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Sunshine poster

Movies that feel likeSunshine (2007)

Fifty years into the future, the sun is dying, and Earth is threatened by arctic temperatures. A team of astronauts is sent to revive the Sun — but the mission fails. Seven years later, a new team is sent to finish the mission as mankind’s last hope.

If you loved Sunshine, the closest films we have are Europa Report (2013), Aliens (1986) and The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951). All three share Sunshine's cerebral and tense feel, which is what we rank on before quality.

Seen the big three already? The under-the-radar pick below is Serenity (2005).

🍅 77% Rotten Tomatoes★ 7.2 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Danny Boylecerebraltenseawe
9 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Amazon Prime Video · Hulu

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See it on the Mood Map

If Sunshine hit the spot, these will too

Looking for the series itself? Also in this series: Sunshine Cleaning (2009)

Europa Report poster
Europa Report
2013 · dir. Sebastián Cordero
🍅 81%★ 6.4science fiction · thriller · dramaNetflix

One thread runs through both: space travel

The difference: Sits closer to drama than Sunshine does

A crew travels to Europa, Jupiter’s icy moon, to investigate signs of life in its subsurface ocean, but disaster cuts them off from Earth, leading to a tense and dangerous exploration.

Aliens poster
Aliens
1986 · dir. James Cameron
🍅 93%★ 8.4action · thriller · science fictionNetflix

Both keep coming back to the same thing: space marine

The difference: Leans harder into action than Sunshine does

Ripley, the sole survivor of the Nostromo's deadly encounter with the monstrous Alien, returns to Earth after drifting through space in hypersleep for 57 years. Although her story is initially met with skepticism, she agrees to accompany a team of Colonial Marines back to LV-426.

The Day the Earth Stood Still poster
The Day the Earth Stood Still
1951 · dir. Robert Wise
🍅 92%★ 7.7science fiction · thriller · drama

The same mix in both: ideas, then tension

The difference: Made in the 1950s, in a different era of the craft

An alien and a robot land on Earth after World War II and tell mankind to be peaceful or face destruction.

Pitch Black poster
Pitch Black
2000 · dir. David Twohy
🍅 58%★ 7thriller · science fiction · action

Awestruck science fiction in both cases

When their ship crash-lands on a remote planet, the marooned passengers soon learn that escaped convict Riddick isn't the only thing they have to fear. Deadly creatures lurk in the shadows, waiting to attack in the dark, and the planet is rapidly plunging into the utter blackness of a total eclipse. With the body count rising, the doomed survivors are forced to turn to Riddick with his eerie eyes to guide them through the darkness to safety. With time running out, there's only one rule: Stay in the light.

Serenity poster
Serenity
2005 · dir. Joss Whedon
🍅 82%★ 7.8science fiction · action · adventure

Thriller with a pulse of ideas, in both cases

A group of rebels travel the outskirts of space evading the sinister Alliance regime. Their lives of smuggling and cargo-running are interrupted by a psychic passenger who harbours a dangerous secret. Soon, the crew find themselves being pursued by an Alliance agent who will stop at nothing to find them.

Gravity poster
Gravity
2013 · dir. Alfonso Cuarón
🍅 96%★ 7.7science fiction · thriller · dramaParamount+

The same preoccupation in both: space mission

Dr Ryan Stone, an engineer on her first space mission, and Matt Kowalski, an astronaut on his final expedition, have to survive in space after they are hit by debris while spacewalking.

The Day the Earth Stood Still poster
The Day the Earth Stood Still
2008 · dir. Scott Derrickson
🍅 21%★ 5.5drama · science fiction · thrillerPrime Video

Both lean on tension more than on science fiction

The difference: The critics' underdog of the pair

A representative of an alien race that went through drastic evolution to survive its own climate change, Klaatu comes to Earth to assess whether humanity can prevent the environmental damage they have inflicted on their own planet. When barred from speaking to the United Nations, he decides humankind shall be exterminated so the planet can survive.

Moonraker poster
Moonraker
1979 · dir. Lewis Gilbert
🍅 59%★ 6.3action · adventure · thrillerPrime Video

Common ground: space suit

After Drax Industries' Moonraker space shuttle is hijacked, secret agent James Bond is assigned to investigate, traveling to California to meet the company's owner, the mysterious Hugo Drax. With the help of scientist Dr. Holly Goodhead, Bond soon uncovers Drax's nefarious plans for humanity, all the while fending off an old nemesis, Jaws, and venturing to Venice, Rio, the Amazon...and even outer space.

Planet of the Apes poster
Planet of the Apes
2001 · dir. Tim Burton
🍅 42%★ 5.7thriller · science fiction · actionHulu

Both are built on the same subject: space marine

After a spectacular crash-landing on an uncharted planet, brash astronaut Leo Davidson finds himself trapped in a savage world where talking apes dominate the human race. Desperate to find a way home, Leo must evade the invincible gorilla army led by Ruthless General Thade.

Deep Impact poster
Deep Impact
1998 · dir. Mimi Leder
🍅 45%★ 6.3action · drama · science fictionParamount+

One thread runs through both: space mission

The difference: Easier on the tension than Sunshine

A seven-mile-wide space rock is hurtling toward Earth, threatening to obliterate the planet. Now, it's up to the president of the United States to save the world. He appoints a tough-as-nails veteran astronaut to lead a joint American-Russian crew into space to destroy the comet before impact. Meanwhile, an enterprising reporter uses her smarts to uncover the scoop of the century.

Cowboys & Aliens poster
Cowboys & Aliens
2011 · dir. Jon Favreau
🍅 44%★ 6science fiction · westernNetflix

Awestruck thriller, and it commits to that

The difference: Takes it somewhere less tense than Sunshine does

A stranger stumbles into the desert town of Absolution with no memory of his past and a futuristic shackle around his wrist. With the help of mysterious beauty Ella and the iron-fisted Colonel Dolarhyde, he finds himself leading an unlikely posse of cowboys, outlaws, and Apache warriors against a common enemy from beyond this world in an epic showdown for survival.

Aniara poster
Aniara
2019 · dir. Hugo Lilja
🍅 70%★ 6.3science fiction · drama

Common ground: space travel

A ship carrying settlers to a new home on Mars after Earth is rendered uninhabitable is knocked off-course, causing the passengers to consider their place in the universe.

In the mood for more cerebral?

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The best-reviewed films that share Sunshine’s defining feeling.