Space is empty. That’s the first thing they tell you. No oxygen. No gravity. No sound. Just silence wrapped around infinity. And yet, somehow, the best space movies manage to fill that void with heart-stopping tension and awe that lingers long after the movie ends.

This list isn’t just about flashy rockets and laser beams (though there’s some of that, too). These nine films are the ones that dug deeper into our fears, our science, our survival instincts, and our search for meaning. Some of them lean into realism, others into allegory, horror, or wonder.

What binds them all is their ability to use space as a stage for exploring mortality, identity, and resilience.

Strap in—we’re going orbital.

9. Contact (1997) – Robert Zemeckis

In Contact, Dr. Ellie Arroway (Jodie Foster), a radio astronomer, discovers a mysterious signal from deep space—a message that might be humanity’s first communication with extraterrestrial life. The film follows Ellie’s personal and professional journey as she fights for the chance to decode the signal, interpret its meaning, and possibly make first contact.

Robert Zemeckis directs this adaptation of Carl Sagan’s novel with a mix of grounded science and sweeping emotional stakes. The film blends politics, theology, and cosmic wonder, all orbiting Foster’s quietly intense performance. The opening shot—a zoom-out from Earth into deep space—is still one of the most poetic visual metaphors in sci-fi cinema.

Contact is a case study in how to make speculative science emotionally resonant. The screenplay respects scientific detail without losing narrative momentum.

8. WALL-E (2008) – Andrew Stanton

Pixar’s WALL-E opens on a future Earth that has been long abandoned by humanity. The only “inhabitant” left is WALL-E, a garbage-compacting robot with a penchant for collecting trinkets and watching old musicals. When a sleek robot named EVE arrives from a spaceship to search for signs of life, WALL-E is smitten and follows her into space, triggering a chain of events that might save the human race.

Directed by Andrew Stanton, WALL-E is a triumph of visual storytelling. The first 40 minutes are nearly dialogue-free, relying on expressive animation, clever sound design, and musical cues to deliver emotional weight.

Aspiring filmmakers can learn a great deal from WALL-E’s minimalist approach to exposition. It proves that you don’t need dialogue to create deep emotional investment.

7. The Martian (2015) – Ridley Scott

In The Martian, Mark Watney (Matt Damon), an astronaut stranded on Mars after a freak storm forces his crew to evacuate prematurely. Presumed dead, he must survive alone on the planet using his knowledge of botany, engineering, and a whole lot of duct tape until NASA figures out a rescue plan.

Ridley Scott’s direction turns a technical survival story into an unexpectedly funny and inspiring ride. Drew Goddard’s screenplay, adapted from Andy Weir’s novel, leans into Watney’s sarcasm and determination, letting humor act as an emotional anchor.

The Martian is a wonderful example of tone management. It juggles hard science, character development, and pacing without veering into melodrama or cold detachment. The screenplay shows how a character’s voice can shape an entire narrative.

6. Apollo 13 (1995) – Ron Howard

Based on the real-life events of NASA’s ill-fated 1970 lunar mission, Apollo 13 shows how three astronauts, Jim Lovell (Tom Hanks), Jack Swigert (Kevin Bacon), and Fred Haise (Bill Paxton) were forced to abort their moon landing after an oxygen tank exploded. The film tracks their desperate return to Earth as Mission Control scrambles to save them.

Ron Howard directs this with clinical precision and old-school suspense. Despite a known outcome, the tension is unbearable.

From a writing and directing standpoint, Apollo 13 proves you don’t need fictional stakes to grip an audience. It shows how structure, realism, and human ingenuity can create natural drama.

5. Alien (1979) – Ridley Scott

Ridley Scott’s Alien introduces the crew of the Nostromo, a commercial space tug awakened from cryosleep to investigate a distress signal on a desolate planet. What they bring back aboard is no distress signal, but a parasitic lifeform that grows into the ultimate predator. Ellen Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) leads the increasingly desperate crew as the alien stalks them one by one.

A mix of sci-fi, horror, and industrial realism, Alien reinvented space not as a pristine frontier, but as a gritty, claustrophobic trap. H.R. Giger’s alien design remains one of the most terrifying in cinematic history. The slow pacing and use of silence heighten dread, and Scott’s tight direction turns the Nostromo into a coffin of steel and shadow. Weaver’s Ripley became a new archetype: the reluctant but fierce female action hero.

Writers and directors should study Alien for its restraint. The screenplay is lean, its dialogue naturalistic.

4. Gravity (2013) – Alfonso Cuarón

In Gravity, Dr. Ryan Stone (Sandra Bullock), a medical engineer on her first shuttle mission, is left drifting alone in orbit after a catastrophic debris collision. Matt Kowalski (George Clooney), a veteran astronaut, tries to help guide her to safety as oxygen and hope run low.

Alfonso Cuarón delivers a staggering technical achievement. The long takes, immersive camerawork, and seamless digital effects create a terrifying illusion of weightlessness.

Gravity is a study in how technology and storytelling can complement, not compete. For screenwriters, the lesson is how internal character arcs can carry even the sparsest plots.

3. Solaris (1972) – Andrei Tarkovsky

Andrei Tarkovsky’s Solaris follows psychologist Kris Kelvin (Donatas Banionis) as he travels to a space station orbiting the mysterious planet Solaris. The crew has been experiencing hallucinations, and Kris soon encounters his dead wife Hari (Natalya Bondarchuk), recreated by the planet’s unexplained powers.

Solaris is less about space travel and more about the human mind. The film is slow, meditative, and drenched in melancholy.

For writers and directors, Solaris shows that science fiction doesn’t have to mean lasers and action. It can be poetry.

2. Interstellar (2014) – Christopher Nolan

In a dying future Earth, Cooper (Matthew McConaughey), a former NASA pilot turned farmer, is recruited for a last-ditch mission to find a habitable planet. Traveling through a wormhole near Saturn, he and his team confront black holes, time dilation, and moral choices with galactic consequences.

Christopher Nolan directs this space epic with intellectual ambition and emotional gravity. Hans Zimmer’s organ-laced score is operatic, and Hoyte van Hoytema’s cinematography captures both the grandeur and isolation of deep space.

Interstellar is a masterclass in world-building, nonlinear storytelling, and using theoretical science as a narrative device without losing sight of character.

1. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) – Stanley Kubrick

Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey opens with prehistoric hominids and ends in cosmic transcendence. In between, we follow Dr. Dave Bowman (Keir Dullea) on a mission to Jupiter, accompanied by HAL 9000, an AI with increasingly murderous tendencies. The discovery of a mysterious monolith ties the narrative threads together into an evolutionary parable.

The movie is a cinematic cathedral. Kubrick’s direction and Douglas Trumbull’s visual effects created space realism that was decades ahead of its time. The use of classical music, minimal dialogue, and symmetrical framing turned 2001: A Space Odyssey into a meditative experience rather than a conventional narrative. HAL’s calm voice has since become an icon of AI paranoia.

Filmmakers can learn almost everything from this movie: pacing, structure, score, visual storytelling, and how to embrace mystery. It proves that cinema can be more than a story—it can be sensation, speculation, and spiritual inquiry.

Conclusion

Whether you’re an aspiring filmmaker or just a stargazer with a streaming subscription, these movies offer something worth orbiting around: the chance to see who we are when gravity no longer holds us down.