TOP SCIENCE-FICTION MOVIES: 2000-2024
by Dr-Faustus | created - 06 Feb 2018 | updated - 2 days ago | PublicA choice of 74 of the best science-fiction movies released from 2000 to 2024.
In random order and purely subjective.
Only live-action movies included.
Science-Fiction Links:
Genre: Science Fiction: Most Popular Sci-Fi Titles.
Genre: Science Fiction: Most Popular Sci-Fi Feature Films.
Science Fiction Movies in the IMDb "Top 250": Most Popular IMDb "Top 250", Sci-Fi Feature Films Released 2000 to 2023.
Science Fiction Movies in the IMDb "Top 1000": Most Popular IMDb "Top 1000", Sci-Fi Feature Films Released 2000 to 2023.
Science Fiction Movies for 2018: Most Popular Sci-Fi Feature Films Released in 2018.
Science Fiction Movies for 2019: Most Popular Sci-Fi Feature Films Released in 2019.
Science Fiction Movies for 2020: Most Popular Sci-Fi Feature Films Released in 2020.
Science Fiction Movies for 2021: Most Popular Sci-Fi Feature Films Released in 2021.
Science Fiction Movies for 2022: Most Popular Sci-Fi Feature Films Released in 2022.
Science Fiction Movies for 2023: Most Popular Sci-Fi Feature Films Released in 2023.
Science Fiction Movies for 2024: Most Popular Sci-Fi Feature Films Released in 2024.
Please note: This list excludes animated and superhero movies.
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1. Blade Runner 2049 (2017)
R | 164 min | Action, Drama, Mystery
Young Blade Runner K's discovery of a long-buried secret leads him to track down former Blade Runner Rick Deckard, who's been missing for thirty years.
Director: Denis Villeneuve | Stars: Harrison Ford, Ryan Gosling, Ana de Armas, Dave Bautista
Votes: 663,542 | Gross: $92.05M
2. Dune (2021)
PG-13 | 155 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A noble family becomes embroiled in a war for control over the galaxy's most valuable asset while its heir becomes troubled by visions of a dark future.
Director: Denis Villeneuve | Stars: Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Zendaya, Oscar Isaac
Votes: 847,605 | Gross: $108.33M
3. Dune: Part Two (2024)
PG-13 | 166 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Paul Atreides unites with Chani and the Fremen while seeking revenge against the conspirators who destroyed his family.
Director: Denis Villeneuve | Stars: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Javier Bardem
Votes: 346,494
4. 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: 2,094,801 | Gross: $188.02M
5. 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: 260,196 | Gross: $50.19M
6. Tenet (2020)
PG-13 | 150 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Armed with only the word "Tenet," and fighting for the survival of the entire world, CIA operative, The Protagonist, journeys through a twilight world of international espionage on a global mission that unfolds beyond real time.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Juhan Ulfsak
Votes: 591,486 | Gross: $58.46M
7. Inception (2010)
PG-13 | 148 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A thief who steals corporate secrets through the use of dream-sharing technology is given the inverse task of planting an idea into the mind of a C.E.O., but his tragic past may doom the project and his team to disaster.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, Ken Watanabe
Votes: 2,547,111 | Gross: $292.58M
8. Avatar (2009)
PG-13 | 162 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
A paraplegic Marine dispatched to the moon Pandora on a unique mission becomes torn between following his orders and protecting the world he feels is his home.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Michelle Rodriguez
Votes: 1,385,314 | Gross: $760.51M
9. Avatar: The Way of Water (2022)
PG-13 | 192 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
Jake Sully lives with his newfound family formed on the extrasolar moon Pandora. Once a familiar threat returns to finish what was previously started, Jake must work with Neytiri and the army of the Na'vi race to protect their home.
Director: James Cameron | Stars: Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Sigourney Weaver, Stephen Lang
Votes: 493,022 | Gross: $659.68M
10. Another Earth (2011)
PG-13 | 92 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
On the night of the discovery of a duplicate Earth in the Solar system, an ambitious young student and an accomplished composer cross paths in a tragic accident.
