow, and by the climax approaches, Wall E loses its memory due to the Holo Detector crushing him. EVE tries to repair Wall E, but he has lost his memory and does not remember her. A farewell kiss brings back the memory of Wall E. By the end of it, all humans start habituating the earth again and, with the help of robots, make it a beautiful place to live in. The science fiction space film is an entire package of romance, drama, special effects, and action.
Will this robot create the best love story ever?
10. Star Trek
- Director: Robert Wise
- Writer: Harold Livingston
- Cast:William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, George Takei, Majel Barrett, Walter Koenig, Nichelle Nichols, Persis Khambatta, Stephen Collins
- IMDb Rating: 8.4/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 41%
- Platforms Available: Hulu and Amazon Prime Video
The Star Trek franchise is one of the best franchises. They have one of the greatest space films ever. The first-ever Star Trek was out in 1979 with Robert Wise as the director. Numerous television series and video games have this franchise as their source of adaptation. The first film is set in 2270, where a suspicious alien is approaching earth. This invasion is bringing in a lot of destruction when Admiral James T. Kirk takes the initiative to go on a mission to save the world. Aside from the Star Trek: The films, different films in line incorporate, The wrath of Khan (1982), The search of Spock (1984), The voyage home (1986), The final frontier (1989), The undiscovered country (1991), Star Trek Generations (1994), Final contact (1996), Insurrection (1998). The recent star trek movies include Nemesis (2002), Star Trek 2009, Into Darkness (2013), and Beyond (2016).
Paramount pictures were the original distributors for the star trek franchise after the failure of the television series. The franchise was successful with its first feature film, and then there was no looking back. William Shatner, Chris Pine, Leonard Nimoy, Zachary Quinto, Chris Hemsworth, Benedict Cumberbatch, Catherine Hicks, Jennifer Morrison, Christopher Llyod, Grace Lee Whitney, John Cho, Zoe Saldana, James Doohan, and Tom Hardy are some of the brilliant actors associated with the franchise.
The satisfaction after watching a great film is something that can most certainly not be defined in words. All of the movies in the list above are brilliant when it comes to cinema. Not only do they have excellent storylines, but the acting, music, and magnitude are huge.
Will the adventures be on the interstellar level or not?
11. Solaris
- Director: Steven Soderbergh
- Writer: Steven Soderbergh
- Cast: George Clooney, Natascha McElhone, Jeremy Davies, Viola Davies, Ulrich Tukur
- IMDb Rating: 6.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 66%
- Platforms Available: For rent on Apple TV and Amazon Prime Video
Based on the science-fiction novel by Stanislaw Lem. The plot of the movie consists of a psychologist, Chris Kelvin, who is sent to look into the mysterious and unexplained behaviour of some scientists on the spaceship orbiting a planet called “Solaris.”
The movie takes a sudden turn when the new world’s mysteries cover Kevin’s consciousness and he falls in an erotic obsession with someone from the past.
Does being in space effects human emotions? Watch to know.
12. Sunshine
- Director: Danny Boyle
- Writer: Alex Garland
- Cast: Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Cliff Curtis, Benedict Wong, Troy Garity, Hiroyuki Sanada, Michelle Yeoh
- IMDb Rating: 7.2/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 77%
- Platforms Available: Hulu
Featuring Danny Boyle, his fans are mad about this movie and its probably their favourite one too. With great performances from each cast member. A scene from the movie showing the third act is not appreciated by the viewers, but other than that the movie is called flawless.
13. Moon
- Director: Duncan Jones
- Writer: Nathan Parker
- Cast: Sam Rockwell, Dominique McElligott, Kaya Scodelario, Benedict Wong, Matt Berry,Malcolm Stewart
- IMDb Rating: 7.9/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 90%
- Platforms Available: For rent on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV
A brilliant sci-fi movie with decent twists in the plot. After spending 3 years in space, Sam Bell is looking forward to meeting his children and wife. But out of a sudden, he starts having hallucinations and is introduced to a younger version of himself. What will he do to get back home not completely insane?
14. Pandorum
- Director: Christian Alvart
- Writer: Travis Milloy
- Cast: Dennis Quaid, Ben Foster, Cam Gigandet, Antje Traue, Cung Le, Eddie Rouse
- IMDb Rating: 6.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 29%
- Platforms Available: For rent on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV
A great space horror movie, where two men, Payton and Bower wake up in a hypersleep chamber with no memory at all.
They witness themselves in a space ship and the decisions they take are vital for mankind.
What are they going to do?
15. Gravity
- Director: Alfonso Cuaron
- Writer: Alfonso Cuaron, Jonas Cuaron
- Cast: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney
- IMDb Rating: 7.7/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 95%
- Platforms Available: For rent on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV
The plot of the movie rotates around Dr. Ryan Stone played by Sandra Bullock and Matt Kowalsky (George Clooney). With Ryan’s first mission and Matt’s last, they set out on a journey unknown. The shutter gets destroyed by a disaster, and both of them are left stranding in deep space with no connection to anyone, neither in space nor Earth.
How will they survive?
16. Space Station 76
- Director: Jack Plotnick
- Writer: Jack Plotnick, Jennifer Elise Cox, Sam Pancake, Kali Rocha , Mike Stoyanov
- Cast: Patrick Wilson, Liv Tyler, Matt Bomer, Marisa Coughlan, Kylie Rogers, Kali Rocha, Jerry O’Connell, Keir Dullea
- IMDb Rating: 4.9/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 68%
- Platforms Available: For rent on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV
An unusual love story in space. That’s pretty much the plot. Erotic, sci-fi, space movie where a heartbroken gay commander of a space station meets his new second-in-commander who happens to be a female. What will they discover in space and each other?
17. High Moon
- Director: Adam Kane
- Writer: John Christopher, Bryan Fuller
- Cast: Jonathan Tucker, Constance Wu, Chris Diamantopoulos
- IMDb Rating: 5.0/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: Unrated %
- Platforms Available: To buy on Apple TV
Set in the future where the world’s countries have put up colonies to mine resources found on the Moon. When the colonists on the moon discover a new life-form there, the movie takes a turn. The new being is full of mysteries. How will the humans exploit the new living being?
18. Jupiter Ascending
- Director: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski
- Writer: The Wachowskis
- Cast: Channing Tatum, Mila Kunis, Sean Bean, Eddie Redmayne, Douglas Booth
- IMDb Rating: 5.3/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 27%
- Platforms Available: Netflix
Jupiter Jones played by Mila Kunis, prophesied that she would be a greatness in coming future but her reality doesn’t really match that description. Until, Caine, played by Channing Tatum, a genetically engineered hunter, gets down on Earth to find her and to let her know all that is written in her fate. Is Jupiter having the power to alter the cosmos? Watch to know.
19. The Martian
- Director: Ridley Scott
- Writer: Drew Goddard
- Cast: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain, Kristen Wiig, Jeff Daniels, Michael Peña, Sean Bean, Kate Mara, Sebastian Stan, Aksel Hennie, Mackenzie Davis, Benedict Wong, Donald Glover, Chiwetel Ejiofor
- IMDb Rating: 8/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 91%
- Platforms Available: For rent on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV
Matt Damon, playing Mark Watney is left behind on Mars presumed dead. But just like the Undertaker, the star from Good Will Hunting wakes up and finds himself all alone on the planet. With strong winds and broken ship, he sets on a mission of survival. Somehow, he sends messages to Earth and there is a way to bring him back home. How will he get back home in a broken space ship?
20. First Man
- Director: Damien Chazelle
- Writer: Josh Singer
- Cast: Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Jason Clarke, Kyle Chandler, Corey Stoll, Christopher Abbott, Ciarán Hinds
- IMDb Rating: 7.3/10
- Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 87%
- Platforms Available: For rent on Amazon Prime Video and Apple TV
The story of how Neil Armstrong joins the space program and make NASA reach the moon by decade end. On July 16, 1969, the world notices something extraordinary as Neil along with Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins set foot in the Apollo 11 spaceflight. What problems will the first men on moon face?
