Unlike some other streaming services, Max is making sure that sci-fi fans are getting served this month with the addition of a classic film, The Omega Man, and a more recent film that may reach the same status, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Additionally, 20th Century Studios has Avatar on loan to Max, so it can play alongside Avatar: The Way of Water, which arrived earlier.
There’s a lot to love on Max if you’re a science fiction fan, and we’ve gone through each and every movie in the library to narrow this list down to the best sci-fi movies on Max right now. These are the sci-fi flicks that will leave you with a smile on your face.
In need of some more streaming recommendations? We also have guides to the best movies on Max, the best shows on Max, and what’s new on HBO and Max that are worth looking through.
Dawn of the Planet of the Apes
Year: 2014
Runtime: 2 hours, 11 minutes
Director: Matt Reeves
However, one of Caesar’s followers, Koba (Tobey Kebbell), is willing to betray Caesar for the chance to kill the humans. And on the other side, the human leader, Dreyfus (Gary Oldman), is preparing for war with the apes. The battle lines have been drawn, and the oncoming tragedy may be inevitable despite the best efforts of both Caesar and Malcom.
Avatar
Year: 2009
Runtime: 2 hours, 42 minutes
Director: James Cameron
Avatar is still the reigning worldwide box office champion, and it’s back on Max. In the film, director James Cameron took audiences to a distant world called Pandora, where humanity is attempting to take the natural resources from the native people, the Na’vi. Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) replaces his late brother on a mission to Pandora that allows him to inhabit a Na’vi-like body so he can befriend the Na’vi and gain their trust while working for Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang).
Jake quickly forms a bond with a Na’vi woman, Neytiri (Zoe Saldana), who takes it upon herself to teach him about life on Pandora. But the more time that Jake spends on Pandora, the more he realizes that he’s on the wrong side. And unfortunately for Jake, it may already be too late to save the Na’vi’s world from Quaritch and the colonizers from Earth.
Spaceballs
Year: 1987
Runtime: 1 hour, 37 minutes
Director: Mel Brooks
Spaceballs is more of a Star Wars spoof than a real sci-fi movie on its own terms. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t a fun science fiction story! Mel Brooks takes aim at all of the big franchises of the ’80s, and also co-stars in the film as both Yogurt the wise and the evil President Skroob of Planet Spaceball. Skroob, Dark Helmet (Rick Moranis), and Colonel Sandurz (George Wyner) plot to kidnap Princess Vespa (Daphne Zuniga) and steal all of the air from her planet.
The ones who can save the day are the roguish mercenary Lone Starr (Bill Pullman) and his alien sidekick, Barf (John Candy). This story plays out in very familiar ways, but it’s also relentlessly funny and it never stops being silly. If you’re willing to laugh at your favorite genre, then this is the movie for you.
The Omega Man
Year: 1971
Runtime: 1 hour, 38 minutes
Director: Boris Sagal
The Omega Man is among several adaptations of Richard Matheson’s classic sci-fi novel I Am Legend, so you may see some familiar things if you watched the 2007 adaptation starring Will Smith. Screen legend Charlton Heston headlines the film as Robert Neville, a man who believes that he may be the last true human alive. A virus has wiped out most of humanity, and the survivors have mutated into something monstrous and deadly.
Unexpectedly, Robert discovers other survivors who are still seemingly human. In them, Robert sees a potential way forward for humanity if they can band together and leave the ruins of Los Angeles behind. But that’s easier said than done as the plague strikes even the people who are closest to Robert.
Under the Skin
Year: 2013
Runtime: 1 hour, 49 minutes
Director: Jonathan Glazer
When the woman begins feeling empathy for one of her victims, she flees her fellow aliens and attempts to determine if she has an identity of her own. However, she has no true concept of what humanity is really capable of. And she’s about to find out the hard way.
Ready Player One
Year: 2018
Runtime: 2 hours, 20 minutes
Director: Steven Spielberg
Wade Watts (Tye Sheridan) is one of the best players in OASIS, and perhaps one of the few who has a real chance to win the contest Alongside his friends and allies, Art3mis (Olivia Cooke), Aech (Lena Waithe), Sho (Philip Zhao), and Daito (Win Morisaki), Wade dares to take on the malevolent Innovative Online Industries in an attempt to keep their virtual world for the players.
