Comingsoon.net is blasting off into the final frontier to identify the best movies that never step foot on Earth. Check out our picks in the gallery below!
Space is so vast, so endless, so ever-expanding, it’s impossible to even come close to comprehending the true scale of what lies just beyond earth’s atmosphere. Few have actually been able to explore that borderless nothing in real life, but countless TV and movie characters have gotten the opportunity of a lifetime to spend plenty of time up there.
In fact, there are all kinds of stories that take place entirely in space. From worlds beyond ours to creatures that exceed even the most imaginative minds, the outer space portrayed on our screens is impossible to dismiss as fantasy when there’s truly no way of knowing everything that’s out there. With this in mind, let’s take a look at the best movies that never enter Earth’s atmosphere.
space movies
-
Alien (1979)
Ridley Scott’s seminal creature feature is a masterclass in tightly-contained thrills and claustrophobic horror (not to mention science fiction storytelling). With Sigourney Weaver in the leading role as Ripley, Alien never leaves its small-scale ship out in the middle of outer space.
-
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
The second entry in the Star Wars franchise, which seems to be expanding about as fast as outer space itself, The Empire Strikes Back is a space opera that’s impossible to beat. It’s one of the fullest and most captivating portrayals of the final frontier ever committed to celluloid.
-
Moon (2009)
Duncan Jones, son of inimitable rock star David Bowie, managed to deliver one of the best space movies to date back in 2009. Moon, which stars Sam Rockwell as an astronaut alone for three years with just a computer to keep him company, is a relatively grounded look at the horrors hidden in the wonders of space.
-
Star Wars (1977)
The precursor to The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars put all kinds of actors on the map and allowed George Lucas to show off just how unfathomable outer space really is. Aliens and advanced technology and beautiful scenery—it’s what these space movies are all about.
-
Sunshine (2007)
It’s no surprise that writer Alex Garland, the filmmaker responsible for recent hits like Ex Machina and Annihilation, conjured up a great space movie back in the late 2000s. Sunshine follows a group of astronauts from around the world as they set out to reignite the dying sun in the year 2057.
