The Playlist's The 100 Best Sci-Fi Films of All Time
Created by Chilton.
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If there was ever a time where sci-fi was seen as something only for geeks, that time has long gone. You could debate the exact point at which it changed — when Stanley Kubrick’s “2001” had audiences dropping acid for a better trip, when the blockbuster success of “Star Wars” changed film forever, when comic book movies dominated screens, when CGI made it possible to do almost anything, when even nerdy old “Star Trek” got a sleek, hip makeover — but there’s no doubt that the genre is firmly within the mainstream.
Indeed, looking at the blockbuster season ahead, there’s all kinds of science-fiction adventures to come, with this week bringing the second space adventure in three weeks, with Ridley Scott’s “Alien: Covenant,” which follows “Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol. 2” into theaters, where it’s currently doing gangbusters. And three of the all-time top-five worldwide grossers are hard sci-fi movies: “Avatar,” “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “Jurassic World.”
Scott’s return once again to the sci-fi franchise he helped create has had us thinking about the genre’s place in history, so we decided to take our most comprehensive look at the genre ever, and pick out what, in our view, are the 100 greatest sci-fi movies of all time.
It’s a genre almost as old as cinema, so it was understandably difficult to pin down, even with a few ground rules (most notably that we sort of consider superhero films their own thing). But we’ve found a list that we’re pretty happy with in the end, though we’re sure it’ll inspire plenty of debate. Take a look below.
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45 new
Welt am Draht
1973 — a.k.a. World on a Wire, in 2 top lists Check -
26 new
Solyaris
1972 — a.k.a. Solaris, in 27 top lists Check -
4 new
Stalker
1979, in 22 top lists Check -
9 new
Metropolis
1927, in 36 top lists Check -
93 new
Contact
1997, in 2 top lists Check -
1 new
2001: A Space Odyssey
1968, in 45 top lists Check -
42 new
Inception
2010, in 21 top lists Check -
53 new
A.I. Artificial Intelligence
2001, in 11 top lists Check -
75 new
Minority Report
2002, in 8 top lists Check -
49 new
Strange Days
1995, in 4 top lists Check -
72 new
The Abyss
1989, in 3 top lists Check -
25 new
The Man Who Fell to Earth
1976, in 8 top lists Check -
5 new
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1977, in 23 top lists Check -
8 new
Aliens
1986, in 24 top lists Check -
11 new
Terminator 2: Judgment Day
1991, in 27 top lists Check -
67 new
A Clockwork Orange
1971, in 37 top lists Check -
12 new
The Matrix
1999, in 30 top lists Check -
7 new
Brazil
1985, in 23 top lists Check -
96 new
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
2014, in 3 top lists Check -
73 new
Starship Troopers
1997, in 9 top lists Check -
80 new
Jurassic Park
1993, in 23 top lists Check -
46 new
Her
2013, in 10 top lists Check -
63 new
Snowpiercer
2013, in 2 top lists Check -
97 new
Rollerball
1975, in 4 top lists Check -
69 new
Tenkû no shiro Rapyuta
1986 — a.k.a. Castle in the Sky, in 10 top lists Check -
16 new
Akira
1988, in 22 top lists Check -
20 new
Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back
1980, in 25 top lists Check -
3 new
Star Wars
1977, in 40 top lists Check -
30 new
Gwoemul
2006 — a.k.a. The Host, in 11 top lists Check -
23 new
Mad Max: Fury Road
2015, in 23 top lists Check -
83 new
Abre los ojos
1997 — a.k.a. Open Your Eyes, in 2 top lists Check -
6 new
Alien
1979, in 30 top lists Check -
2 new
Blade Runner
1982, in 36 top lists Check -
40 new
Arrival
2016, in 11 top lists Check -
17 new
Back to the Future
1985, in 25 top lists Check -
13 new
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial
1982, in 30 top lists Check -
21 new
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
1978, in 3 top lists Check -
62 new
Starman
1984, in 0 top lists Check -
94 new
Donnie Darko
2001, in 21 top lists Check -
81 new
Looper
2012, in 2 top lists Check -
84 new
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
1982, in 6 top lists Check -
43 new
Total Recall
1990, in 8 top lists Check -
58 new
District 9
2009, in 10 top lists Check -
66 new
Fahrenheit 451
1966, in 4 top lists Check -
57 new
Planet of the Apes
1968, in 16 top lists Check -
95 new
Kurôn wa kokyô wo mezasu
2008 — a.k.a. The Clone Returns Home, in 0 top lists Check -
10 new
Children of Men
2006, in 13 top lists Check -
15 new
The Thing
1982, in 20 top lists Check -
74 new
The Brother from Another Planet
1984, in 1 top list Check -
92 new
Ex Machina
2014, in 5 top lists Check
Last updated on Apr 24, 2020 by Chilton; source