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Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →If you want a space movie after Interstellar, start by choosing the mood: 2001: A Space Odyssey offers patient cosmic spectacle, Alien turns a spacecraft into a trap, and Apollo 13 grounds its tension in a real emergency. The ten picks below span exploration, survival, horror, first contact, and psychological drama. They are arranged for variety, not as an objective ranking.
Ten space movies worth making time for
“Space movie” can mean a story set aboard a spacecraft, a mission to another world, or an encounter with extraterrestrial life. These films are not interchangeable: some lean on historical events or science-informed fiction, while others use space as a setting for horror, ideas, or emotional unease.
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1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
For a landmark built around awe and ambiguity, Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey is the essential starting point. Its unhurried pace and startling images make space feel vast and strange; viewers looking for brisk action may find it deliberately demanding.
NASA’s account of the production describes spacecraft models, Cinerama, studio techniques, and a purpose-built, 30-ton centrifuge for rotating sets. The film was made before computer-generated imagery, and NASA reports that it required 205 special-effects sequences. It became North America’s highest-grossing film of 1968, won the Academy Award for visual effects, and was selected for the National Film Registry in 1991. NASA’s production and reception history details the film’s technical achievement.
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2. Alien (1979)
Ridley Scott’s Alien is the choice for space horror. The crew’s ship becomes a claustrophobic, hostile environment, and the film makes escape feel nearly impossible. It is considerably more intense than a general-audience adventure, so choose it for dread rather than cosmic wonder. The BFI discusses the film’s haunted-house-like ship in its guide to great films about space travel.
3. Apollo 13 (1995)
Ron Howard’s Apollo 13 turns a real mission emergency into a tense effort to bring astronauts home. Its appeal is the problem-solving under pressure: the danger comes from a damaged spacecraft and the limits of what its crew and ground team can do, not from an alien threat. Space.com gives the U.S. release date as June 30, 1995, and summarizes the mission and return effort in its space-movie guide.
Rank #2
4. The Martian (2015)
In The Martian, astronaut Mark Watney is left behind on Mars and must find ways to stay alive. It is a science-minded survival story with an accessible, resourceful lead. NASA collaborated with the production to make the mission “reasonably realistic,” but the storm that prompts the evacuation is dramatically exaggerated: NASA notes that Martian winds would be much weaker than portrayed. Treat it as informed fiction, not a literal account of what a Mars storm could do. Space.com lists its U.S. release date as October 2, 2015, and discusses the film in its recommendation guide.
5. Moon (2009)
Moon narrows the scale to an isolated lunar worksite and a small cast. Its central appeal is psychological: loneliness and questions of identity matter more than spectacle or a large ensemble. Space.com includes it among its bleak space-film recommendations.
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Rank #3
6. Silent Running (1972)
Silent Running makes space an unlikely setting for an environmental allegory. Its story follows a botanist trying to protect the last forests, held in orbital domes, from being lost. It belongs on this list for its atmosphere and ideas as much as for its science-fiction premise. Both Space.com’s retrospective and the BFI’s space-travel guide connect the film with its orbital forests and environmental themes.
7. Solaris (1972)
Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris is a reflective, grief-centered science-fiction film, not an action-led space thriller. Adapted from Stanisław Lem, it gives psychological questions and emotional memory room to unfold. This is the slow, meditative pick for viewers who want contemplation more than momentum; it is distinct from Steven Soderbergh’s 2002 adaptation. Space.com discusses the 1972 film in its space-film retrospective.
Rank #4
8. Gravity (2013)
Gravity offers immediate orbital survival and visual suspense. Where 2001 invites you to contemplate space, this film makes the environment feel perilously close and unforgiving. It suits viewers after a lean, intense survival story. The BFI cites it among films focused on the perils of space travel, while Space.com includes it in its retrospective.
9. Sunshine (2007)
Danny Boyle’s Sunshine builds a high-stakes crew mission around a speculative premise: a journey to address a dying Sun. It blends mission pressure with a more imaginative, heightened form of science fiction. Space.com includes it among its bleak space-film picks.
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10. Arrival (2016)
Arrival broadens the list from spaceflight and survival to the consequences of encountering extraterrestrial intelligence. Much of the story takes place on Earth, so it is the least literal fit if “space movie” means a film set primarily off-world. It earns its place as a first-contact story about how humanity responds to an alien presence; Rotten Tomatoes includes it in its wider guide to space movies and the unknown.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Choose by the experience you want
| If you want… | Try | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Cosmic wonder and visual craft | 2001: A Space Odyssey | Patient pacing and ambiguity |
| Claustrophobic horror | Alien | A hostile ship and sustained dread |
| A real-mission emergency | Apollo 13 | A return-home problem-solving drama |
| Science-minded survival | The Martian | Improvisation on Mars, with dramatic license |
| Quiet isolation and identity questions | Moon | An intimate lunar story |
| Environmental themes | Silent Running | An ecological allegory in orbital forests |
| Slow psychological science fiction | Solaris | Reflection and grief rather than action |
| Immediate survival suspense | Gravity | Peril in orbit |
| A high-stakes speculative mission | Sunshine | A crew journey built around the dying-Sun premise |
| First contact beyond a spacecraft story | Arrival | An alien encounter whose consequences unfold largely on Earth |
Why these ten—and why the order is not a ranking
The selection balances different reasons to watch space cinema: technical achievement, mission drama, horror, survival, environmental ideas, psychological reflection, and first contact. The order moves between tones rather than claiming a measured best-to-worst consensus. BFI and Rotten Tomatoes likewise treat space films as a broad field that can include adventure, peril, human experience, and speculative encounters.
For a sense of the films that shaped the genre, BFI identifies Ikarie XB-1 as an influence on 2001 and reports that Kubrick called it “a half step up from your average science fiction film.” That is an attributed comment about an influence, not a recommendation among the ten films above.
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