Looking to blast off into space or stage a high-tech dream heist? Both of those adventures and more are among the best sci-fi movies Netflix has to offer.
It seems like every big blockbuster these days is about space, aliens, or superheroes, which just goes to show that sci-fi is officially mainstream. Sci-fi movies have bigger budgets, bigger stars, and more incredible effects than ever, expanding the genre to previously unseen heights. Whether you’re a sci-fi junkie or you’re just looking for some escapism, Netflix has an amazing sci-fi movie for any mood or person. But with so much to choose from, picking one can feel a little like an adventure into space. As such, we’ve done the work for you by rounding up the best sci-fi movies on Netflix right now. In need of a few more suggestions? We’ve curated a guide to the best sci-fi movies on Amazon Prime Video and the best sci-fi movies on Hulu, too. An extremely hyped, ambitious flop, Waterworld is nonetheless an enjoyable watch two decades later as it’s aged gracefully into B-movie territory with surprisingly prescient themes. Most of the world is underwater after the polar ice caps melted, killing nearly all of humanity. But a special few have adapted to this new world by developing gills, including the Mariner (Kevin Costner). But the Mariner wants nothing to do with above-land humans, so when Helen (Jeanne Tripplehorn) and her companion Enola (Tina Majorino) seek out the Mariner’s help as they escape from a hostile artificial island, the Mariner becomes a reluctant hero. Rotten Tomatoes: 48% Stars: Kevin Costner, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Dennis Hopper Director: Kevin Reynolds Rating: PG-13 Runtime: 136 minutes Watch on Netflix Want to get the kids into sci-fi? This techpocalyptic animated thrill ride from Lord/Miller ( The Lego Movie, Solo: A Star Wars Story) ought to do the trick. Teenager Katie Mitchell has trouble connecting with her oddball family, especially when it comes to her father, who just could not be more different than Katie. But when he fears he might lose her forever when she leaves for film school, Katie’s father cancels her plane ticket to LA and takes the family on a road trip instead. Unfortunately, mid-trip, a scorned artificial intelligence (A.I.) called Pal incites a robotic rebellion, rounding up all the people of the Earth to send them out to space. Narrowly escaping capture, the Mitchells are now the last free humans on Earth, and with the help of a couple of damaged robots, they must find a way to save humanity — and their family. Rotten Tomatoes: 98% Stars: Abbi Jacobson, Danny McBride, Maya Rudolph Director: Michael Rianda Rating: PG Runtime: 87 minutes Watch on Netflix What’s the last kind of plane you want to hijack? Well, relatively high on the list is a plane on which a vampire is a passenger. Yet that’s exactly what happens in Blood Red Sky, which Deadline reports is on track to becoming the most successful German-made Netflix film ever, with over 50 million views globally. In this fast-paced fusion of horror, sci-fi, and action, Peri Baumeister plays Nadja, a newly transformed vampire traveling incognito. Once the hijackers shoot her and leave her for dead, we learn exactly what she is, and soon, the villains wish they hijacked a plane with Wesley Snipes as a passenger instead. Rotten Tomatoes: 82% Stars: Peri Baumeister, Alexander Scheer, Kais Setti Director: Peter Thorwarth Rating: TV-MA Runtime: 121 minutes Watch on Netflix In this star-studded, mind-bending epic directed by Christopher Nolan, dreams are weaponized. Leonardo DiCaprio is Dom Cobb, a so-called extractor who makes a living stealing secrets from the minds of the rich and powerful. But this time, Dom’s being asked to do the much-more-dangerous opposite — plant an idea in someone’s mind instead. Joined by Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, and Tom Hardy, Inception is a thrilling and visually unforgettable film with an ending that will keep you theorizing for years. Rotten Tomatoes: 87% Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, Cillian Murphy Director: Christopher Nolan Rating: PG-13 Runtime: 148 minutes Watch on Netflix Bugs. They’re smaller than us, but few things freak us out more. Director Just Philippot capitalizes on our innate fear of things that crawl and hop in his 2020 horror film The Swarm. Suliane Brahim stars as the widow Virginie, who’s trying and failing to keep her family afloat by raising locusts. When she learns the insects have developed a taste for human blood, it opens the door for her to finally make money off the things while at the same time making them more dangerous. When the inevitable comes, as Richard Brody writes for The New Yorker, the film does for grasshoppers “what Alfred Hitchcock did for birds.” Rotten Tomatoes: 82% Stars: Suliane Brahim, Sofian Khammesas, Marie Narbonne Director: Just Philippot Rating: TV-14 Runtime: 101 minutes Watch on Netflix It’s more fantasy than sci-fi, but Underworld offers sufficient sci-fi undertones and gory, pulse-pounding action to satisfy fans of either genre. For centuries, vampires have been at war with Lycans, a clan of violent werewolves who can transform between human and wolf form on command. Selene (Kate Beckinsale), orphaned by a Lycan attack, works as a Death Dealer, the most elite of vampire Lycan-killing units in the world. When Lycan leader Lucian (Michael Sheen) takes a mysterious interest in mortal doctor Michael Corvin (Scott Speedman), Selene gets the jump, capturing Corvin and protecting him from the Lycans, only to discover that Corvin’s work has potentially cataclysmic consequences for vampires and humans alike. The complete, five-film Underworld saga is available on Netflix. Rotten Tomatoes: 31% Stars: Kate Beckinsale, Scott Speedman, Michael Sheen Director: Len Wiseman Rating: R Runtime: 103 minutes Watch on Netflix What do you do when there’s a zombie outbreak in Las Vegas? Well, obviously, you take advantage of the situation and rob one of the city’s most successful casinos. At least that’s what Dave Bautista’s Scott Ward and his squad of mercenaries do in the zombie heist flick Army of the Dead. Judging by the previews for the film, Ward and his squad of mercs will need all the firepower they have and more. Unlike the shambling horrors populating your average zombie story, the undead of Vegas (sounds like a band name) not only count Elvis Presley impersonators, Vegas showgirls, and Bengal tigers among their ranks, but they’re fast, smart, and a lot more organized. Rotten Tomatoes: 70% Stars: Dave Bautista, Ella Purnell, Omari Hardwick Director: Zack Snyder Rating: R Runtime: 148 minutes Watch on Netflix Waking up with no memory of your identity would be pretty bad, right? Imagine that, on top of amnesia, you’re also inexplicably trapped in a cryogenic pod that’s slowly running out of air. That’s the premise for the French language sci-fi drama Oxygen. Mélanie Laurent plays the imprisoned protagonist who has nothing but her buried memories and the pod’s uncooperative computers to piece together who she is and how to survive. Oxygen looks to be a claustrophobic and gripping thriller, and it will be available for streaming beginning Wednesday, May 12. Rotten Tomatoes: 100% Stars: Mélanie Laurent, Mathieu Amalric, Malik Zidi Director: Alexandre Aja Rating: TV-MA Runtime: 100 minutes Watch on Netflix Critics don’t seem overly fond of Stargate, but the proof of its worth is in its fans. The world-hopping adventure flick stars Kurt Russell as the depressed Colonel Jack O’Neil, who leads the mission through the titular doorway to another world, and James Spader as the rogue scientist who’s about to be proven correct regarding his theory on the pyramids being built by someone other than the ancient Egyptians. Critics may not have loved the exciting and visually impressive action flick, but judging by what came after, the fans certainly did.
