Dystopian settings and all types of aliens help shape some of the best scifi movies on HBO Max. The 20 best scifi movies on HBO Max that make you think

Dystopian settings and all types of aliens help shape some of the best sci-fi movies on HBO Max.

The 20 best sci-fi movies on HBO Max that make you think

Dystopian settings and all types of aliens help shape some of the best sci-fi movies on HBO Max.

By Ilana Gordon,

Ilana Gordon is an entertainment, culture, and comedy writer originally from Connecticut. She currently lives in Los Angeles.

EW's editorial guidelines

Alex Galbraith,

Debby Wolfinsohn,

and Kevin Jacobsen

on September 19, 2025 8:14 a.m. ET

Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator in 'The Terminator'; Robert Pattinson as Mickey 17 in 'Mickey 17'; Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in 'The Hunger Games'. Credit:

Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty; Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures; Murray Close/Lionsgate

The science fiction films that comprise HBO Max's extensive inventory runneth over with daring heroes, treacherous villains, and everyday people plopped into extraordinary circumstances. Lose yourself in '60s epics adapted for the screen, CGI blockbusters, and indie fare, all of which interrogate our ideas about humanity, technology, and who deserves to rule this planet — and those in distant galaxies.

Here are the 20 best sci-fi movies to watch on HBO Max.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Keir Dullea as David Bowman in '2001: A Space Odyssey'. MGM/Stanley Kubrick Productions/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

Stanley Kubrick's claustrophobic, space-faring epic confronted audiences with a hard truth: No matter how far forward technology leaps, humans will still launch themselves into ultimately doomed quests toward somewhere else in service of whatever deities the universe provides. In spite of that ultimately bleak idea, the 1968 masterpiece is a gorgeous marvel of filmmaking, so grand in scope and design that it was originally screened on specially made curved screens to better envelop the audience in Kubrick's mad vision. We promise the "Also sprach Zarathustra" opening still lands on your television screen with the weight of an otherworldly monolith. *—Alex Galbraith*

Where to watch *2001: A Space Odyssey*: HBO Max

**Director: **Stanley Kubrick ** **

**Cast: **Keir Dullea, Gary Lockwood

The Blob (1958)

'The Blob'. Everett Collection

Where later sci-fi features would have to come up with ever more arcane reasons for their alien assailant's destruction, 1958's *The Blob* had the luxury of needing no explanation. An otherworldly goop from the far-off reaches of space has crash landed in a small town — and it's hungry. Beyond its ability to make food coloring and jelly frightening, the B-movie schlockfest is notable for being Steve McQueen's first leading role.

As the monster grows in size and color on its tyrannical tirade on Norman Rockwell's small-town America, McQueen gamely carries this slow-burn movie to its electrifying ending, with the angry red Blob meeting its match while consuming the local diner whole. The straightforward creature feature made a seismic impact on the sci-fi film genre, influencing countless future directors and inspiring a restored release through the Criterion Collection. *—A.G.*

Where to watch *The Blob*: HBO Max

**EW grade: **B

**Director: **Irvin Yeaworth

**Cast: **Steven McQueen, Aneta Corsaut, Earl Rowe, Olin Howland** **

Companion (2025)

Jack Quaid as Josh and Sophie Thatcher as Iris in 'Companion'.

Warner Bros. Pictures

If you're looking for a restful retreat, *Companion* is not your movie. A dark comedy about a couple named Josh and Iris (Jack Quaid and Sophie Thatcher) who head to a lake house for a weekend away, the film takes a turn when Iris learns she is a companion robot and breaks free from Josh's control. A combination romantic comedy, thriller, and sci-fi crime movie, the script investigates issues around technology, masculinity, power dynamics, and relationships through a tongue-in-cheek lens: Think a darker and more toxically male spin on Spike Jonze's *Her *(2013).

Quaid and Thatcher are both standouts in their TV ensembles — *The Boys* and *Yellowjackets*, respectively — and their opposing energies create a special chemistry here. EW's senior writer promises, "[Drew] Hancock's feature directorial debut is a hell of an invigorating revenge fantasy, made all the more satisfying by its own winking self-awareness." *—Ilana Gordon*

Where to watch *Companion*: HBO Max

**EW grade: **B+

**Director: **Drew Hancock

**Cast: **Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, Lukas Gage, Megan Suri, Harvey Guillén, Rupert Friend

Daybreak (1993)

Cuba Gooding Jr. as Torch and Moira Kelly as Blue in 'Daybreak'.

