The subgenre of space movies makes up an essential portion of the greatest sci-fi movies ever made. The genre has always been the best at exploring the unknown, and what symbolizes that concept better than the mysteries that lie beyond the stars?
Keeping our list limited to classics that explore worlds beyond Earth, but from an Earthling’s perspective, we sifted through the best streaming services to subscribe to for the greatest movies set in space so we could report back our findings. Enjoy these stellar cinematic journeys!
Solaris (1972)
Director: Andrei Tarkovsky
Starring: Donatas Banionis, Natalya Bondarchuk
What it’s about: A psychologist experiences an unexpected and unexplainable encounter when investigating a death at a space station on a distant planet.
Why it is one of the best space movies: Tarkovsky (the highly imaginative mind behind some sci-fi movies rated high on Rotten Tomatoes) makes one of his most intense, thought-provoking, and cerebral dramas out of Solaris – a mesmerizing, mysterious, mind-bending thriller was later remade by Steven Soderbergh with George Clooney in the lead.
How to watch Solaris
The Wandering Earth (2019)
Director: Frant Gwo
Starring: Wu Jing, Qu Chuxiao
What it’s about: In order to save the planet from the nearly-expired Sun, astronauts attempt to physically move it to a safer location in outer space.
Why it is one of the best space movies: Netflix’s Chinese-language adaptation of Cixin Liu’s novel, The Wandering Earth, is a unique end-of-the-world drama with stunning visuals and gloriously over-the-top action.
How to watch The Wandering Earth
Explorers (1985)
Director: Joe Dante
Starring: Ethan Hawke, River Phoenix, Jason Presson
What it’s about: A 15-year-old enlists his two friends to help construct a spaceship out of blueprints that came to him in a dream.
Why it is one of the best space movies: One of the earliest and best Ethan Hawke movies, Explorers, brings the ultimate childhood space travel fantasy to life with an adventure the whole family will love.
How to watch Explorers
Serenity (2005)
Director: Joss Whedon
Starring: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres
What it’s about: The continuing adventures of Captain Mal Reynolds and his ragtag crew of outlaws evading interplanetary government detection centuries after Earth becomes uninhabitable.
Why it is one of the best space movies: After Firefly was prematurely canceled, fans were given some closure in the form of the feature-length spin-off, Serenity, which mostly ditches the original series’ unique Western themes but is still a thoroughly exciting action thrillride.
How to watch Serenity
Galaxy Quest (1999)
Director: Dean Parisot
Starring: Tim Allen, Sigourney Weaver
What it’s about: The stars of a canceled, cult favorite sci-fi series are enlisted for the gig of their lives by a desperate alien species who believes their show is real
Why it is one of the best space movies: While essentially a clever and hilarious satire on geek culture, Galaxy Quest is still as exciting as any episode of Star Trek, Buck Rogers, or Battlestar Galactica could be and one of the best movies of the ‘90s as a result.
How to watch Galaxy Quest
- Stream Galaxy Quest on Pluto TV
- Rent or buy Galaxy Quest on Amazon
- Buy Galaxy Quest on Blu-ray on Amazon
RocketMan (1997)
Director: Stuart Gillard
Starring: Harland Williams, Jessica Lundy
What it’s about: A spacecraft designer lives out his life-long dream of becoming an astronaut, but his childish antics and bumbling nature cause trouble on the first expedition to Mars.
Why it is one of the best space movies: Not to be confused with an Elton John biopic from 2019, RocketMan is a funny, family-friendly Disney movie that deserves a sequel with an inspiring message about following your dreams.
How to watch RocketMan
Apollo 13 (1995)
Director: Ron Howard
Starring: Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton
What it’s about: In April 1970, a technical malfunction interrupts a mission to the moon, forcing three astronauts and those at Houston to race against time and safely bring them home.
Why it is one of the best space movies: Apollo 13 is a breathtaking, Academy Award-winning retelling of a shocking true event that remains the ultimate cautionary tale of space travel and one of Tom Hanks’ best movies.
How to watch Apollo 13
First Man (2018)
Director: Damien Chazelle
Starring: Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy
What it’s about: In the late 1960s, Neil Armstrong struggles with safety hazards and his own emotional issues as he prepares for a history-making trip to the Moon.
Why it is one of the best space movies: Gosling gives one of his best performances as the titular First Man in this revealing biopic with Oscar-winning visual effects that place you right in the front seat of the Space Race.
How to watch First Man
The Right Stuff (1983)
Director: Philip Kaufman
Starring: Sam Shepard, Scott Glenn
What it’s about: The origins of the United States space program as seen through the eyes of the seven experienced pilots chosen to be the first astronauts.
Why it is one of the best space movies: Inspired by Tom Wolfe’s award-winning non-fiction book, The Right Stuff (one of the most acclaimed box office bombs of the ‘80s) is a story about staring the impossible in the face and having what it takes to achieve a goal, whatever the cost.
How to watch The Right Stuff
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Starring: Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood
What it’s about: An astronaut crew investigates a mysterious discovery buried underneath the Lunar surface, which evolves into a fierce battle for supremacy between man and machine.
Why it is one of the best space movies: One of Stanley Kubricks’ best movies, 2001: A Space Odyssey (which he co-wrote with original novel author Arthur C. Clarke) is a groundbreaking spectacle with timeless, Academy Award-winning special effects, thought-provoking themes, and (courtesy of the iconic AI HAL-9000) technophobic caution.
