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The Day the Earth Stood Still poster

Movies that feel likeThe Day the Earth Stood Still (2008)

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.

If you loved The Day the Earth Stood Still, the closest films we have are Europa Report (2013), The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951) and Sunshine (2007). All three share The Day the Earth Stood Still'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 Under the Skin (2014).

🍅 21% Rotten Tomatoes★ 5.5 IMDb ↗TMDB ↗dir. Scott Derricksoncontemplativecerebraltenseawe
8 of 12 streaming nowNetflix · Hulu · FXNow

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If The Day the Earth Stood Still hit the spot, these will too

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

Both keep coming back to the same thing: spacecraft

The difference: Reviewed even better

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.

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

Common ground in both: ufo and social commentary

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.

Sunshine poster
Sunshine
2007 · dir. Danny Boyle
🍅 77%★ 7.2science fiction · thriller

The same mix in both: ideas, then tension

The difference: Lighter on stillness

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.

The Wandering Earth poster
The Wandering Earth
2019 · dir. Frant Gwo
🍅 70%★ 5.9science fiction · action · dramaRent or buy

Contemplative where it counts, awestruck underneath

The difference: Less tense, more its own thing

When the Sun begins to expand in such a way that it will inevitably engulf and destroy the Earth in a hundred years, united mankind finds a way to avoid extinction by propelling the planet out of the Solar System using gigantic engines, moving it to a new home located four light years away, an epic journey that will last thousands of years.

Under the Skin poster
Under the Skin
2014 · dir. Jonathan Glazer
🍅 83%★ 6.3thriller · science fiction · dramaNetflix

Common ground: alien

A seductive stranger prowls the streets of Glasgow in search of prey: unsuspecting men who fall under her spell.

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

Drama built on stillness, twice over

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.

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

The same preoccupation in both: spacecraft

The difference: Leans further into western

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.

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

Both lean on ideas more than on science fiction

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.

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: alien

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.

Elysium poster
Elysium
2013 · dir. Neill Blomkamp
🍅 64%★ 6.6science fiction · action · dramaNetflix

Tense thriller, and it commits to that

In the year 2159, two classes of people exist: the very wealthy who live on a pristine man-made space station called Elysium, and the rest, who live on an overpopulated, ruined Earth. Secretary Rhodes, a hard line government official, will stop at nothing to enforce anti-immigration laws and preserve the luxurious lifestyle of the citizens of Elysium. That doesn’t stop the people of Earth from trying to get in, by any means they can. When unlucky Max is backed into a corner, he agrees to take on a daunting mission that, if successful, will not only save his life, but could bring equality to these polarized worlds.

Space Sweepers poster
Space Sweepers
2021 · dir. Jo Sung-hee
🍅 70%★ 6.5drama · fantasy · science fictionNetflix

Drama with a pulse of awe, in both cases

When the crew of a space junk collector ship called The Victory discovers a humanoid robot named Dorothy that's known to be a weapon of mass destruction, they get involved in a risky business deal which puts their lives at stake.

Primer poster
Primer
2004 · dir. Shane Carruth
🍅 72%★ 6.7science fiction · drama · thriller

Contemplative science fiction in both cases

A group of fledgling inventors discover a complex method to manipulate reality. At first, they successfully game the stock market with it, but the consequences of the invention start to catch up with them.

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The best-reviewed films that share The Day the Earth Stood Still’s defining feeling.