HBO/Courtesy Everett Collection

More than 100,000 people died in the United States from AIDS in the '80s, and the movie *Daybreak* — released in 1993 — offers an even more dystopian look at how the epidemic could have unfolded. Set in the near future, *Daybreak*, a sci-fi thriller, tells the story of an America under siege from an unidentified, AIDS-esque crisis. People who test positive for the disease are quarantined in camps, and killed if they try to leave. **

Cuba Gooding Jr stars as Torch, an activist who meets Blue (Moira Kelly) and begins to educate her about and radicalize her against the system. The film is based on an 1987 Off-Broadway play called *Beirut*, and features a cast of some of the most interesting actors working in the '90s. An ambitious movie for its time, *Daybreak* hits differently amid Covid. *—I.G.*

Where to watch *Daybreak*: HBO Max

**Director: **Stephen Tolkin

**Cast: **Cuba Gooding Jr., Moira Kelly, Omar Epps, Martha Plimpton

Dune (2021)

Timothée Chalamet as Paul Atreides in 'Dune'.

Warner Bros. Pictures/Legendary Pictures

Frank Herbert's *Dune *novels are dense treatises on colonialism, climate change, and the nature of power. The spice-addled mish-mash of spiritualism and Sun Tzu was considered nigh unfilmable, especially after David Lynch's unfortunate 1984 attempt. But that was before director Denis Villeneuve wowed audiences by cutting the first book in half and plopping Hollywood's hardest-working waif (Timothée Chalamet) into an unforgiving landscape riddled with monstrous, holy worms.

The resulting film throws the viewer into the confusing tumult of young Paul Atreides' life, using the foreboding nature of the source material to ramp up the story's internal tension and confusion. A score of war drums and whispers never lets the viewer find their feet on the ever-shifting sands of Arrakis, which EW's critic calls "the kind of lush, lofty filmmaking wide screens were made for." *—A.G.*

Where to watch *Dune*: HBO Max

**EW grade: **B

**Director: **Denis Villeneuve

**Cast: **Timothée Chalamet, Rebecca Ferguson, Oscar Isaac, Josh Brolin, Stellan Skarsgård, Dave Bautista, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Zendaya, Chang Chen, Sharon Duncan-Brewster, Charlotte Rampling, Jason Momoa, Javier Bardem

Dune: Part Two (2024)

Zendaya as Chani in 'Dune: Part Two'.

Warner Bros. Pictures/LegendaryPictures

*Dune *fans who felt let down by the amount of screentime enjoyed by Zendaya's character, Chani, are in for a treat during the second half of Denis Villeneuve's two-part adaptation. Now a fully fleshed-out person with far more autonomy and substance than the character enjoyed in the original book, Zendaya's Chani invites Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) into her community and teaches him the ways of the Fremen.

But Chani's feelings for Paul — the would-be colonizer of her people's home — are complicated, and Villeneuve does a great job of allowing Zendaya and Chalamet to explore this nuanced relationship, centering their love as a grounding force amidst the rest of the film's bonkers plot. *—I.G.*

Where to watch *Dune: Part Two*: HBO Max

**Director: **Denis Villeneuve

**Cast: **Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Léa Seydoux, Stellan Skarsgård, Charlotte Rampling, Javier Bardem

Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)

Chris Hemsworth as Dementus in 'Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga'.

Jasin Boland/Warner Bros.

George Miller revitalized his *Mad Max *franchise with the 2015 release of *Mad Max: Fury Road*. Here, he's telling Furiosa's origin story in an eponymous prequel starring Anya Taylor-Joy*. *The film follows Furiosa as she is kidnapped as a child (played by Alylya Browne) from her home in the Green Place of Many Mothers, and brought as a gift to the leader of a biker gang.

This is a perfect introduction to the events depicted in *Fury Road*, and it's the first film in the franchise not to focus on Max himself (played in different versions by Mel Gibson and Tom Hardy). The movie fills in lots of narrative questions raised in the franchise, and while EW's reviewer notes that *Furiosa *isn't quite as good as *Fury Road*, "it does allow us to spend a little more time in this world and Miller's mind." —*I.G.*

Where to watch *Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga*: HBO Max**

**EW grade: **B+ (read the review)

**Director:** George Miller

**Cast: **Anya Taylor-Joy, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Burke, Alyla Browne

The Hunger Games (2012)

Woody Harrelson as Haymitch Abernathy and Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in 'The Hunger Games'.

Murray Close/Lionsgate/Courtesy Everett

More than a decade has passed since viewers were first transported to the country of Panem, a grim dystopian future divided into factions and ruled by a merciless Capitol. As penance for a past rebellion, every year, the children of Panem's 12 districts are required to enter their names into the country's Hunger Games, a televised event that is half reality competition show, half violent death match.

When Katniss Everdeen's (Jennifer Lawrence) little sister is selected as one of the tributes for District 12, she volunteers to take her place. To make it back home safe to her family, Katniss must survive her time in the arena, competing against tributes who have been training for the Games their whole lives, as well as her fellow District 12 tribute, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson), with whom she has a complicated relationship. *—I.G.*

Where to watch *The Hunger Games*: HBO Max

**EW grade: **A

**Director: **Gary Ross

**Cast: **Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth, Woody Harrelson, Elizabeth Banks, Lenny Kravitz, Stanley Tucci, Donald Sutherland

Inception (2010)

Leonardo DiCaprio as Cobb in 'Inception'.

Stephen Vaughan/Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection

In the film *Inception*, lucid dreaming is for suckers. Christopher Nolan's sci-fi, action thriller takes sleeping to a whole new level, introducing the idea that not only can a person's dreams be hijacked and information extracted, but new information can be implanted through inception. The titular process — invented by corporate spy Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) — allows outside forces to influence internal decisions, which is exactly what Cobb and his team of experts aim to do for their client, on what Cobb hopes will be his last job, so he can get back to his kids.

EW's critic describes the movie, saying, "It's a rolling explosion of images as hypnotizing and sharply angled as any in a drawing by M.C. Escher or a state-of-the-biz video game; the backwards splicing of Nolan's own *Memento* looks rudimentary by comparison." Developing an understanding of *Inception* requires multiple viewings, but it only takes one to truly enjoy it. *—I.G.*

Where to watch* Inception*: HBO Max

**EW grade: **B+

**Director:** Christopher Nolan

**Cast:** Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, Tom Hardy, Marion Cotillard, Cillian Murphy, Michael Caine

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978)

Donald Sutherland as Matthew Bennell in 'Invasion of the Body Snatchers'.

Everett Collection

Jack Finney's 1955 novel, *The Body Snatchers*, had a premise so tantalizing, it invited a movie adaptation and two remakes. What would happen, the book asked, if aliens secretly replaced humans with robotic versions of themselves? The three films seeking to answer that question are *Invasion of the Body Snatchers* (directed by Don Siegel and released in 1956), Philip Kaufman's remake of Siegel's movie (1978), and a 1993 film called *Body Snatchers*.

The 1978 version stars Donald Sutherland as a Health Department worker and sets the story in San Francisco in the '70s, using the premise as a device to satirize the self-absorption of the Me Generation. All three films "range from very good to magnificent", promises an EW writer, but the 1978 version is the superior option. *—I.G.*

Where to watch *Invasion of the Body Snatchers*: HBO Max

**EW grade: **A

**Director: **Philip Kaufman

**Cast: **Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright

Meg 2: The Trench (2023)

Jason Statham as Jonas Taylor and Shuya Sophia Cai as Meiying in 'Meg 2: The Trench'.

Daniel Smith/Warner Bros./Courtesy Everett Collection

The world needs more movies like *Meg 2: The Trench*, a film that is brazen in its ridiculousness, and confident in the pure, silly fun it offers its audience. The sequel to 2018's *The Meg*, *Meg 2 *continues to follow Jonas — Jason Statham having the time of his life — a rescue diver and environmental crime fighter who is once again called upon to save the world from escaped megalodons.

The film runneth over with the kind of shark chasing and jet ski riding that made the first film a summer hit. Best described as the opposite of *Jaws, *the movie simply doesn't have time for pretension or snobbery: It's too busy asking Jason Statham to battle a 75-foot-long meg using only his legs. In a world of highbrow, serious films, consider making time for a breath of fresh air like *Meg 2*. *—I.G.*

Where to watch *Meg 2: The Trench*: HBO Max

**Director:** Ben Wheatley

**Cast:** Jason Statham, Wu Jing, Sophia Cai, Page Kennedy, Sergio Peris-Mencheta, Skyler Samuels, Cliff Curtis

Mickey 17 (2025)

Robert Pattinson as Mickey 17 in 'Mickey 17'.

Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

After dominating the 2020 awards circuit with *Parasite*, Bong Joon Ho returns with *Mickey 17*, a black comedy sci-fi film starring Robert Pattinson as multiple versions of the same character, Mickey Barnes. Set in the year 2054, the movie follows Mickey as he flees Earth — and his unpaid debts — to join a space colony. Mickey finds a job as an "Expendable," a worker who engages in dangerous tasks and is cloned every time he dies. But when Mickey is cloned prematurely, resulting in multiple Mickeys, both Mickeys find themselves in danger of extermination. Pattinson continues to choose the weirdest roles in the most interesting projects, and in *Mickey 17*, he gets his money's worth, which comes in the form of ample characters and death scenes. *—I.G.*

Where to watch *Mickey 17*: HBO Max

**Director: **Bong Joon Ho

**Cast: **Robert Pattinson, Naomi Ackie, Steven Yeun, Toni Collette, Mark Ruffalo

Prometheus (2012)

Charlize Theron as Meredith Vickers and Idris Elba as Janek in 'Prometheus'.

Kerry Brown/20th Century Fox

In this prequel to the *Alien* film series, Noomi Rapace stars as an archaeologist aboard a spacecraft with a team of fellow explorers looking for the genesis of humankind. They travel to a distant moon and come to discover the threatening creatures that could jeopardize their existence — despite the crew members' best (and differing) intentions.

Directed by Ridley Scott with a screenplay co-written by Damon Lindelof, there's still plenty to ponder with *Prometheus*, even all these years later. As EW's critic wrote at the time, "This is jumbo-size science fiction, with a handsome, impermeable titanium gleam — and a thick coating of creationism lite." *—Kevin Jacobsen*

Where to watch *Prometheus*: HBO Max

**EW grade:** B+

**Director: **Ridley Scott

**Cast: **Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Guy Pearce, Idris Elba, Logan Marshall-Green, Charlize Theron

Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

Andy Serkis as Caesar in 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes'. Everett Collection

After an attempt to reboot the *Planet of the Apes* franchise proved ill-fated in the hands of Tim Burton, a new series of films starting with this 2011 installment was decidedly more successful. *Rise of the Planet of the Apes* explores the origins of the primate revolution, in which chemist Will Rodman (James Franco) raises Caesar, an ape with genetically enhanced intelligence who uses his wits to eventually take down the human race. The film deftly explores the slippery slope of experimenting with nature, and how lack of understanding can give rise to deadly consequences.**** Featuring state-of-the-art visual effects and yet another fiercely committed motion capture performance from Andy Serkis as Caesar, *Rise* is a gripping start to a series that would only become more visceral with 2014's *Dawn of the Planet of the Apes*, 2017's *War for the Planet of the Apes*, and 2024's *Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes*. *—K.J.*

Where to watch *Rise of the Planet of the Apes*: HBO Max

**Director: **Rupert Wyatt**

**Cast:** James Franco, Freida Pinto, John Lithgow, Brian Cox, Tom Felton, David Oyelowo, Andy Serkis

Scanners (1981)

Michael Ironside as Darryl Revok in 'Scanners'. Everett Collection

David Cronenberg's visceral blend of body horror and sci-fi first came to American audiences thanks to this Canadian cult classic. Before he was turning the ravishing good looks of Jeff Goldblum and Geena Davis on their heads via a not-so-sterile experimental machine in *The Fly*, Cronenberg confronted audiences with the goop inside our heads with *Scanners*.

In this bombastic dystopia, the heightened fear of the Cold War and the rise of a revitalized right wing tears the psyches of former hippies turned yuppies inside out, a phenomenon that Cronenberg realizes in vivid shades of red. These "scanners" harbor psychic and telekinetic powers, making waves in underground rings, national security, and in the unsuspecting heads of those around them. The subsequent story is nothing short of mind-bending (and blowing, considering the famous head explosion stunt). *—A.G.*

Where to watch *Scanners*: HBO Max

**Director: **David Cronenberg** **

**Cast: **Jennifer O'Neill, Stephen Lack, Patrick McGoohan, Lawrence Dane, Michael Ironside

Solaris (1972)

Natalya Bondarchuk as Hari and Donatas Banionis as Kris Kelvin in 'Solaris'. Everett Collection

Consider Andrei Tarkovsky's moody and meditative space story a graduate-level response to *2001: A Space Odyssey*. Just as grand in ambition, though less likely to be a hit if you throw it on at a party, this 1972 film dares to ask what the rules are in an endless cosmos and while intentionally avoiding spoon-feeding us easy answers.

