Entertainment
10 Modern Sci-Fi Movies That Will Be Classics
The new millennium has been an embarrassment of riches for science fiction. From mainstream commercial hits to quiet and introspective pieces, the genre has thrived and reached new levels of recognition, thanks to directors like Denis Villeneuve and Jordan Peele. It’s a genre that has massively thrived in the modern age, not just due to continued franchises, but memorable original visions from the best filmmakers working today.
In fact, more than a few recent sci-fi movies are on their way to becoming classics of the beloved and daring genre. From award-winning successes like Arrival to box-office smash hits like Backrooms, these masterpieces will surely stand the test of time and take their worthy place alongside classics like Star Wars and 2001: A Space Odyssey.
10
‘Arrival’ (2016)
Amy Adams gives the best performance of her esteemed career in Denis Villeneuve’s 2016 cerebral sci-fi masterpiece Arrival. Adams plays Louise Banks, a linguist tasked with interpreting a series of symbols created by aliens newly arrived on Earth.
Insightful, thought-provoking, and profoundly impactful, Arrival is a cinematic masterpiece. The film is a triumph, balancing weighty ideas with a deeply humane plot that will resonate with every parent and child. Further elevated by Adams’ gripping performance, Arrival‘s standing has only improved over the years, with many considering it among the best films of the 21st century.
9
‘The Substance’ (2024)
Body horror has been a staple of the horror genre for decades now, with iconic titles like The Fly and Under the Skin showing the timeless effectiveness of body horror with sci-fi elements at their center. The Substance is simply the latest landmark title in the sci-fi body horror genre, further amplifying its abundance of gore and gross-out moments with a heaping dose of in-your-face messaging about the self-destructive culture of Hollywood beauty standards towards women.
The film’s overwhelming, in-your-face style manages to even give it a distinct edge from previous body horror films, making it an immediate fan-favorite for those who witnessed it. The hype and enthusiasm for the film even ended up being ridden all the way to a Best Picture nomination, a complete rarity for horror films and a perceived impossibility for body horror. While already being heralded as a horror classic, it’s easy to imagine the film as a sci-fi classic in the future as well. —Robert Lee
8
‘Dune’ (2021)
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Villeneuve strikes again. The ambitious director tackled Frank Herbert‘s notoriously divisive and challenging seminal novel Dune with a faithful adaptation starring Timothée Chalamet. The Oscar nominee stars as Paul Atreides, a young man caught in a galactic battle over control of the desert-like but crucial planet of Arrakis.
Dune successfully captures its source material’s grand scope and hefty themes and blends them with a healthy dose of thrilling action sequences worthy of a major Hollywood production. The film is an epic cinematic achievement that brought new life to a well-known classic, cementing its place in the pantheon of sci-fi triumphs. With the climactic finale of the Dune trilogy on the horizon, the classic status of this original entry is all but cemented.
7
‘Poor Things’ (2023)
An unrestrained arthouse dramedy from acclaimed visionary director Yorgos Lanthimos, Poor Things has an infectious mixture of raunchy comedy, insightful social messaging, and a quirky twist on its Frankenstein-adjacent story. The film follows the perspective of Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), a woman brought back to life through unorthodox means who has the physical body of an adult woman and the mind of a child. As she navigates the world and learns of its pleasures and hardships, she grows steadfast in standing for equality and liberation.
From the very first frame to its equal parts strange and emotional ending, Poor Things thrives thanks to the sheer creativity and personality of its execution, persisting in every part of the film and elevating it to massive critical acclaim. Even in the short time since its release, there has been overwhelming praise and appreciation for the artistry on display in the film, including 4 Academy Award wins. —Robert Lee
6
‘A Quiet Place’ (2018)
John Krasinski directs himself and his real-life wife, Emily Blunt, in 2018’s horror sci-fi A Quiet Place. Set in a world populated by blind monsters with heightened hearing, the film focuses on the Abbott family as they try to survive while grieving the death of their youngest child while expecting another.
