The 2020s are almost half over, but it’s still too soon to determine if this decade will produce any of the best sci-fi movies of all time.
That’s not to say that there haven’t been some great science fiction movies in the last five years. The genre seems to be having a resurgence between theatrical releases and original streaming movies.
The Watch With Us team recently put together our picks for the 10 best sci-fi movies of the 2020s so far, but we reserve the right to revise the list if something better comes along.
We wouldn’t be shocked if one or more movies join this list by the end of 2025, including Avatar: Fire and Ash. But for now, the following films are the ones we selected.
If this list were for the best special effects in the sci-fi movies of the 2020s, then Avatar: The Way of Water would have been No. 1. Director James Cameron revisits the world of Pandora 16 years after the events of Avatar. In that time, Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña) married and had children while living peacefully alongside the other Na’vi. That peace is shattered when human forces from the Resources Development Administration invade Pandora with an even larger assault force than before.
Like a ghost back from the dead, Jake’s nemesis, Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), returns through a cloned Na’vi avatar, and his knowledge of the Sullys scares Jake. To protect his family, Jake relocates and joins the Metkayina, a clan of Na’vi who live by the sea. But the Sully family can only hide for so long before Quaritch catches up to them.
Avatar: The Way of Water is streaming on Disney+.
9. ‘A Quiet Place: Day One’ (2024)The two previous Quiet Place films followed a family after the world was invaded by blind alien creatures that hunt by sound rather than by sight. That gave A Quiet Place: Day One a sense of inevitable dread, since this prequel is about how the “normal” world ended. Samira (Lupita Nyong’o) was already facing the end of her life to cancer when the invasion began, but she emerges as one of the few survivors of the initial attack.
Sam and a stranger named Eric (Joseph Quinn) band together to find a way out of New York City after the bridges are cut off by the military. Above all else, they have to remain as silent as possible, or else their escape attempt will be over before it begins.
A Quiet Place: Day One is streaming on Paramount+.
8. ‘Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes’ (2024)The Planet of the Apes movies have come a long way from the fake-looking ape masks that the actors had to wear in the original movies. Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is the fourth modern movie in the series — not counting the 2001 remake — and the special effects are jaw-dropping. The story is also a clean break from the previous trilogy that takes place three centuries after the death of Caesar.
Noa (Owen Teague), a young ape in the Eagle clan, is the only member of his tribe who isn’t captured by the tyrant Proximus Caesar (Kevin Durand), a duplicitous ape who has perverted Caesar’s teachings while enslaving humans and apes alike. To free his people, Noa befriends an orangutan named Raka (Peter Macon) and Mae (Freya Allan), a human girl who has her own agenda and a burning hatred for Proximus.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes is streaming on Hulu.
Jordan Peele‘s third film as a director, Nope, is a sci-fi/horror story that features Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer as siblings Otis “OJ” Haywood Jr. and Emerald “Em” Haywood. As their family business starts to go under, and theme park owner Ricky “Jupe” Park (Steven Yeun) buys up their horses, OJ and Em realize that they can turn their fortunes around if they’re able to catch a nearby UFO on film.
The siblings’ scheme attracts the attention of a tech expert, Angel Torres (Brandon Perea), who eagerly offers to help. However, they fail to realize just how dangerous the UFO really is or what will happen if it inevitably turns its attention towards them.
Nope is available to rent or buy on Prime Video.
6. ‘Dune’ (2021)David Lynch previously attempted to adapt Frank Herbert‘s Dune in 1984, but Denis Villeneuve‘s version of the story finally captured the grand scope of the novel. Between Arrival and Blade Runner 2049, Villeneuve already had two terrific sci-fi movies under his belt. But Dune was a major upgrade from Villeneuve’s previous efforts and it lived up to the novel’s epic story.
In the distant future, humanity has expanded across the universe under the rule of a galactic empire. Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) — the son of Duke Leto Atreides (Oscar Isaac) and Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson) — experiences visions he can’t explain after the House Atreides is given control of Arrakis, the most important planet in the empire. Whoever controls the spice mines of Arrakis controls the universe. However, the Antreides family faces treachery that may mean the end of their house unless Paul can find a way to survive among the Fremen who live in the harsh deserts of Arrakis.
Dune is streaming on Max.