Tarkovsky eschews the flash of his non-Soviet contemporaries, opting to use sci-fi in the manner of the era's novelists as a way to examine the as yet undiscovered contours of the human mind. The resulting film is short on special effects and long on philosophy, luxuriating in its nearly three-hour runtime to ponder human nature, unchanged even in the far-off era of long-distance space travel. *—A.G.*

Where to watch *Solaris*: Max

**EW grade: **B

**Director: **Andrei Tarkovsky** **

**Cast: **Donatas Banionis, Natalya Bondarchuk, Jüri Järvet, Vladislav Dvorzhetsky, Nikolai Grinko, Anatoly Solonitsyn

Spaceballs (1987)

George Wyner as Colonel Sandurz, Rick Moranis as Dark Helmet, and Mel Brooks as President Skroob in 'Spaceballs'.

MGM/Courtesy Everett Collection

For the ultimate science fiction genre experience, consider Mel Brooks' adventure spoof, *Spaceballs*. A satire that parodies beloved films like *Star Wars*, *Planet of the Apes*, *2001: A Space Odyssey*, and *Alien*, *Spaceballs* may bring the jokes, but it has easily the most heart of any Brooks movie. The Schwartz will be with us once again: There's an upcoming sequel. *—I.G.*

Where to watch *Spaceballs*: HBO Max

**Director: **Mel Brooks

**Cast: **Mel Brooks, John Candy, Rick Moranis, Bill Pullman, Daphne Zuniga, Dick Van Patten, George Wyner, Joan Rivers

Stalker (1979)

Alexander Kaidanovsky as the Stalker in 'Stalker'. Mary Evans/Ronald Grant/Everett

Another film by Andrei Tarkovsky, *Stalker* shares *Solaris' *preoccupation with the human mind and soul. The film's title refers to the main character, a guide known as the Stalker who works as an escort, ushering interested parties through an ominous and hazardous wasteland to a site called the Zone. Inside the Zone is a room that is said to be capable of granting visitors their innermost desires — though often at a heavy cost.

With a plot propelled by philosophical questions and musings, *Stalker *sees a writer and a professor journey into the Zone, and along the way, they meditate on the nature of human desire, selfishness, and what it means to truly know oneself. Considered one of the greatest films of all time — sci-fi or otherwise — *Stalker *is a movie that asks many questions but provides few conclusive answers. *—I.G.*

Where to watch *Stalker*: HBO Max

**Director: **Andrei Tarkovsky

**Cast: **Alexander Kaidanovsky, Anatoly Solonitsyn, Alisa Freindlich, Nikolai Grinko

The Terminator (1984)

Arnold Schwarzenegger as the Terminator in 'The Terminator'.

Orion Pictures Corporation/Everett

One of the most action-packed sci-fi flicks of the 1980s is also one of the most enduring. The movie that launched the careers of director James Cameron and his star Arnold Schwarzenegger tells the story of a cyborg assassin sent back in time to hunt and terminate one woman: Sarah Connor. Sarah finds help in Kyle Reese, a human soldier who was sent back in time to protect her from the Terminator.

Arnold wasn't joking when he said "I'll be back". *The Terminator*'s success created a launch pad for five movie sequels, plus a TV show, a web series, and an anime series. In a review of *Terminator 2: Judgement Day*, EW's writer calls the first film in the franchise "one of the most original movies of the 1980s …likely to remain one of the best sci-fi films ever made." *—I.G.*

Where to watch *The Terminator*: HBO Max

**EW grade:** A

**Director: **James Cameron

**Cast:** Arnold Schwarzenegger, Michael Biehn, Linda Hamilton, Paul Winfield

Time Bandits (1981)

Sean Connery as Agamemnon and Craig Warnock as Kevin in 'Time Bandits'. Everett Collection

For those who like a little anarchy with their popcorn (and who have an appreciation for uh, *unconventional *endings) this genre-breaking oddity conjures a grotesque and beautiful magic that could only have come from the mind of a Python. Terry Gilliam, the man responsible for *The Fisher King, Brazil*, and *The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, *has, in *Time Bandits*, created a title suitable for "the whole family" (sort of).

It tells the story of young Kevin, a boy whose parents make the Dursleys look decent, who is kidnapped by ​​time-traveling dwarves and taken on a wild journey chock-full of stop-motion animation effects. Like the best of Roald Dahl, Gilliam (who co-wrote the script) presents adults as idiots, children as heroes, and adventure as a priority, all in a non-sentimental yet moving manner. *—Debby Wolfinsohn *

Where to watch *Time Bandits*: HBO Max

**Director: **Terry Gilliam

**Cast:** John Cleese, Sean Connery, Shelley Duvall, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, Michael Palin

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