Anxious but understated, A Quiet Place relies on the basics of horror, using mystery and silence to craft an exquisite creature feature far scarier than many other contemporary horror pictures. Soaring on the backs of Krasinski’s assured directing and Blunt’s career-best performance, A Quiet Place is a modern classic in the horror and sci-fi genres.
5
‘Backrooms’ (2026)
Based on the fan-favorite YouTube series of the same name, which in itself adapted a prominent internet creepypasta, Backrooms shines as one of the most prominent and shining examples of the future of filmmaking in the hands of the next generation. The film sees various people investigating a mysterious pathway in the basement of a furniture showroom that leads to the titular Backrooms. With strange, unsettling imagery and rooms that seemingly go on forever, it doesn’t take long before the dangers of the Backrooms make themselves present.
With a larger cinematic scale and a deeper examination of the thematic strengths and world of Backrooms as a whole, this feature-length extension of the web-series is everything that fans wanted and more from a Backrooms movie. Especially since this type of internet-centric adaptation never is this faithful to the original source material, the film became an immediate hit that capitalized on all the fans of the property while also seamlessly introducing it to new audiences. —Robert Lee
4
‘Mad Max: Fury Road’ (2015)
Thirty years after Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, George Miller returned to his famous franchise with Mad Max: Fury Road. The film stars Tom Hardy as Max Rockatansky, who joins Imperator Furiosa, played by the mighty Charlize Theron, to take down the despot Immortan Joe.
Mad Max: Fury Road is a technical achievement of the highest order. The film is basically a prolonged car chase, with Miller raising the stakes and thrills to new and epic heights. However, Fury Road is also a feminist rallying cry and a successful reinvention of a saga that spent years on life support.
3
‘Nope’ (2022)
Jordan Peele‘s neo-Western sci-fi horror Nope stars Daniel Kaluuya, Keke Palmer, and Steven Yeun. The film follows two siblings attempting to capture evidence of a UFO that appears over their horse ranch.
Nope offers interesting commentaries about the movie-making business, the film industry, and society’s simultaneous fear and obsession with the unknown. Like Peele’s previous efforts, Nope has a healthy dose of horror, adding a layer of tension to the already eerie premise. Exhilarating and audacious, Nope finds Peele at his most commercial, marking yet another triumph in his filmography and becoming an instant classic of the genre.
2
‘Project Hail Mary’ (2026)
Each generation manages to have its own high-budget sci-fi epic that pushes technological advancements to their limit to create a strikingly beautiful exploration of the cosmos, with this role being squarely filled by Project Hail Mary. This charming mixture of quirky humor and harrowing human nature makes for a great mixture of entertainment and emotion, delivering everything one would want out of a sci-fi blockbuster experience.
On top of being a really great film in its own right, there is an undeniable approachability and crowd-pleasing attribute to Project Hail Mary that makes it a joy to watch for just about everyone that witnesses it. While the film has only been out a few months, the pathway to newfound classic status is easily underway, as it will most certainly make a killing at the upcoming Academy Awards and will probably even win a few awards along the way. However, even more than just awards, Project Hail Mary is the type of fun, lighthearted movie with real depth that audiences will be reminiscing about and rewatching for decades to come. —Robert Lee
1
‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ (2022)
The Oscar-winning sensation Everything Everywhere All at Once stars Michelle Yeoh, Ke Huy Quan, Stephanie Hsu, and Jamie Lee Curtis. It tells the story of Evelyn, a Chinese-American immigrant who discovers she can access other universes and becomes involved in a multiversal battle against an all-powerful being called Jobu Tupaki.
Subversive and brilliant, Everything Everywhere All at Once is equal parts absurd and heartwarming. Blending heavy metaphysical themes with issues of family and identity, the film is a brilliant exploration of life, love, and the Asian-American experience. Everything Everywhere All at Once is unique, a film that will stand the test of time as one of the genre’s all-time best.
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