The Animatrix
Year: 2003
Runtime: 1 hour, 42 minutes
Directors: Andy Jones, Mahiro Maeda, Shinichirō Watanabe, Yoshiaki Kawajiri, Takeshi Koike, Kōji Morimoto, Peter Chung
Why couldn’t the sequels to The Matrix have been as good as The Animatrix? The Wachowskis invited a number of anime filmmakers to expand their Matrix universe, and the result was a visually stunning anthology movie that explores the genesis of the war between humanity and the machines, unexpected stories of love and betrayal, and prequel tales that set the stage for The Matrix Reloaded and The Matrix Revolutions.
Even without the benefit of the tie-ins to The Matrix’s universe, The Animatrix is a terrific accomplishment in its own right. Don’t skip this one.
Strange Days
Year: 1995
Runtime: 2 hours, 26 minutes
Director: Kathryn Bigelow
Director Kathryn Bigelow and her ex-husband, The Terminator‘s James Cameron, collaborated on Strange Days, an underrated sci-fi classic from the mid-90s. In the near future, memories recorded on SQUID devices have become the drug of choice in Los Angeles. Ex-LAPD officer Lenny Nero (Ralph Fiennes) turned his back on the law to deal in memories, much to the chagrin of his friend, Lornette “Mace” Mason (Angela Bassett).
But when Lenny comes across a memory recording of Iris (Brigitte Bako) being raped and murdered, it thrusts him deeper into the dangerous criminal underworld.
Avatar: The Way of Water
Year: 2022
Runtime: 3 hours, 12 minutes
Director: James Cameron
Disney’s gain is apparently also Max’s gain. Through a content-sharing deal, James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water is streaming on Max, and it might be the last new 20th Century Studios release to do so. The Way of Water picks up 16 years after the original film, as Jake Sully (Sam Worthington) and his wife, Neytiri (Zoe Saldaña), live peacefully on Pandora while raising a family, including their adoptive daughter, Kiri (Sigourney Weaver).
When humanity re-invades Pandora, Jake learns that his old adversary, Colonel Miles Quaritch (Stephen Lang), lives on through his recorded memories in a cloned Avatar body. To protect themselves from Quaritch’s vendetta, Jake and Neytiri take their family into hiding and attempt to make new allies among the Na’vi. But they can’t hide forever…
Demolition Man
Year: 1993
Runtime: 1 hour, 55 minutes
Director: Marco Brambilla
The present is rapidly catching up to the future year of 2032, as seen in Demolition Man. And we still haven’t figured out how to use the three seashells. Sylvester Stallone stars as John Spartan, an LAPD sergeant who is known as “the Demolition Man” because of the property damage he leaves in his wake. When the psychopathic killer Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes) frames Spartan for murder, both men are cryogenically frozen before Phoenix is awakened decades later. And Phoenix’s uncontrollable rampage is far too much for the future authorities to handle.
San Angeles police officer Lenina Huxley (as played by a very young Sandra Bullock) suggests that Spartan be freed as well to help take down Phoenix. But even though Spartan finds it very difficult to adjust to life in the future, he soon proves that sometimes the old ways are still the best options.
X-Men: Days of Future Past
Year: 2014
Runtime: 2 hours, 12 minutes
Director: Bryan Singer
Inspired by a classic comic book storyline with the same name, X-Men: Days of Future Past is one of the few superhero movies that works as a straightforward sci-fi film as well. In the present, mutants are on the verge of extinction and things are so bad that even Professor Charles Xavier (Patrick Stewart) and Magneto (Ian McKellen) are working together to survive. In a desperate plan to change the past, the X-Men send the mind of Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) back to the ‘70s to change the past.
Once his present-day mind inhabits his younger body, Wolverine recruits the younger versions of Xavier (James McAvoy) and Magneto (Michael Fassbender) to find Mystique (Jennifer Lawrence). If they fail to stop Mystique from killing Dr. Bolivar Trask (Peter Dinklage), then their future is doomed.
Monsters vs. Aliens
Year: 2009
Runtime: 1 hour, 35 minutes
Directors: Conrad Vernon and Rob Letterman
On her wedding day, Susan Murphy (Reese Witherspoon) is transformed into a giant and thrust into the bizarre world of DreamWorks Animation’s Monsters vs. Aliens. Alienated from her old life and renamed Ginormica, Susan is forced to live and work with other creatures including B.O.B. (Seth Rogen), Dr. Cockroach (Hugh Laurie), and The Missing Link (Will Arnett).
When aliens attack Earth, Ginormica and her newfound friends are offered their freedom if they battle the invaders on behalf of humanity. But if the monsters want to save the world, they will have to overcome the alien overlord, Gallaxhar (Rainn Wilson).
