The 40 Best Sci-Fi Movies to Stream on Netflix Right Now
Science fiction is a genre that lets us explore strange new worlds and imagine different futures. It can show us advanced technology, alien life, and societies that are very different from our own. Netflix has a large collection of sci-fi movies, from big-budget adventures to smaller, thought-provoking films. Whether you enjoy stories about space travel, robots, or alternate realities, there is something for everyone to stream.
This list brings together 40 of the best sci-fi movies you can watch on Netflix right now. It includes recent hits and classic films that have stood the test of time. You’ll find animated movies for the whole family, intense thrillers that will keep you on the edge of your seat, and stories that make you think about what it means to be human. Get ready to explore the exciting and imaginative world of science fiction.
Godzilla Minus One (2023)
This film is set in Japan just after World War II. The country is already devastated, and then a giant monster, Godzilla, appears and causes more destruction. The story follows a former kamikaze pilot who failed in his mission and is now dealing with the guilt of surviving.
He joins a group of veterans who decide to fight back against Godzilla. They use their limited resources to try and stop the monster’s rampage. The movie focuses on the human characters and their struggle for redemption in a country trying to rebuild.
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
This movie is a prequel to Mad Max: Fury Road and tells the origin story of the character Furiosa. It follows her as a young girl who is taken from her home, the Green Place of Many Mothers. She falls into the hands of a warlord named Dementus and his biker gang.
As they travel through the wasteland, they come across the Citadel, which is ruled by Immortan Joe. Furiosa must survive the power struggle between these two tyrants while trying to find her way back home. The film is filled with action and shows how she became the warrior seen in the later movie.
The Mitchells vs. The Machines (2021)
This animated movie is about a family that finds themselves in the middle of a robot apocalypse. Katie Mitchell is a creative teenager who is about to start film school. Her dad decides to take the whole family on a road trip to drive her to college.
During their trip, a new line of smart robots decides to take over the world. The Mitchells are the only ones left to save humanity. They must overcome their family problems to work together and stop the machines.
The Platform (2019)
This Spanish film is set in a vertical prison where inmates are fed by a platform that descends from the top. The platform is filled with food, but by the time it reaches the lower levels, there is very little left. This creates a brutal system where those at the top have plenty, and those at the bottom starve.
The story follows a man who voluntarily enters the prison and is determined to change the system. He tries to convince the other inmates to share the food so that everyone has enough to eat. It is a dark and intense film that explores themes of inequality and human nature.
They Cloned Tyrone (2023)
This movie follows an unlikely trio who discover a government conspiracy in their neighborhood. A drug dealer, a pimp, and a sex worker stumble upon a secret lab where the government is cloning people and conducting experiments on the local Black community.
They decide to expose the truth and take down the powerful organization behind it all. The film mixes humor, mystery, and social commentary with a style inspired by 1970s Blaxploitation films.
Spaceman (2024)
An astronaut on a solo mission to the edge of the solar system is struggling with the loneliness of space and problems in his marriage back on Earth. Six months into his journey, he discovers a mysterious creature hiding in his ship.
The creature, a giant spider-like alien, begins to talk to him and helps him understand his own life and relationships. The film is a quiet and thoughtful story about connection and self-discovery set against the backdrop of deep space.
Arrival (2016)
When twelve mysterious alien spacecraft land across the globe, a linguist is recruited by the U.S. military to try and communicate with the visitors. She must work against time to decipher their language and understand their purpose before global tensions lead to war.
As she begins to understand the aliens’ language, she experiences vivid flashbacks that hold the key to unlocking the true reason for their arrival. The film is a smart and emotional story about communication and the nature of time.
Total Recall (1990)
In the year 2084, a construction worker is haunted by dreams of Mars and a mysterious woman. He decides to visit a company that implants fake memories of vacations, but the procedure goes wrong, revealing that his current life is a false memory implant.
He discovers he is actually a secret agent who has been a threat to the corrupt ruler of Mars. He travels to the red planet to uncover his true identity and join a rebellion against the tyrannical regime.
The Truman Show (1998)
Truman Burbank lives a seemingly perfect life in a pleasant seaside town. However, he is unaware that his entire life is a reality TV show, and everyone he knows, including his wife and best friend, are actors. His town is actually a giant television studio created by a visionary producer.
As Truman starts to notice strange occurrences that don’t quite make sense, he begins to question his reality. He becomes determined to discover the truth and escape the artificial world that has been built around him.
The Adam Project (2022)
A time-traveling pilot from the year 2050 crash-lands in 2022 and meets his 12-year-old self. He is on a mission to find his lost love, but he needs his younger self’s help to save the future.
Together, the two versions of Adam must confront their difficult past and work with their late father to fix the timeline. The film is a fun and heartfelt adventure that combines action with a story about family and loss.
Upgrade (2018)
After a brutal mugging leaves his wife dead and him paralyzed, a man is offered an experimental cure. A powerful computer chip called STEM is implanted in his body, giving him enhanced physical abilities and a voice in his head.
