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Best Sci-Fi Movies of the 1980s, Ranked by IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic and TMDB
122 sci-fi films from the 1980s are in our catalog; the 50 best are ranked below. Top of the list is The Empire Strikes Back (1980), at 8.7 on IMDb. The average IMDb score across this list is 7.4. Biggest split between audiences and critics: Predator, 7.8 on IMDb against 47 on Metacritic.
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| # | Movie | Genre | IMDb | Tomato | Meta | TMDB | Director |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Empire Strikes Back '1980 | Action / Sci-Fi | 8.7 | 93% | 82 | 8.4 | Irvin Kershner |
| 2 | Back to the Future '1985 | Comedy / Sci-Fi | 8.5 | 93% | 88 | 8.3 | Robert Zemeckis |
| 3 | Aliens '1986 | Action / Thriller / Sci-Fi | 8.4 | 93% | 84 | 8.0 | James Cameron |
| 4 | Return of the Jedi '1983 | Action / Sci-Fi | 8.3 | 83% | 58 | 7.9 | Richard Marquand |
| 5 | The Thing '1982 | Horror / Mystery / Sci-Fi | 8.2 | 85% | 57 | 8.1 | John Carpenter |
| 6 | Blade Runner '1982 | Sci-Fi / Drama / Thriller | 8.1 | 89% | 84 | 7.9 | Ridley Scott |
| 7 | The Terminator '1984 | Action / Thriller / Sci-Fi | 8.1 | 90% | 84 | 7.7 | James Cameron |
| 8 | E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial '1982 | Sci-Fi | 7.9 | 99% | 92 | 7.5 | Steven Spielberg |
| 9 | Akira '1988 | Animation / Sci-Fi / Action | 8.0 | 88% | 68 | 7.9 | Katsuhiro Otomo |
| 10 | Predator '1987 | Sci-Fi / Action / Thriller | 7.8 | 65% | 47 | 7.6 | John McTiernan |
| 11 | Back to the Future Part II '1989 | Comedy / Sci-Fi | 7.8 | 63% | 57 | 7.8 | Robert Zemeckis |
| 12 | Brazil '1985 | Comedy / Sci-Fi | 7.8 | 98% | 84 | 7.7 | Terry Gilliam |
| 13 | Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan '1982 | Action / Sci-Fi | 7.7 | 87% | 68 | 7.5 | Nicholas Meyer |
| 14 | Mad Max 2 '1981 | Action / Thriller / Sci-Fi | 7.6 | 93% | 77 | 7.4 | George Miller |
| 15 | RoboCop '1987 | Action / Thriller / Sci-Fi | 7.6 | 84% | 70 | 7.4 | Paul Verhoeven |
| 16 | The Fly '1986 | Horror / Sci-Fi | 7.6 | 82% | 81 | 7.5 | David Cronenberg |
| 17 | The Abyss '1989 | Thriller / Sci-Fi | 7.5 | 75% | 62 | 7.4 | James Cameron |
| 18 | Threads '1984 | War / Drama / Sci-Fi | 7.9 | 100% | 92 | 7.6 | Mick Jackson |
| 19 | The Secret of NIMH '1982 | Animation / Fantasy / Mystery / Sci-Fi | 7.5 | 93% | 76 | 7.4 | Don Bluth |
| 20 | Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home '1986 | Sci-Fi | 7.3 | 82% | 71 | 7.2 | Leonard Nimoy |
| 21 | They Live '1988 | Sci-Fi / Action / Thriller | 7.2 | 86% | 55 | 7.3 | John Carpenter |
| 22 | Videodrome '1983 | Horror / Sci-Fi / Mystery | 7.2 | 83% | 58 | 7.2 | David Cronenberg |
| 23 | The Return of the Living Dead '1985 | Comedy / Horror / Sci-Fi | 7.3 | 71% | 66 | 7.2 | Dan O'Bannon |
| 24 | Escape from New York '1981 | Action / Thriller / Sci-Fi | 7.1 | 70% | 76 | 7.0 | John Carpenter |
| 25 | Kin-dza-dza! '1986 | Comedy / Sci-Fi | 7.8 | - | - | 7.6 | Georgiy Daneliya |
| 26 | Spaceballs '1987 | Comedy / Sci-Fi | 7.1 | 53% | 46 | 6.9 | Mel Brooks |
| 27 | WarGames '1983 | Drama / Sci-Fi / Thriller | 7.1 | 93% | 77 | 7.1 | John Badham |
