Top 22 Ranked

The Best 2016 SciFi Movies Ranked

Interstellar Journeys and Alien Encounters

Explore the best science fiction films from a standout year in cinema, featuring space epics, alien invasions, and mind-bending future thrillers.

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About 2016 SciFi Movies

In the rearview mirror of cinema history, 2016 stands out as a pivotal year when science fiction finally stopped trying to justify its own existence and started asking much harder questions. It was a year that moved away from the neon-soaked dystopias of the previous decade and leaned into a cerebral, almost tactile form of storytelling. While blockbusters were still dominating the box office, the soul of the genre was found in its quieter, more contemplative corners.

The undisputed champion of the year was Denis Villeneuve’s Arrival. It felt like a cultural reset button for how we visualize first contact. Instead of explosions or Independence Day bravado, we were given a linguistics lesson wrapped in a meditation on grief. It remains a rare feat of filmmaking because it used the vast canvas of a global alien encounter to tell an incredibly intimate story about a mother and her daughter. By focusing on language and circular time, Villeneuve proved that high-concept sci-fi could be both deeply emotional and intellectually demanding.

But 2016 wasn't just about big studio prestige. It was also the year of the clever, contained thriller. Dan Trachtenberg gave us 10 Cloverfield Lane, a masterclass in tension that felt like a twisted stage play until its final, explosive act. It was a bold move for a franchise, pivoting from found-footage chaos to a claustrophobic character study. It showed that the genre didn't need a massive budget to make an audience sweat. It only needed a cellar, three actors, and a persistent sense of dread.

Even the world of indie sci-fi was punching above its weight. Jeff Nichols released Midnight Special, a film that felt like a love letter to the Amblin movies of the eighties but stripped away the sugary sentimentality. It was a chase movie with a supernatural heart, focusing on the lengths a father would go to protect a child who belonged to another world. It captured a sense of awe that is often missing from modern digital spectacles.

The sheer variety of the landscape in 2016 was its greatest strength. While Rogue One: A Star Wars Story was busy proving that a prequel could actually have stakes and a gritty, war-movie aesthetic, smaller films like Colossal were blending kaiju destruction with dark comedy and metaphors for toxic relationships. We saw the genre stretching its limbs, refusing to stay in the box of space operas or robot uprisings.

Looking back, 2016 was the year science fiction regained its dignity. It reminded us that the best stories about the future or the stars are actually just mirror images of our present anxieties. It was a year that prioritized theme over pyrotechnics, and human connection over hardware. Whether it was the silence of a heptapod ship or the frantic pacing of a bunker, the genre felt more alive and more relevant than it had in years. It set a high bar for the decade to follow, proving that the most alien thing in the universe is often just the person standing right next to us.

The Complete Rankings

Based on the top picks in drafts on SnakeDrafts

See Top Ten
22
2016 SciFi in Robot Wars (2016)
Robot Wars
2016

In a dystopian near future, a corporate heist goes wrong and the team members struggle to survive a desperate escape through the apocalyptic sprawl with their stolen prize, a weapon of unspeakable power. As they navigate the urban wasteland, they must contend with barbaric gangs, corporate death squads and the terrifying truth about the weapon they have stolen.

Science Fiction
Action
1h 35m
William L. Stewart
Faye Kingslee, Teddy Cañez, Jennifer Sydney, Ben Naasz
21
2016 SciFi in The Call Up (2016)
The Call Up
2016

When a group of elite online gamers each receive a mysterious invitation to trial a state-of-the-art virtual reality video game, it’s a dream come true and impossible to resist. Arriving at the test site, the group step into hi-tech gear and prepare for a revolutionary, next-level gaming experience that brings modern warfare to life with frightening realism. At first it’s a unique and exhilarating experience. But what starts out like a dream encounter with cutting edge technology quickly takes a turn for the sinister. Once the group are attacked by enemy combatants, they soon realize this is no game after all. Make a mistake here and you pay with your life. Now these masters of the shoot ‘em up will have to fight for survival within a game gone bad, but this time it’s for real.