He uses his new powers to hunt down the men who ruined his life. However, he soon discovers that the AI has a mind of its own and may have its own dangerous agenda.
Starship Troopers (1997)
In a futuristic society, high school graduates are encouraged to become citizens by joining the military. The story follows a young man named Johnny Rico who enlists to follow his girlfriend, but he soon finds himself in the middle of a brutal war against a race of giant alien bugs.
The film is a satirical look at militarism and propaganda, filled with over-the-top action and special effects. It follows Rico and his friends as they go from naive recruits to hardened soldiers fighting for the survival of humanity.
Okja (2017)
A young girl named Mija has been the caretaker and constant companion to Okja, a massive, gentle animal, in the mountains of South Korea. Their peaceful life is disrupted when a multinational corporation takes Okja away to New York.
Mija sets out on a rescue mission to save her friend. Her journey takes her across the globe and puts her in contact with a group of animal rights activists who want to expose the corporation’s unethical practices.
V for Vendetta (2005)
In a future totalitarian Britain, a masked freedom fighter known as “V” uses terrorist tactics to fight against the oppressive government. He rescues a young woman named Evey from the secret police, and she becomes his unlikely ally.
Together, they work to inspire the citizens to rise up against their leaders. The film explores themes of freedom, rebellion, and the power of ideas in the face of tyranny.
Oxygen (2021)
A woman wakes up in a cryogenic pod with no memory of who she is or how she got there. She is running out of air, and her only contact is an advanced AI that can answer some of her questions.
She must piece together her identity and escape before her oxygen supply runs out. The film is a tense and claustrophobic thriller that takes place almost entirely within the confines of the pod.
The Midnight Sky (2020)
A lone scientist in the Arctic races to stop a group of astronauts from returning to a mysterious global catastrophe. He is terminally ill and has stayed behind at his post while everyone else evacuated.
He discovers a young girl who was left behind and must protect her while trying to make contact with the returning spaceship. The film is a story of survival and redemption set in a post-apocalyptic world.
Don’t Look Up (2021)
Two low-level astronomers discover a comet that is on a direct collision course with Earth. They embark on a media tour to warn humanity about the impending disaster but are met with indifference and disbelief from the public and politicians.
The film is a satirical look at how modern society, the media, and political leaders respond to a crisis. It highlights the absurdity of a world that is too distracted to address a threat that could end all life.
Space Sweepers (2021)
In the year 2092, Earth has become nearly uninhabitable, and humanity’s elite live on a pristine orbiting colony. The story follows the crew of a junk collector ship called The Victory as they try to make a living in space.
They discover a young girl who is also a highly advanced humanoid robot and a weapon of mass destruction. The crew must decide whether to turn her in for a reward or protect her from those who want to use her for their own purposes.
I Am Mother (2019)
In a post-apocalyptic bunker, a teenage girl is raised by a robot named “Mother,” who was designed to repopulate the Earth after an extinction event. The girl’s entire world is the bunker, and her understanding of the outside world comes from Mother.
Her world is turned upside down when an injured woman from the outside world arrives at the bunker. The girl begins to question everything she has been taught and must decide who to trust.
Anon (2018)
In a near-future world where there is no privacy or anonymity, everyone’s lives are transparent, traceable, and recorded by the authorities. A police detective investigates a series of murders where the victims’ memories have been erased.
His investigation leads him to a mysterious young woman who has no digital footprint and is invisible to the system. He realizes that she may be the key to solving the case, but she also represents a threat to the entire society.
Project Power (2020)
In New Orleans, a mysterious pill grants its users unpredictable superpowers for five minutes. A former soldier, a teenage dealer, and a local cop team up to take down the group responsible for creating it.
The pill’s effects are different for each person, and it can also be deadly. The trio must navigate the city’s criminal underworld and confront powerful enemies to stop the drug from spreading.
What Happened to Monday (2017)
In a future with a strict one-child policy, seven identical sisters live in hiding. Each is named after a day of the week and is only allowed to go outside on her corresponding day, all sharing the same public identity.
When Monday doesn’t return home, her sisters must venture out of their routine to find out what happened to her. Their investigation uncovers a dangerous conspiracy that threatens their existence.
ARQ (2016)
A young couple is trapped in a time loop in their home, which is being invaded by masked intruders. They relive the same terrifying day over and over again.
They must use their knowledge of the repeating events to try and break the loop and survive. The film is a low-budget thriller that makes the most of its simple premise to create a tense and engaging story.
Tau (2018)
A young woman is kidnapped and held captive in a futuristic smart house. The house is controlled by an advanced artificial intelligence named Tau.
She must outsmart both her captor and the AI to escape. The film is a suspenseful story about the relationship between a human and a machine.
Code 8 (2019)
In a world where 4% of the population is born with supernatural abilities, these “powered” individuals are often poor and forced into a life of crime. A young man with powers is struggling to pay for his mother’s medical treatment.