| 28 | The Dead Zone '1983 | Thriller / Horror / Sci-Fi | 7.1 | 89% | 69 | 7.0 | David Cronenberg |
| 29 | Sexmission '1984 | Sci-Fi / Comedy | 7.5 | - | - | 7.2 | Juliusz Machulski |
| 30 | The Transformers: The Movie '1986 | Animation / Sci-Fi / Action | 7.2 | 64% | 43 | 7.1 | Nelson Shin |
| 31 | Re-Animator '1985 | Sci-Fi / Comedy / Horror | 7.1 | 88% | 73 | 7.1 | Stuart Gordon |
| 32 | Nineteen Eighty-Four '1984 | Drama / Sci-Fi / Thriller | 7.0 | 76% | 67 | 6.8 | Michael Radford |
| 33 | Time Bandits '1981 | Fantasy / Sci-Fi / Comedy | 6.9 | 92% | 79 | 6.6 | Terry Gilliam |
| 34 | Starman '1984 | Sci-Fi / Drama / Romance | 7.0 | 83% | 70 | 6.9 | John Carpenter |
| 35 | Frankenweenie '1984 | Horror / Sci-Fi / Comedy | 7.2 | - | - | 6.9 | Tim Burton |
| 36 | The Day After '1983 | Sci-Fi / Drama | 7.0 | 86% | - | 6.8 | Nicholas Meyer |
| 37 | Altered States '1980 | Horror / Sci-Fi / Thriller | 6.9 | 85% | 58 | 6.7 | Ken Russell |
| 38 | The Cabbage Soup '1981 | Comedy / Sci-Fi | 6.5 | - | - | 6.4 | Jean Girault |
| 39 | The Hidden '1987 | Action / Sci-Fi / Horror | 7.0 | 76% | 69 | 6.9 | Jack Sholder |
| 40 | Innerspace '1987 | Action / Comedy / Sci-Fi | 6.9 | 81% | 66 | 6.8 | Joe Dante |
| 41 | Angel's Egg '1985 | Animation / Fantasy / Mystery / Sci-Fi | 7.7 | - | - | 7.7 | Mamoru Oshii |
| 42 | Flight of the Navigator '1986 | Sci-Fi | 6.9 | 85% | 64 | 7.0 | Randal Kleiser |
| 43 | Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure '1989 | Comedy / Sci-Fi | 6.9 | 83% | 50 | 6.8 | Stephen Herek |
| 44 | Superman II '1980 | Sci-Fi / Action | 6.8 | 88% | 83 | 6.7 | Richard Lester |
| 45 | Enemy Mine '1985 | Drama / Sci-Fi | 6.9 | 61% | 59 | 7.0 | Wolfgang Petersen |
| 46 | Repo Man '1984 | Comedy / Sci-Fi | 6.8 | 93% | 82 | 6.6 | Alex Cox |
| 47 | Real Genius '1985 | Comedy / Romance / Sci-Fi | 6.9 | 77% | 71 | 6.7 | Martha Coolidge |
| 48 | Scanners '1981 | Sci-Fi / Horror | 6.7 | 69% | 60 | 6.7 | David Cronenberg |
| 49 | The Return of Godzilla '1984 | Sci-Fi / Action / Horror | 6.8 | - | - | 7.2 | Koji Hashimoto |
| 50 | Outland '1981 | Sci-Fi / Action / Thriller / Crime | 6.6 | 58% | 48 | 6.4 | Peter Hyams |
Our catalog covers roughly the 8,800 most-rated films on TMDB, so lesser-known titles may be missing. Order uses a confidence-weighted IMDb score so a perfect score from a handful of votes does not beat a well-established classic; the scores shown are the raw ones.
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Sci-Fi in other decades
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Other genres in the 1980s
Action of the 1980s Animation of the 1980s Comedy of the 1980s Crime of the 1980s Drama of the 1980s Fantasy of the 1980s Horror of the 1980s Mystery of the 1980s Romance of the 1980s Thriller of the 1980s War of the 1980s
Directors on this list
Irvin Kershner Robert Zemeckis James Cameron John Carpenter Ridley Scott Steven Spielberg John McTiernan Terry Gilliam Nicholas Meyer George Miller Paul Verhoeven David Cronenberg
Actors on this list
Mark Hamill Harrison Ford Michael J. Fox Christopher Lloyd Sigourney Weaver Kurt Russell Wilford Brimley Rutger Hauer Arnold Schwarzenegger Drew Barrymore Carl Weathers Jonathan Pryce