Adventure
Action
1h 30m
Charles Barker
Max Deacon, Morfydd Clark, Ali Cook, Chris Obi
20
2016 SciFi in Shin Godzilla (2016)
Shin Godzilla
2016

When a massive, gilled monster emerges from the deep and tears through the city, the government scrambles to save its citizens. A rag-tag team of volunteers cuts through a web of red tape to uncover the monster's weakness and its mysterious ties to a foreign superpower. But time is not on their side - the greatest catastrophe to ever befall the world is about to evolve right before their very eyes.

Action
Science Fiction
2h 0m
Shinji Higuchi
Hiroki Hasegawa, Yutaka Takenouchi, Satomi Ishihara, Kengo Kora

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19
2016 SciFi in Science Fiction Volume One: The Osiris Child (2016)
Science Fiction Volume One: The Osiris Child
2016

Set in the future in a time of interplanetary colonization, an unlikely pair race against an impending global crisis and are confronted by the monsters that live inside us all.

Science Fiction
1h 35m
Shane Abbess
Kellan Lutz, Daniel MacPherson, Isabel Lucas, Luke Ford
18
2016 SciFi in Criminal (2016)
Criminal
2016

CIA Agent Bill Pope is on a mission to track down a shadowy hacker named 'The Dutchman'. When he gets mysteriously killed, an experimental procedure transfers his memories into a dangerous ex-convict. When he wakes up Pope's memories, his mission is to eliminate The Dutchman before the hacker launches ICBMs and starts World War III.

Action
Crime
1h 53m
Ariel Vromen
17
2016 SciFi in Paradox (2016)
Paradox
2016

A group of scientists are experimenting with time travel, and they manage to send one of their group ahead in time one hour. But when he comes back, he tells them that they’ll all be dead within the next hour unless they shut the machine down.

Action
Science Fiction
1h 30m
Michael Hurst
Zoë Bell, Adam Huss, Malik Yoba, Brian Flaccus
16
2016 SciFi in Pandemic (2016)
Pandemic
2016

After a virus of epic proportions overwhelms the planet—with more infected than uninfected—humanity is losing its grip on survival and its only hope is finding a cure and keeping the infected contained. Lauren, a doctor, arrives in Los Angeles with her crack team to lead the hunt for uncontaminated civilian survivors, but nothing can prepare them for the blood-soaked mayhem they witness as they head into the Californian streets where everything is considered a trap.

Action
Science Fiction
1h 31m
John Suits
Rachel Nichols, Alfie Allen, Missi Pyle, Mekhi Phifer
15
2016 SciFi in Realive (2016)
Realive
2016

Marc, a successful, ambitious man, is diagnosed with terminal cancer, and is given a few months to live. Unable to accept death, he decides to cryogenically freeze himself. The love of his life is devastated. Seventy years later, Marc becomes the first cryogenic resuscitated person in history. But this doesn't happen in the idealized way he dreamt of.

Science Fiction
1h 52m
Mateo Gil
Tom Hughes, Charlotte Le Bon, Oona Chaplin, Barry Ward
14
2016 SciFi in ARQ (2016)
ARQ
2016

Two old friends living in a dystopic future become trapped in a mysterious time loop — one that may have something to do with an ongoing battle between an omnipotent corporation and a ragtag band of rebels.

Science Fiction
Thriller
1h 28m
Tony Elliott
Robbie Amell, Rachael Taylor, Gray Powell, Jacob Neayem
13
2016 SciFi in Kill Command (2016)
Kill Command
2016

Set in a near future, technology-reliant society that pits man against killing machines. Against this backdrop an elite army unit is helicoptered to a remote, off-the-grid island training facility. What starts out as a simple training exercise for Captain Bukes and his tight-knit unit, descends into a terrifying battle to the death, as the marines discover the island is overrun by an enemy that transcends the human concept of evil.

Action
Horror
1h 39m
Steven Gomez
Vanessa Kirby, Thure Lindhardt, David Ajala, Tom McKay
12
2016 SciFi in Beta Test (2016)
Beta Test
2016

While testing the latest first person shooter from global game developer, Sentinel, video game champion Max Troy discovers the events happening within the game are being reflected in the real world. He soon determines that the game's protagonist is real-life Orson Creed, an ex-Sentinel employee who is being remotely controlled by the corporation for reasons unknown. As virtual and real worlds collide, Max and Creed must join forces to unravel the conspiracy before the game's sinister events escalate and overwhelm the city.