5. ‘Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3’ (2023)Through the first five years of the decade, there haven’t been any Star Wars or Star Trek movies in theaters. That’s why Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is the only theatrically released action-adventure space opera from the last half-decade. Writer and director James Gunn was able to overcome the onset of superhero fatigue by creating an emotional story centered on Rocket, as voiced by Bradley Cooper. After Rocket suffers near-fatal wounds during an attack by Adam Warlock (Will Poulter), the rest of the Guardians discover they won’t be able to save him without retrieving information from his creator, the High Evolutionary (Chukwudi Iwuji).
As Rocket relives his tragic origin through painful flashbacks, the Guardians turn to Gamora (Zoe Saldaña), a temporal duplicate of their late friend and the former lover of Peter Quill (Chris Pratt). This version of Gamora wants nothing to do with Peter, but the Guardians can’t save Rocket without her help.
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 is streaming on Disney+.
The Wild Robot is one of DreamWorks Animation’s best movies in recent memory, and it drew some comparisons to Pixar’s WALL-E when it was first released. Unlike WALL-E, Roz (Lupita Nyong’o) is more loquacious when she is stranded in a wild, uninhabited area where many of the animals are afraid of her. Not even Roz’s ability to communicate with the wildlife can quell their fear.
Regardless of her early difficulties, Roz finds a new purpose in life as the adoptive guardian of a young goose she calls Brightbill (Kit Connor) and through her friendship with a fox named Fink (Pedro Pascal). Yet just as Roz settles into this new phase of her existence, a remnant of her old life arrives with the intent of forcibly taking Roz back to their corporate masters.
The Wild Robot is streaming on Peacock.
3. ‘Prey’ (2021)The Predator franchise badly needed some fresh ideas and a new perspective. It got both in Prey, a prequel film set hundreds of years before the events of Predator. Co-writer and director Dan Trachtenberg set the story in 1719 as a primitive and feral predator (Dane DiLiegro) arrives on Earth looking for a hunt. And only humans are suitable prey for this beast.
Amber Midthunder leads the human cast as Naru, a young Comanche woman who desperately wants to be a warrior like her brother, Taabe (Dakota Beavers). Although the tribe berates Naru for her ambition, she is one of the few survivors in the initial battles between the warriors and the predator. Naru realizes that the predator can’t be defeated by strength alone, but discovering its weakness may be the last thing she ever does.
Prey is streaming on Hulu.
2. ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ (2022)The writing and directing team of Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert envisioned Everything Everywhere All at Once as a surreal sci-fi/fantasy martial arts action comedy/drama. As unlikely as it sounds, the film is all of those things and more. Michelle Yeoh stars as Evelyn Quan Wang, a woman whose marriage to Waymond Wang (Ke Huy Quan) is failing while their family-owned laundromat faces an audit by IRS agent Deirdre Beaubeirdre (Jamie Lee Curtis). Evelyn is also emotionally estranged from her daughter, Joy (Stephanie Hsu).
Things take a turn for the weird when a version of Waymond from another universe recruits Evelyn to face Jobu Tupak, a being who threatens the existence of the entire multiverse. Evelyn is soon thrust through the lives and memories of her countless counterparts in the multiverse as she reluctantly faces this threat while attempting to repair her relationships with Waymond and Joy. Everything Everywhere All at Once struck a chord with audiences and critics, and it took home Oscars for the Daniels, Yeoh, Quan and Curtis on its way to winning the Best Picture award.
Everything Everywhere All at Once is streaming on Tubi.
As great as Dune is, Dune: Part Two is even better. Unlike its predecessor, the sequel doesn’t have an abrupt ending, and it feels more like a complete movie. Following the fall of House Atreides, Paul (Chalamet) and his mother, Lady Jessica (Ferguson), live among the Fremen. Because of Paul’s ability to master their ways, several of the Fremen believe that he may be the leader predicted by a prophecy.
Paul’s Fremen lover, Chani (Zendaya), rejects the idea that he is their messiah and only bonds with him because he rejects the mantle of leadership. But as the Fremen’s struggle to reclaim their planet invites harsh retaliation from House Harkonnen and even Emperor Shaddam IV (Christopher Walken) himself, Paul may not have any choice but to embrace his destiny at the cost of his soul.
Dune: Part Two is streaming on Max.
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