Are you looking for the best sci-fi movies to watch this weekend? Science fiction is one of the most creative genres as it takes views on adventures from faraway galaxies to underwater worlds and everywhere in between, introducing them to otherworldly characters and technologies along the way.
Movies in this genre often combine scientific tropes with imaginations of future technology and that is why they are loved by most of the audience.
Best Sci-Fi Movies of All Time
1. The Matrix (1999)
Director: Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski
Genres: Sci-fi/Action
Star Cast: Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss
The Matrix is a 1999 science fiction action film written and directed by the Wachowskis. It is the first installment in The Matrix film series, starring Keanu Reeves, Laurence Fishburne, Carrie-Anne Moss, Hugo Weaving, and Joe Pantoliano.
It depicts a dystopian future in which humanity is unknowingly trapped inside a simulated reality, the Matrix, which intelligent machines have created to distract humans while using their bodies as an energy source.
When computer programmer Thomas Anderson, under the hacker alias “Neo”, uncovers the truth, he joins a rebellion against the machines along with other people who have been freed from the Matrix.
2. Jurassic Park (1993)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Genres: Sci-fi/Action
Star Cast: Sam Neill, Laura Dern, Jeff Goldblum
Jurassic Park is a 1993 American science fiction action film directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Kathleen Kennedy and Gerald R. Molen. It is the first installment in the Jurassic Park franchise, and the first film in the Jurassic Park original trilogy, and is based on the 1990 novel of the same name by Michael Crichton and a screenplay written by Crichton and David Koepp.
The film is set on the fictional island of Isla Nublar, located off Central America’s Pacific Coast near Costa Rica. There, wealthy businessman John Hammond and a team of genetic scientists have created a wildlife park of de-extinct dinosaurs.
When industrial sabotage leads to a catastrophic shutdown of the park’s power facilities and security precautions, a small group of visitors and Hammond’s grandchildren struggle to survive and escape the perilous island.
3. Jurassic World (2015)
Director: Colin Trevorrow
Genres: Sci-fi/Adventure
Star Cast: Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Ty Simpkins
Jurassic World is a 2015 American science fiction action film. Directed by Colin Trevorrow, written by Rick Jaffa and Amanda Silver, alongside Derek Connolly and Trevorrow from a story by Jaffa and Silver, and produced by Frank Marshall and Patrick Crowley, the film stars Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, Vincent D’Onofrio, Ty Simpkins, Nick Robinson, Omar Sy, BD Wong, and Irrfan Khan.
Set 22 years after the events of Jurassic Park, Jurassic World takes place on the same fictional island of Isla Nublar, located off the Pacific coast of Costa Rica. A successful theme park of cloned dinosaurs, dubbed Jurassic World, has operated on the island for years, bringing John Hammond’s dream to fruition.
The park plunges into chaos when a transgenic dinosaur escapes from its enclosure and goes on a rampage, while a conspiracy orchestrated by the park’s staff creates more dangers.
4. Prey (2022)
Director: Dan Trachtenberg
Genres: Sci-fi/Action
Star Cast: Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Dane DiLiegro
Prey is a 2022 American science fiction action horror film based on the Predator franchise. The film is directed by Dan Trachtenberg and written by Patrick Aison. It stars Amber Midthunder, Dakota Beavers, Dane DiLiegro, Michelle Thrush, Stormee Kipp, Julian Black Antelope, and Bennett Taylor.
The story revolves around Naru, a skilled Comanche warrior, who is striving to prove herself as a hunter. She finds herself having to protect her people from a vicious, humanoid alien that hunts humans for sport, as well as from French fur traders who are destroying the Buffalo they rely on for survival.
5. Predator (1987)
Director: John McTiernan
Genres: Sci-fi/Action
Star Cast: Arnold Schwarzenegger, Carl Weathers, Kevin Peter Hall
Predator is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by John McTiernan and written by brothers Jim and John Thomas. It is the first installment in the Predator franchise.
It stars Arnold Schwarzenegger as the leader of an elite paramilitary rescue team on a mission to save hostages in the guerrilla-held territory in a Central American rainforest, who encounter the deadly Predator, a skilled, technologically advanced alien who stalks and hunts them down.
6. The Tomorrow War (2021)
Director: Chris McKay
Genres: Sci-fi/Action
Star Cast: Chris Pratt, Yvonne Strahovski, J.K. Simmons
The Tomorrow War is a 2021 American military science fiction action film directed by Chris McKay, written by Zach Dean, and starring Chris Pratt.
It was produced by David Ellison, Dana Goldberg, Don Granger, David S. Goyer, Jules Daly, and Adam Kolbrenner, with a supporting cast featuring Yvonne Strahovski, J. K. Simmons, Betty Gilpin, Sam Richardson, Edwin Hodge, Jasmine Mathews, Ryan Kiera Armstrong, and Keith Powers. It follows a mix of present-day soldiers and civilians sent into the future to fight an alien army.
7. Tenet (2020)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Genres: Sci-fi/Action
Star Cast: John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki
Tenet is a 2020 science fiction spy action thriller film directed, written, and co-produced by Christopher Nolan with his wife Emma Thomas. A co-production between the United Kingdom and the United States, it stars John David Washington, Robert Pattinson, Elizabeth Debicki, Dimple Kapadia, Michael Caine, and Kenneth Branagh.