Thriller
Action
1h 28m
Nicholas Gyeney
Manu Bennett, Larenz Tate, Linden Ashby, Kevon Stover
11
2016 SciFi in The 5th Wave (2016)
The 5th Wave
2016

16-year-old Cassie Sullivan tries to survive in a world devastated by the waves of an alien invasion that has already decimated the population and knocked mankind back to the Stone Age.

Science Fiction
Adventure
1h 52m
J Blakeson
Chloë Grace Moretz, Nick Robinson, Ron Livingston, Maggie Siff
10
2016 SciFi in Approaching the Unknown (2016)
Approaching the Unknown
2016

Captain William Stanaforth is on a one-way solo mission to take the first steps in colonising Mars. Like all pioneers throughout history, Stanaforth will face insurmountable odds and life and death decisions as he rockets bravely through space.

Thriller
Drama
1h 30m
Mark Elijah Rosenberg
Mark Strong, Luke Wilson, Sanaa Lathan, Anders Danielsen Lie
Why it ranks

Mark Strong anchors this intimate, philosophical journey that captures the crushing isolation of interplanetary travel. It avoids the bombast of its peers to offer a quiet, psychologically taxing reflection on the human cost of exploration.

9
2016 SciFi in Morgan (2016)
Morgan
2016

A corporate risk-management consultant must determine whether or not to terminate an artificial being's life that was made in a laboratory environment.

Horror
Science Fiction
1h 32m
Luke Scott
Kate Mara, Anya Taylor-Joy, Toby Jones, Rose Leslie
Why it ranks

This cold, clinical examination of artificial life explores the ethical void inherent in corporate bioengineering. It functions as a sharp, brutal chamber piece that prioritizes unsettling atmosphere over traditional action beats.

8
2016 SciFi in Independence Day: Resurgence (2016)
Independence Day: Resurgence
2016

We always knew they were coming back. Using recovered alien technology, the nations of Earth have collaborated on an immense defense program to protect the planet. But nothing can prepare us for the aliens’ advanced and unprecedented force. Only the ingenuity of a few brave men and women can bring our world back from the brink of extinction.

Action
Adventure
2h 0m
Roland Emmerich
Liam Hemsworth, Jeff Goldblum, Jessie T. Usher, Bill Pullman
Why it ranks

A maximalist exercise in planetary scale destruction that leans into the glorious absurdity of retro-futuristic technology. Roland Emmerich doubles down on his signature brand of architectural carnage, delivering a self aware spectacle of sheer kinetic energy.

7
2016 SciFi in The Girl with All the Gifts (2016)
The Girl with All the Gifts
2016

In the future, a strange fungus has changed nearly everyone into thoughtless, flesh-eating monsters. When a scientist and a teacher find a girl who seems to be immune to the fungus, they all begin a journey to save humanity.

Action
Horror
1h 51m
Colm McCarthy
Sennia Nanua, Gemma Arterton, Paddy Considine, Glenn Close
Why it ranks

Integrating biological realism into the zombie apocalypse, this British production offers a refreshingly intelligent take on societal collapse. It subverts the genre's nihilistic tropes by focusing on the intellectual and emotional evolution of its young protagonist.

6
2016 SciFi in Passengers (2016)
Passengers
2016

A spacecraft traveling to a distant colony planet and transporting thousands of people has a malfunction in its sleep chambers. As a result, two passengers are awakened 90 years early.

Drama
Romance
1h 56m
Morten Tyldum
Why it ranks

A sleek, morally ambiguous interrogation of loneliness and consent set against the backdrop of deep space transit. Despite its polished visual sheen, the film resonates as a haunting, high concept survival drama rooted in flawed human impulses.

5
2016 SciFi in Star Trek Beyond (2016)
Star Trek Beyond
2016

The USS Enterprise crew explores the furthest reaches of uncharted space, where they encounter a mysterious new enemy who puts them and everything the Federation stands for to the test.