Director: Mike Cahill | Stars: Brit Marling, William Mapother, Matthew-Lee Erlbach, DJ Flava
Votes: 99,947 | Gross: $1.32M
11. I Origins (2014)
R | 106 min | Drama, Mystery, Romance
A molecular biologist and his laboratory partner uncover evidence that may fundamentally change society as we know it.
Director: Mike Cahill | Stars: Michael Pitt, Steven Yeun, Astrid Bergès-Frisbey, Brit Marling
Votes: 133,504 | Gross: $0.33M
12. The Man from Earth (2007)
Not Rated | 87 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
An impromptu goodbye party for Professor John Oldman becomes a mysterious interrogation after the retiring scholar reveals to his colleagues he has a longer and stranger past than they can imagine.
Director: Richard Schenkman | Stars: David Lee Smith, Tony Todd, John Billingsley, Ellen Crawford
Votes: 199,947
13. Under the Skin (I) (2013)
R | 108 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A mysterious young woman seduces lonely men in the evening hours in Scotland. However, events lead her to begin a process of self-discovery.
Director: Jonathan Glazer | Stars: Scarlett Johansson, Jeremy McWilliams, Lynsey Taylor Mackay, Dougie McConnell
Votes: 157,940 | Gross: $2.61M
14. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)
PG-13 | 105 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A substance designed to help the brain repair itself gives advanced intelligence to a chimpanzee who leads an ape uprising.
Director: Rupert Wyatt | Stars: James Franco, Andy Serkis, Freida Pinto, Karin Konoval
Votes: 557,768 | Gross: $176.76M
15. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes (2014)
PG-13 | 130 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
The fragile peace between apes and humans is threatened as mistrust and betrayal threaten to plunge both tribes into a war for dominance over the Earth.
Director: Matt Reeves | Stars: Gary Oldman, Keri Russell, Andy Serkis, Kodi Smit-McPhee
Votes: 467,927 | Gross: $208.55M
16. War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)
PG-13 | 140 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind.
Director: Matt Reeves | Stars: Andy Serkis, Woody Harrelson, Steve Zahn, Karin Konoval
Votes: 281,952 | Gross: $146.88M
17. The Prestige (2006)
PG-13 | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
After a tragic accident, two stage magicians in 1890s London engage in a battle to create the ultimate illusion while sacrificing everything they have to outwit each other.
Director: Christopher Nolan | Stars: Christian Bale, Hugh Jackman, Scarlett Johansson, Michael Caine
Votes: 1,439,324 | Gross: $53.09M
18. 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: 549,248 | Gross: $54.71M
19. Cloud Atlas (2012)
R | 172 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
An exploration of how the actions of individual lives impact one another in the past, present and future, as one soul is shaped from a killer into a hero, and an act of kindness ripples across centuries to inspire a revolution.
Directors: Tom Tykwer, Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski | Stars: Tom Hanks, Halle Berry, Hugh Grant, Hugo Weaving
Votes: 374,176 | Gross: $27.11M
20. Arrival (II) (2016)
PG-13 | 116 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A linguist works with the military to communicate with alien lifeforms after twelve mysterious spacecraft appear around the world.
Director: Denis Villeneuve | Stars: Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker, Michael Stuhlbarg
Votes: 769,302 | Gross: $100.55M
21. District 9 (2009)
R | 112 min | Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller
Violence ensues after an extraterrestrial race forced to live in slum-like conditions on Earth finds a kindred spirit in a government agent exposed to their biotechnology.
Director: Neill Blomkamp | Stars: Sharlto Copley, David James, Jason Cope, Vanessa Haywood
Votes: 716,204 | Gross: $115.65M
22. 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: 923,646 | Gross: $228.43M
23. Prospect (2018)
R | 100 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
A teenage girl and her father travel to a remote alien moon, aiming to strike it rich. They've secured a contract to harvest a large deposit of the elusive gems hidden in the depths of the moon's toxic forest. But there are others roving the wilderness and the job quickly devolves into a fight to survive. Forced to contend not only with the forest's other ruthless inhabitants, but with her own ... See full summary »
Directors: Christopher Caldwell, Zeek Earl | Stars: Sophie Thatcher, Jay Duplass, Pedro Pascal, Luke Pitzrick
Votes: 34,416
24. 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: 40,945 | Gross: $1.23M
25. 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: 862,642 | Gross: $274.09M
26. 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: 376,433 | Gross: $5.01M
27. 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: 267,090 | Gross: $3.68M
28. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
R | 108 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
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: 1,076,705 | Gross: $34.40M
29. Mr. Nobody (2009)
R | 141 min | Drama, Fantasy, Romance
A boy stands on a station platform as a train is about to leave. Should he go with his mother or stay with his father? Infinite possibilities arise from this decision. As long as he doesn't choose, anything is possible.