The film follows a CIA agent who learns how to manipulate the flow of time to prevent an attack from the future that threatens to annihilate the present world. Nolan continued his relationship with Warner Bros. and his production company Syncopy for both the production and the distribution of the film.
8. Ready Player One (2018)
Director: Steven Spielberg
Genres: Sci-fi/Action
Star Cast: Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn
Ready Player One is a 2018 American science fiction action film based on Ernest Cline’s novel of the same name. Directed by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by Zak Penn and Cline, it stars Tye Sheridan, Olivia Cooke, Ben Mendelsohn, Lena Waithe, T.J. Miller, Simon Pegg, and Mark Rylance.
The film is set in 2045, where much of humanity uses the OASIS, a virtual reality simulation, to escape the real world. A teenage orphan finds clues to a contest that promises the ownership of the OASIS to the winner, and he and his allies try to complete it before an evil corporation can do so.
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9. The Meg (2018)
Director: Jon Turteltaub
Genres: Sci-fi/Action
Star Cast: Jason Statham, Bingbing Li, Rainn Wilson
The Meg is a 2018 science fiction action film directed by Jon Turteltaub with screenplay by Dean Georgaris, Jon Hoeber, and Erich Hoeber, loosely based on the 1997 book Meg: A Novel of Deep Terror by Steve Alten.
The film stars Jason Statham, Li Bingbing, Rainn Wilson, Ruby Rose, Winston Chao, and Cliff Curtis. A group of scientists encounters a 75-foot-long megalodon shark while on a rescue mission on the floor of the Pacific Ocean.
10. Independence Day (1996)
Director: Roland Emmerich
Genres: Sci-fi/Action
Star Cast: Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum
Independence Day is a 1996 American science fiction action film directed by Roland Emmerich and written by Emmerich and Dean Devlin. It stars an ensemble cast that consists of Will Smith, Bill Pullman, Jeff Goldblum, Mary McDonnell, Judd Hirsch, Margaret Colin, Randy Quaid, Robert Loggia, James Rebhorn, and Harvey Fierstein.
The film focuses on disparate groups of people who converge in the Nevada desert in the aftermath of a worldwide attack by a powerful extraterrestrial race. With the other people of the world, they launch a counterattack on July 4 – Independence Day in the United States.
11. Star Trek (2009)
Director: J.J. Abrams
Genres: Sci-fi/Action
Star Cast: Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg
Star Trek is a 2009 American science fiction action film directed by J. J. Abrams and written by Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman. The film follows James T. Kirk and Spock aboard the USS Enterprise as they combat Nero, a Romulan from their future who threatens the United Federation of Planets.
The story takes place in an alternate reality that features both an alternate birth location for James T. Kirk and further alterations in history stemming from the time travel of both Nero and the original series Spock. The alternate reality was created in an attempt to free the film and the franchise from established continuity constraints while simultaneously preserving original story elements.
12. Inception (2010)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Genres: Sci-fi/Action
Star Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page
Inception is a 2010 science fiction action film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, who also produced the film with Emma Thomas, his wife.
The film stars Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief who steals information by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets. He is offered a chance to have his criminal history erased as payment for the implantation of another person’s idea into a target’s subconscious.
13. Aliens (1986)
Director: James Cameron
Genres: Sci-fi/Action
Star Cast: Sigourney Weaver, Michael Biehn, Carrie Henn
Aliens is a 1986 science fiction action film written and directed by James Cameron. It is the sequel to the 1979 science fiction horror film Alien, and the second film in the Alien franchise.
Set in the far future, the film stars Sigourney Weaver as Ellen Ripley, the sole survivor of an alien attack on her ship. When communications are lost with a human colony on the moon on which her crew first encountered the alien creatures, Ripley agrees to return to the site with a unit of Colonial Marines to investigate.
14. Star Wars: Return of the Jedi (1983)
Director: Richard Marquand
Genres: Sci-fi/Adventure
Star Cast: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher
Return of the Jedi is a 1983 American epic space-opera film directed by Richard Marquand. The screenplay is by Lawrence Kasdan and George Lucas from a story by Lucas, who was also the executive producer.
The sequel to Star Wars (1977) and The Empire Strikes Back (1980), it is the third installment in the original Star Wars trilogy, the third film to be produced, and the sixth chronological film in the “Skywalker Saga”.
Luke Skywalker attempts to bring his father back to the light side of the ‘Force’ while the rebels hatch a plan to destroy the second Death Star.
15. Men in Black (1997)
Director: Barry Sonnenfeld
Genres: Sci-fi/Adventure
Star Cast: Tommy Lee Jones, Will Smith, Linda Fiorentino
Men in Black is a 1997 American science fiction action comedy film directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, produced by Walter F. Parkes and Laurie MacDonald and written by Ed Solomon.
Loosely based on the Marvel comic book series of a similar name created by Lowell Cunningham and Sandy Carruthers, the film stars Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith as two agents of a secret organization called the Men in Black, who supervise extraterrestrial lifeforms who live on Earth and hide their existence from ordinary humans.