How to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey
- Stream 2001: A Space Odyssey on Max
- Rent or buy 2001: A Space Odyssey on Amazon
- Buy 2001: A Space Odyssey on Blu-ray on Amazon
Gravity (2013)
Director: Alfonso Cuarón
Starring: Sandra Bullock, George Clooney
What it’s about: An engineer and a veteran astronaut must engage in an unforgiving fight for survival on the outskirts of Earth’s gravitational field.
Why it is one of the best space movies: Cuaron won his first Academy Award for directing the thoroughly intense Gravity, which also completely and deservedly swept 2014’s technical categories for its unbelievably vivid recreation of outer space in all its beauty and cold brutality.
How to watch Gravity
Interstellar (2014)
Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Matthew McConaughey, Jessica Chastain
What it’s about: A NASA pilot-turned-farmer is forced to leave his daughter behind and join the search for a new home as Earth runs dangerously low on resources.
Why it is one of the best space movies: Unsurprisingly, one of Christopher Nolan’s best movies, Interstellar, won a Best Visual Effects Oscar, but the heartbreaking father-daughter story is truly why this modern, pre-apocalyptic sci-fi classic is destined to remain timeless.
How to watch Interstellar
- Stream Interstellar on Paramount+
- Stream Interstellar on Pluto TV
- Rent or buy Interstellar on Amazon
- Buy Interstellar on Blu-ray on Amazon
The Martian (2015)
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Matt Damon, Jessica Chastain
What it’s about: When an astronaut is accidentally left stranded on the Red Planet, he must “science the shit out of” his situation to survive as NASA struggles to figure out how to bring him home.
Why it is one of the best space movies: For all of its gorgeous imagery, thrilling suspense, and braininess, what really sells this Oscar-nominated adaptation of Andy Weir’s novel, The Martian, is Damon’s engaging charisma and the script’s tasteful humor amid otherwise grim and distressing circumstances.
How to watch The Martian
Titan A.E. (2000)
Director: Don Bluth, Gary Goldman
Starring: Matt Damon, Drew Barrymore
What it’s about: A young survivor of Earth’s destruction several years earlier becomes the final hope for humanity after learning he holds the key to finding a long-lost, coveted ship.
Why it is one of the best space movies: Years before The Martian or Interstellar, Matt Damon got to be the space traveler doing some saving, instead of being saved, in Titan A.E. – an inventive, visually unique, and thrilling animated adventure the whole family will love.
How to watch Titan A.E.
Contact (1997)
Director: Robert Zemeckis
Starring: Jodie Foster, Matthew McConaughey
What it’s about: An ambitious astronomer discovers irrefutable evidence of extraterrestrial life, leading to the construction of a device that may redefine space travel.
Why it is one of the best space movies: Based on the novel by famed astrophysicist Carl Sagan, Contact is a transfixing, highly imaginative, and emotionally impactive drama and one of Robert Zemeckis’ best movies.
How to watch Contact
Ad Astra (2019)
Director: James Gray
Starring: Brad Pitt, Tommy Lee Jones
What it’s about: The son of a long-missing astronaut is given the chance to finally find him when NASA suspects he is the cause of a strange threat to Earth.
Why it is one of the best space movies: From its intense introduction to the thought-provoking ending of Ad Astra (which translates from Latin to “to the stars”), the film boasts stunning visuals and an extremely plausible depiction of commercial space travel that, boldly, does not shy away from the concept’s potential dangers.
How to watch Ad Astra
Sunshine (2007)
Director: Danny Boyle
Starring: Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne
What it’s about: When the Sun begins to lose its spark, an international crew of astronauts is sent to revive it with a nuclear blast.
Why it is one of the best space movies: Almost like Armageddon with a bigger brain, writer Alex Garland’s Sunshine is a real nail-biter of a concept elevated by a thoroughly inventive storyline and an engrossing visual scope.
How to watch Sunshine
Moon (2009)
Director: Duncan Jones
Starring: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey
What it’s about: A man nearing the end of his three-year mission retrieving resources from the lunar surface makes a startling discovery that changes the outlook of his career and his entire life.
Why it is one of the best space movies: Sam Rockwell gives one of the most memorable sad astronaut performances in Moon – a criminally underrated thriller that brilliantly uses outer space as a backdrop for a gripping tale of existential dread.
How to watch Moon
Alien (1979)
Director: Ridley Scott
Starring: Tom Skerritt, Sigourney Weaver
What it’s about: A commercial spaceship crew discovers an extraterrestrial life form that puts everyone on board at risk of a brutal fate.
Why it is one of the best space movies: The first installment of the ongoing Alien movies franchise is a brilliant cosmic epic with the pulse-pounding tension of a slasher movie, famous for introducing one of the most badass female characters in sci-fi history: Ellen Ripley.
How to watch Alien
WALL-E (2008)
Director: Andrew Stanton
Starring: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight
What it’s about: An adorable robot left to clean up an abandoned Earth meets a mysterious, advanced model searching for life on the uninhabitable planet.
Why it is one of the best space movies: The beautifully animated and thought-provoking Pixar movie classic WALL-E is a good palate cleanser from all the doom and gloom in most other space movies, despite touching on some frighteningly plausible themes.
How to watch WALL-E
The Star Wars movies and Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy films, for instance, make space travel look fun, until you see these films and begin to reconsider that thought. At least we can say that space movies give us a rush that most Earthbound adventures cannot hold a candle to.