Limitless
Year: 2011
Runtime: 1 hour, 45 minutes
Director: Shawn Levy
How far would you go if there was nothing holding your mind back? In Limitless, the new drug, NZT-48, gives Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) such a significant mental boost that he is basically the smartest man in the world while the drug is active. This gives Eddie a chance to attain the success and wealth of his wildest dreams and attracts the attention of a wealthy man named Carlos Van Loon (Robert De Niro).
But all of this comes with a heavy price for Eddie, which includes serious side effects and potentially his death. And when someone steals Eddie’s supply of NZT-48, he finds himself ill-equipped to handle the mounting threats against his life.
Edge of Tomorrow
Year: 2014
Runtime: 1 hour, 53 minutes
Director: Doug Liman
The legendary warrior, Sgt. Rita Vrataski (Emily Blunt), takes it upon herself to help Cage use this newfound ability to become a true soldier. But much to Cage’s horror, he and Vrataski are seemingly always doomed to die long before they can defeat the alien threat.
2001: A Space Odyssey
Year: 1968
Runtime: 2 hours, 23 minutes
Director: Stanley Kubrick
The word “masterpiece” tends to get thrown around a lot in film criticism. But 2001: A Space Odyssey more than lives up to the hype even decades later. director Stanley Kubrick and writer Arthur C. Clarke crafted an unforgettable sci-fi epic that is told more through visuals than anything spoken aloud.
Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood star respectively as Dr. David Bowman and Dr. Frank Poole. Together, David and Frank are part of a deep space mission to investigate a massive alien monolith that may be connected to the origins of humanity millions of years earlier. Unfortunately for David and Frank, their onboard artificial intelligence, HAL 9000, is developing some very dangerous and paranoid tendencies that may threaten more than just their mission.
Ex Machina
Year: 2015
Runtime: 1 hour, 48 minutes
Director: Alex Garland
You’ll find that machines turning on humans is a common theme in sci-fi, and so too is the idea that machines can be almost indistinguishable from humans. Ex Machina plays with both notions by giving the AI known as Ava (Alicia Vikander) a human face and a very feminine demeanor. Ava is also a lot better at being human, or at least pretending to be human, than her creator, Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac) suspects.
Domhnall Gleeson also stars in the film as Caleb Smith, an ordinary employee of Nathan’s who is invited to examine Ava to determine if she genuinely has a humanlike consciousness. Almost immediately, Ava manipulates Caleb and tries to turn him against Nathan.
District 9
Year: 2009
Runtime: 1 hour, 52 minutes
Director: Neill Blomkamp
Neill Blomkamp’s debut film, District 9, was so good that it has overshadowed everything he has done since. Using an obvious metaphor for humanity’s racism, District 9 presents an alternate present where aliens known as Prawns have been living on Earth for decades in the slums of South Africa.
One of the Prawns, Christopher Johnson (Jason Cope), has plotted for years to make his escape and find justice for his people. When a bureaucrat named Wikus van de Merwe (Sharlto Copley) stumbles on Johnson’s plan, he finds himself slowly being transformed into a Prawn himself. And the only hope that Wikus has to restore his humanity is to help Johnson leave Earth.
The Terminator
Year: 1984
Runtime: 1 hour. 47 minutes
Director: James Cameron
Terminator 2 is also on Max, and it is visually superior to its predecessor, but in terms of story, The Terminator blows it away. This was only James Cameron’s second theatrical film in the director’s chair, but it set the stage for everything he did after while also making Arnold Schwarzenegger into a star.
Linda Hamilton stars as Sarah Connor, an unassuming waitress who has no idea that she’s been marked for death by machines in the future. That’s why the relentless T-800 (Schwarzenegger) has been sent back in time to murder her. To save Sarah, a man named Kyle Reese (Michael Biehn) travels from his future to her present in order to keep the Terminator from altering history.
The Matrix
Year: 1999
Runtime: 2 hours, 16 minutes
Director: The Wachowskis
The Matrix was such a game-changing film that it’s surprising that none of its sequels are anywhere near as good as the original. No one can tell you what the Matrix is, and it’s worth the surprise in the off chance that you haven’t seen it yet. Keanu Reeves stars as Neo, a hacker by night and a lowly programmer by day.
After years of searching for the hacker known as Morpheus (Laurence Fishburne), an enigmatic woman named Trinity (Carrie-Anne Moss) arranges for Neo to finally meet the man he has been looking for. And the choice that Morpheus presents to Neo remains one of the greatest surprises in cinema history … especially if you don’t know what’s coming.
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