Director: Jaco Van Dormael | Stars: Jared Leto, Sarah Polley, Diane Kruger, Linh-Dan Pham
Votes: 245,661 | Gross: $0.00M
30. Unbreakable (2000)
PG-13 | 106 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A man learns something extraordinary about himself after a devastating accident.
Director: M. Night Shyamalan | Stars: Bruce Willis, Samuel L. Jackson, Robin Wright, Spencer Treat Clark
Votes: 440,987 | Gross: $95.01M
31. Chronicle (2012)
PG-13 | 84 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
Three high school friends gain superpowers after making an incredible discovery underground. Soon they find their lives spinning out of control and their bond tested as they embrace their darker sides.
Director: Josh Trank | Stars: Dane DeHaan, Alex Russell, Michael B. Jordan, Michael Kelly
Votes: 264,248 | Gross: $64.58M
32. Donnie Darko (2001)
R | 113 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
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: 849,213 | Gross: $1.48M
33. 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: 485,239 | Gross: $137.69M
34. 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: 206,521 | Gross: $11.98M
35. Primer (2004)
PG-13 | 77 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
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: 114,029 | Gross: $0.42M
36. The Lobster (2015)
R | 119 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
In a dystopian near future, according to the laws of The City, single people are taken to The Hotel, where they are obliged to find a romantic partner in 45 days or they're transformed into beasts and sent off into The Woods.
Director: Yorgos Lanthimos | Stars: Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Jessica Barden, Olivia Colman
Votes: 295,426 | Gross: $8.70M
37. Her (2013)
R | 126 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
In a near future, a lonely writer develops an unlikely relationship with an operating system designed to meet his every need.
Director: Spike Jonze | Stars: Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Scarlett Johansson, Rooney Mara
Votes: 668,635 | Gross: $25.57M
38. I'm Your Man (2021)
R | 108 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
In order to obtain research funds for her studies, a scientist accepts an offer to participate in an extraordinary experiment: for three weeks, she is to live with a humanoid robot, created to make her happy.
Director: Maria Schrader | Stars: Maren Eggert, Dan Stevens, Sandra Hüller, Hans Löw
Votes: 12,572
39. After Yang (2021)
PG | 96 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
In a near future, a family reckons with questions of love, connection, and loss after their A.I. helper unexpectedly breaks down.
Director: Kogonada | Stars: Colin Farrell, Jodie Turner-Smith, Malea Emma Tjandrawidjaja, Justin H. Min
Votes: 22,874
40. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
PG-13 | 146 min | Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi
A highly advanced robotic boy longs to become "real" so that he can regain the love of his human mother.
Director: Steven Spielberg | Stars: Haley Joel Osment, Jude Law, Frances O'Connor, Sam Robards
Votes: 322,782 | Gross: $78.62M
41. Ex Machina (2014)
R | 108 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A young programmer is selected to participate in a ground-breaking experiment in synthetic intelligence by evaluating the human qualities of a highly advanced humanoid A.I.
Director: Alex Garland | Stars: Alicia Vikander, Domhnall Gleeson, Oscar Isaac, Sonoya Mizuno
Votes: 587,604 | Gross: $25.44M
42. Alita: Battle Angel (2019)
PG-13 | 122 min | Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi
A deactivated cyborg's revived, but can't remember anything of her past and goes on a quest to find out who she is.
Director: Robert Rodriguez | Stars: Rosa Salazar, Christoph Waltz, Jennifer Connelly, Mahershala Ali
Votes: 293,324 | Gross: $85.71M
43. 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: 685,757 | Gross: $532.18M
44. V for Vendetta (2005)
R | 132 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi