The tone of science fiction films is often a guide to the tone of the times the film was made: other worlds and species are viewed in turn as wonderful, terrifying, threatening, incomprehensible, and childishly benign.

Notable science fiction films include:

Table of contents
1 Prior to 1930
2 1930s
3 1950s
4 1960s
5 1970s
6 1980s
7 1990s
8 2000s

Prior to 1930

;1902:A Trip to the Moon (original title Le voyage dans la lune) ;1927:Metropolis ;1929:Frau im Mond

1930s

;1931:Frankenstein ;1933:The Invisible Man ;1936:Flash Gordon (serial) ;1938:Things to Come

1950s

;1951:The Day the Earth Stood Still ; :The Thing From Another World (Howard Hawks original) ;1952:The War of the Worlds ;1954:Godzilla (original title ゴジラ Gojira) ; :This Island Earth ;1956:Forbidden Planet ; :Invasion of the Body Snatchers ;1957:The Incredible Shrinking Man ;1958:The Blob ; :Plan 9 from Outer Space ;1959:Journey to the Center of the Earth

1960s

;1960:The Time Machine ;1963:Day of the Triffids ;1964:Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb ;1966:Fahrenheit 451 ; :Seconds ;1968:2001: A Space Odyssey ;1969:Colossus: the Forbin Project

1970s

;1970:THX 1138 ;1971:A Clockwork Orange ; :The Andromeda Strain ; :The Omega Man ;1972:Solaris (original title Солярис Solyaris) ;1973:Sleeper ; :Soylent Green ;1974:Dark Star ;1975:Rollerball ;1977:Star Wars ; :Close Encounters of the Third Kind ;1979:Star Trek: The Motion Picture ; :Alien

1980s

;1980:The Empire Strikes Back ;1981:Outland ; :Escape from New York ;1982:Star Trek: The Wrath of Khan ; :E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial ; :Blade Runner ; :The Thing (John Carpenter remake) ; :Tron ;1983:Return of the Jedi ; :Le Prix du Danger ;1984:Dune (David Lynch version) ; :The Terminator ; :Star Trek: The Search for Spock ; :Starman ; :Sexmisja ;1985:Brazil ; :Cocoon ; :The Quiet Earth ;1986:Star Trek: The Voyage Home ; :Aliens ;1987:Robocop ;1988:Akira (animated film by Katsuhiro Ôtomo) ;1989:The Abyss ; :Star Trek: The Final Frontier

1990s

;1990:Robocop 2 ; :Total Recall ;1991:Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country ;1993:Jurassic Park ;1994:Star Trek: Generations ;1995:Twelve Monkeys ;1996:Star Trek: First Contact ; :Mars Attacks ;1997:Contact ; :The Fifth Element ; :Gattaca ;1998:Star Trek: Insurrection ;1999:The Matrix ; :eXistenZ ; :Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

2000s

;2000:Mission to Mars ;2001:A.I.: Artificial Intelligence ; :Vanilla Sky ;2002:Minority Report ; :Star Trek: Nemesis ; :Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones ;2003:The Matrix Reloaded ; :The Matrix Revolutions

See also: Fantasy films (as distinct from science fiction films)