Action
Adventure
2h 2m
Justin Lin
Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Karl Urban, Zoe Saldaña
Why it ranks

This installment recaptures the vibrant, swashbuckling optimism of the original series while deconstructing the Federation's core philosophy. The film balances kinetic technical mastery with a genuinely soulful appreciation for the franchise's ensemble chemistry.

4
2016 SciFi in Midnight Special (2016)
Midnight Special
2016

A father and son go on the run after the dad learns his child possesses special powers.

Adventure
Drama
1h 52m
Jeff Nichols
Why it ranks

Jeff Nichols evokes the Amblin era with a low hum of supernatural tension and blue collar realism. This chase film eschews heavy exposition in favor of an atmospheric, shimmering mystery about the evolution of humanity.

3

After a catastrophic car crash, a young woman wakes up in a survivalist's underground bunker, where he claims to have saved her from an apocalyptic attack that has left the outside world uninhabitable.

Thriller
Science Fiction
1h 44m
Dan Trachtenberg
John Goodman, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, John Gallagher Jr., Douglas M. Griffin
Why it ranks

By shrinking the scope of an alien invasion to a claustrophobic basement, this thriller weaponizes paranoia and domestic dread. It thrives on a razor sharp script and a towering, menacing performance from John Goodman that keeps the audience guessing until the final frame.

2

A rogue band of resistance fighters unite for a mission to steal the Death Star plans and bring a new hope to the galaxy.

Action
Adventure
2h 13m
Gareth Edwards
Felicity Jones, Diego Luna, Alan Tudyk, Donnie Yen
Why it ranks

Gareth Edwards injects a visceral, grimy texture into the galaxy far, far away, trading Jedi mysticism for a gritty war film aesthetic. The result is a high stakes prequel that finally makes the scale of imperial oppression feel tangible and terrifying.

1

Taking place after alien crafts land around the world, an expert linguist is recruited by the military to determine whether they come in peace or are a threat.

Drama
Science Fiction
Why it ranks

Denis Villeneuve crafts a cerebral masterpiece that prioritizes linguistic complexity and temporal distortion over spectacle. It is a profound meditation on communication that elevates the first contact subgenre to high art.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Everything you need to know about this list and SnakeDrafts

The top sci-fi films of 2016 often explore themes of human connection, survival, and the consequences of technology. Movies like Arrival and 10 Cloverfield Lane emphasize cerebral storytelling and psychological tension over traditional action-driven plots.

In 2016, sci-fi movies shifted from neon-soaked dystopias to more contemplative narratives that question humanity’s place in the universe. Films such as Arrival and Midnight Special highlight this trend by focusing on emotional depth and philosophical inquiry rather than purely visual spectacle.

10 Cloverfield Lane stands out as a masterful blend of thriller, horror, and science fiction, using a confined setting and suspenseful storytelling to engage viewers deeply. Similarly, Morgan combines horror elements with sci-fi themes to explore bioengineering consequences.

Yes, movies like Passengers and Approaching the Unknown focus on futuristic space travel, combining drama and adventure with speculative technology. These films engage with isolation and ethical dilemmas faced by astronauts, offering a more personal perspective on space exploration.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story and Star Trek Beyond are significant 2016 sci-fi entries that continue their respective iconic franchises. They combine familiar characters and settings with fresh narratives that expand their universes, appealing to both longtime fans and new audiences.

Passengers uniquely incorporates romance into its sci-fi framework, focusing on the evolving relationship between two stranded travelers on a spaceship. This approach adds emotional complexity to the science fiction backdrop, distinguishing it from typical genre fare.

Films like Beta Test, ARQ, and Realive introduce innovative concepts and blend genres such as action, thriller, and drama, enriching the diversity of 2016’s sci-fi offerings. These movies often explore cutting-edge technological themes and speculative futures with fresh storytelling perspectives.

Suspense is a key narrative device in many top 2016 sci-fi films, driving tension and emotional engagement. Movies such as 10 Cloverfield Lane and ARQ use confined settings and plot twists to keep audiences on edge while exploring deeper themes.
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