Wired's The Best Sci-fi Movies Everyone Should Watch Once
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Aliens, astronauts, time travel – you name it, there’s a dazzling sci-fi film about it. That makes compiling a list of the best sci-fi nigh on impossible. For one, where do you start?
To understand where sci-fi films came from, you need to head back to the dawn of the cinema age. Right at the start of it all, Metropolis, released in 1927, used groundbreaking visuals to create a reference point for all future urban dystopias – it’s no fluke, for example, that the aesthetic of Blade Runner bares more than a passing resemblance to Fritz Lang’s prophetic urban hell-scape.
Then along came War of the Worlds (1953), a gripping tale of alien invasion adapted from H.G. Wells’ classic novel. In 1964, Dr. Strangelove did more than most films before or since to ossify the fear of a nuclear holocaust. Then, in 1968, perhaps the most influential sci-fi film of them all: 2001: A Space Odyssey. Say no more.
This is Wired's ever evolving selection of the sci-fi movies everyone should watch, starting with something a little obscure but hugely influential.
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5 new
Westworld
1973, in 4 top lists Check -
6 new
Logan's Run
1976, in 4 top lists Check -
16 new
Tron
1982, in 5 top lists Check -
17 new
The Terminator
1984, in 24 top lists Check -
20 new
RoboCop
1987, in 15 top lists Check -
21 new
Akira
1988, in 22 top lists Check -
22 new
Kôkaku Kidôtai
1995 — a.k.a. Ghost in the Shell, in 12 top lists Check -
24 new
Star Trek: First Contact
1996, in 2 top lists Check -
25 new
The Fifth Element
1997, in 7 top lists Check -
30 new
The Matrix
1999, in 30 top lists Check -
31 new
eXistenZ
1999, in 3 top lists Check -
33 new
Minority Report
2002, in 8 top lists Check -
36 new
Serenity
2005, in 4 top lists Check -
40 new
Cloverfield
2008, in 3 top lists Check -
43 new
District 9
2009, in 10 top lists Check -
45 new
Inception
2010, in 21 top lists Check -
47 new
Rise of the Planet of the Apes
2011, in 2 top lists Check -
48 new
Looper
2012, in 2 top lists Check -
49 new
Snowpiercer
2013, in 2 top lists Check -
54 new
Edge of Tomorrow
2014, in 3 top lists Check -
57 new
Mad Max: Fury Road
2015, in 23 top lists Check
Last updated on Aug 28, 2020; source