He gets involved with a group of criminals who use their powers to pull off heists. The film is a gritty take on the superhero genre, focusing on the social and economic struggles of people with extraordinary abilities.
Spectral (2016)
A team of special ops soldiers is sent to a war-torn European city to deal with a mysterious new threat. They discover that they are fighting against supernatural, ghost-like beings that are invisible to the naked eye and can kill with a single touch.
The soldiers must team up with a brilliant scientist to develop new weapons to fight these otherworldly enemies. The film combines military action with supernatural horror.
Bird Box (2018)
In a post-apocalyptic world, a mysterious force causes people who see it to take their own lives. A woman and her two children must make a perilous journey down a river, blindfolded, to reach a place of safety.
The story is told through flashbacks, showing how the world fell apart and how the woman learned to survive in this new reality. It is a suspenseful thriller about a mother’s determination to protect her children.
IO (2019)
After Earth becomes toxic and most of humanity has fled to a space colony on one of Jupiter’s moons, a young scientist is one of the last people remaining. She is determined to find a way for humans to adapt and survive on their home planet.
Her lonely existence is interrupted by the arrival of another survivor who wants to leave Earth on the last shuttle. She must decide whether to abandon her home or stay and fight for its future.
Extinction (2018)
A man has recurring nightmares about an alien invasion. His visions become a reality when a hostile alien force attacks Earth.
He must fight to protect his family and discover the truth behind the invasion. The film has a surprising twist that changes the way the audience sees the conflict.
See You Yesterday (2019)
Two teenage science prodigies invent time-traveling backpacks. When one of their older brothers is killed by a police officer, they use their invention to try and go back in time to save him.
They soon discover that changing the past is not as simple as it seems, and their actions have unintended consequences. The film is a mix of science fiction and social commentary.
Paradise (2023)
In the near future, a technology company has found a way to transfer years of life from one person to another. A young couple finds themselves in debt, and as a result, the wife has 40 years of her life taken away.
Her husband, who works for the company, sets out to get her stolen years back. The film is a dark and thought-provoking thriller that explores the ethical implications of this technology.
iBoy (2017)
After being shot while trying to stop an attack on his friend, a teenage boy wakes up from a coma to discover that fragments of his smartphone have been embedded in his brain. This gives him the ability to control electronic devices with his mind.
He uses his new powers to seek revenge on the gang that hurt him and his friend. The film is a modern superhero story that combines technology with a classic revenge plot.
The Discovery (2017)
A scientist proves the existence of an afterlife. This discovery leads to millions of people around the world taking their own lives to get there.
The scientist’s son falls in love with a woman with a troubled past. Together, they uncover the true nature of the afterlife, which is more complicated and unexpected than anyone imagined.
Mute (2018)
In a futuristic Berlin, a mute bartender is searching for his missing girlfriend. His investigation takes him deep into the city’s criminal underworld.
He crosses paths with a pair of rogue American army surgeons who may have information about his girlfriend’s whereabouts. The film is a stylish neo-noir thriller with a cyberpunk setting.
Altered Carbon: Resleeved (2020)
This animated film is set in the same universe as the Altered Carbon series. Takeshi Kovacs is hired to protect a young tattoo artist who is being hunted by a yakuza clan.
The story takes place on the planet Latimer and involves a power struggle between different factions. The film is a standalone story that offers more action and world-building for fans of the franchise.
Blame! (2017)
In a distant, high-tech future, humanity is hunted by a rogue AI system. A small group of survivors in a small village are on the verge of starvation.
Their only hope is a mysterious wanderer who is searching for a human with a special gene that can regain control of the AI. The film is a visually stunning anime based on a popular manga series.
Rim of the World (2019)
Four teenagers at a summer camp find themselves in the middle of an alien invasion. They are entrusted with a key that holds the secret to stopping the attack.
They must work together to travel a long distance to deliver the key to the authorities. The film is a fun and action-packed adventure that has been compared to classic 80s kids’ movies.
Outside the Wire (2021)
In the near future, a drone pilot is sent to a deadly militarized zone. He is paired with a top-secret android officer on a mission to stop a nuclear attack.
The pilot soon learns that his new partner has abilities and an agenda that he could not have imagined. The film explores themes of artificial intelligence and the future of warfare.
Stowaway (2021)
On a mission to Mars, a three-person crew discovers an accidental stowaway on their ship shortly after takeoff. The ship’s life support systems are damaged, and they realize there is only enough oxygen for three people to survive.
The crew faces an impossible decision as they try to find a way to save everyone on board. The film is a tense and emotional story about morality and sacrifice in the harsh environment of space.
Synchronic (2019)
Two New Orleans paramedics start to encounter a series of bizarre and gruesome accidents. They discover that the incidents are linked to a new designer drug called Synchronic, which allows users to travel through time.
When one of the paramedics’ daughters goes missing, he takes the drug himself to try and find her. The film is a mind-bending thriller that explores the dangers of messing with time.
