Here are the best Sci-Fi movies available to stream on Disney+. The Mouse House’s contribution to the entertainment streaming phenomenon has been, unsurprisingly, a massive hit. Making the vast majority of the Walt Disney Company’s vault available to nostalgia-seeking viewers for what only feels like pennies a month, Disney+ garnered more than 10 million subscribers within 24 hours, and over 24 million American subscribers in November alone. To put that into context, though Netflix had over 158 million subscribers as of October 2019, Hulu had 28 million as of June 2019.
One of the huge appeals behind the Disney Studio’s streaming service is that subscribers are not only offered the extensive Mickey Mouse catalogue, but every single property that the media juggernaut owns. This means that its customers also gain access to the majority of the MCU and Star Wars franchises, as well as 20th Century Fox and National Geographic.
In between those assets – most especially those first three – and the service’s own original content, Disney+ has an incredible amount of Sci-Fi material to enjoy. Though the service has not expanded its resources to make original Sci-Fi movies just yet, there’s a whole plethora of television series available and being produced, including The Mandalorian, WandaVision and The Falcon and the Winter Soldier. That being said, from the company’s classic contributions in the genre to their digitally animated ventures and finally to the galaxy far, far away, these are the ten best Sci-Fi movies available to stream now on Disney+.
10. 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea (1954)
Directed by Richard Fleischer and based on the novel of the same name by Jules Verne, 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea is one of Disney’s finest live-action adventures, spearheaded by its miraculous sense of fantasy, its impressive special effects (for which it won an Oscar in 1955), and its daring performances from leads James Mason and Kirk Douglas. Following rumors of a sea monster sinking ships in the Pacific Ocean, an expedition is sent out to validate its existence. Upon doing so, they team up with Captain Nemo (Mason) and the team of the Nautilus, where their aquatic adventure becomes perilous and obsessive. While there are an impressive amount of effects that still hold up today (including its antagonistic and gigantic squid), the film suffers from an episodic pace, even through the excitement. Rumors have circulated over the years that Disney was planning a live-action remake entitled Captain Nemo with James Mangold set to direct, though the project has been in development hell for some time now.
9. Lilo & Stitch (2002)
Lilo & Stitch, the classic Hawaiian buddy comedy, is one of the most charming animated films Disney has put out since the end of its Renaissance. Following a young girl who inadvertently adopts an extra-terrestrial being, the movie finds both fun and heart-wrenching ways to examine what it means to be part of a family. Directed by Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders, and starring the voice talents of Daveigh Chase, Chris Sanders, Tia Carrere, and Ving Rhames, Lilo & Stitch combines the eccentricities of science fiction with the innocence and adoration that comes with you. And for an animated movie, there aren’t many more pleasing combinations than that.
8. Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
Like Inside Out, where audiences were taught to accept all of their emotions and all of who they were, Wreck-It Ralph taught audiences that nobody else had the power to define who they were except for them. The 3D computer-animated comedy, directed by Rich Moore, picks the whacky arena of the video game world to explore this moral, where the villain of an arcade game decides he no longer wants to be known or treated as the bad guy. With a stellar voice cast that includes John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, and Jane Lynch, the film is an excitingly colorful production which obliterates the cynical society Ralph is in with 90 minutes of succulent joy and energy.
7. Big Hero 6 (2014)
Set in the fictional and hybrid city of San Fransokyo, Big Hero 6 is an ingenious and remarkably energetic fanfare of technology. Loosely based on the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name, the film follows a young tech wizard named Hiro who, after his brother Tadashi is killed, befriends Tadashi’s prize creation: an inflated healthcare robot by the name of Baymax. But between the eccentric band of superheroes, their gloriously animated antics, and their wildly imaginable robotics, what really stands out in Big Hero 6 is its heart. When Baymax hugs Hiro, the warmth seeps straight through the screen and attaches itself directly onto the viewer.
6. Avatar (2009)
James Cameron may have abandoned all his other filmmaking ambitions to make future Avatar films, but with the humongous and fertile weird he established in 2009, who can blame him? The science fiction epic, directed and written by Cameron, was a cultural phenomenon when it first hit theaters, completely revitalizing the moviegoing experience. By the time its run at the box office had come to a close, it had smashed every record imaginable and became the highest-grossing film of all time (a record which was only just beat last year by the MCU powerhouse production Avengers: Endgame). Though it may work more as a technical achievement than a masterclass in storytelling, Avatar is an absorbing experience.
5. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy, James Gunn’s contribution to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, is as quirky and funny a comic book movie can really get. The film’s greatest weapon – even surpassing the technical achievements allotted by Marvel Studios’ bank account – is its creator’s vibrant and indie-seeded soul, crafting a simultaneously interesting, mythical, heroic, and sympathetic band of heroes all at once. A surefire origin story, the film has since spawned a in 2017, with a third movie on the way.
4. Star Wars (1977)
Love it or hate it, Star Wars is among the most monumental of all cinema ventures. Created by George Lucas, its sense of scope helped expand moviegoers’ notions of the galaxy, as well as the limitless nature of storytelling. Since its blockbuster release in 1977, almost every aspect of its production has become iconic: from John Williams’ masterful score, the gorgeous cinematography, and the revolutionary visual effects. Though the film itself does suffer from the occasional case of quirky acting (a small fee to pay for the Star Wars experience) the starting off point to the most important franchise in history is a science fiction film for the ages.
3. Avengers: Endgame (2019)
On top of expanding what audiences understood the comic book movie to be, Avengers: Endgame demonstrated the lengths at which a science fiction movie could go. Adding the element of time travel into the established setting of super powers and mythological gods, Endgame burst out of the established comic canon formula and provided audiences with an extensive and satisfying conclusion to treasured character arcs. It is worth noting that while some consider it to be a superior film, Avengers: Infinity War will not be available to stream on Disney+ until its contract with Netflix expires in June 2020.
2. WALL-E (2008)
Pixar’s primary contribution to the science fiction genre, 2008’s WALL-E is a heart-wrenching, intelligent, and timely warning of the human race’s dependency on technology and crippling ignorance of the environment. Directed by Andrew Stanton, the film follows a solitary trash collecting robot on an uninhabitable Earth. Gorgeously presented and meticulously calculated, WALL-E is among the best and most important films Pixar and Disney have ever put out. It also proves that with the right amount of imagination anything is possible: Who would have thought that a trash compactor would become one of the most adorable, recognizable, and seminal screen characters of the millennium (so far)?
1. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Whereas the first Star Wars movie inducted a new brand of storytelling and filmmaking onto audiences, it was its sequel, The Empire Strikes Back, which established the franchise’s place among the most cherished, significant, and entertaining of all time. Less of a sequel and more of a continuation of the Star Wars saga, The Empire Strikes Back challenged viewers’ notions of what a film franchise was capable of. Though time and pop cultural obsession has since rendered its mind-warping twist useless, this film’s darker, even sinister tone, brought the series to new emotional heights.
Next: The Most Anticipated Sci-Fi Movies of 2020
