10 Wildest Science Fiction Movies That Could Actually Happen – Screen Rant

Science fiction movies are known for having futuristic and sometimes impossible plots, but some films have scientific accuracy that makes them more realistic than they seem. As the name of the genre implies, science fiction films combine factually scientific evidence with fictionalized storylines. Movies like Armageddon feature likely circumstances, but aren't based on real scientific principles.

Luckily, there are plenty of instances in the genre where sci-fi films have gotten the science right. For decades now, movies and TV shows have warned of the dangers of technology through dystopian stories that depict robots ruling over humans. While they weren't always taken seriously, society has since seen computers take over jobs that have belonged to people. Newer films have explored how much further technology could go and how it could impact the human race. Some space movies also have been commended by scientists for their impressive accuracy. Here are a few films that prioritized their real-life plausibility and worked it into a fictional character story.

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Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey combines facts about space travel with the anticipated dangers of technology. Curiously, Kubrick's film was released in 1968, one year before the United States would land on the moon. Kubrick's film was notably accurate in its portrayal of space, which remains one of the most critically-acclaimed elements of the movie. Several NASA engineers praised the filmmaker for its approach to aerospace engineering, as well its portrayal of the silence of space, while other films have erred in this regard by featuring loud explosions.

Spike Jonze's film Her explores loneliness and the complexities of using technology as the cure. Joaquin Phoenix's character Theodore falls in love with an AI woman named Samantha after his wife Catherine divorces him. While this premise sounds ridiculous, it's not so far off. Recently Snapchat launched a new AI bot for users to communicate with. The app enables them to design their AI's appearance and talk to them whenever they want. The new feature, as well as some other AI chat programs floating around on the web, are eerily similar to the program in Her. With these sorts of developments, Her's plot looks more realistic than silly.

Another film that plays around with the dangers of technology is Alex Garland's Ex Machina. The film shares themes with Her as it explores the relationship between a robot and a human. In Ex Machina, Caleb is hired as a test subject to see if robots can demonstrate consciousness. This is proven true when the android Ava manipulates Caleb into thinking she loves him and wants to run away with him when she ultimately locks him up and escapes in the helicopter that was meant to take him home.

All the real-life advancements in artificial intelligence make Ex Machina a particularly poignant film. The most realistic part is Caleb, as a human, was feeling emotions for Ava, who he had come to treat as a real person. But as a computer, even with a consciousness of sorts, she couldn't reciprocate his feelings, which is in sharp contrast to all the movies that show androids developing the capacity for emotions.

Children of Men screenwriter David Arata believed the film to be a warning about the future when he wrote it. The movie takes place in a society where women have become infertile, and humanity is at risk of going extinct. The film also explores anti-immigration hysteria, and while it did poorly upon its 2006 release, its message is more relevant now. With birth rates declining, Children of Men feels awfully familiar.

There are countless online videos of people claiming to have spotted UFOs in the sky or to have encountered aliens. There are also conspiracy theories convinced the government has proof that extraterrestrial life exists in space but is hiding it from the public, possibly somewhere at Area 51. The 1997 film Contact explores the possibility of aliens, and while there's still no concrete evidence that aliens exist, the story still comes across as a grounded take on the search for alien life. Based on a book by real-life astronomer Carl Sagan, Contact has been praised for its portrayal of the SETI Institute.

Minority Report, based on Phillip K Dick's Novella, follows a group of people with psychic abilities hired to catch murderers before they've committed their crimes. This may sound like something that could never work in real life, but there are many elements of the film that either exist in current society or could one day in the future. The film came out in 2002, and while the FBI isn't necessarily using psychics to predict murders, there have been many cases of law enforcement using them to catch those who have committed crimes or reveal previously unknown information.

In 2019, Forbes shared a story about how psychic Fionna Johansson works with law enforcement to solve crimes. The film was also accurate with technology like self-driving cars, which Tesla has accomplished with its auto-pilot mode.

Gattaca explores the possibility and effects of genetic engineering. The film's society splits people into groups of "valid" and "invalids" based on how valuable they believe their DNA to be. Scientists are currently able to genetically alter the DNA of plants, animals, bacteria, and other small organisms, but humans are not out of the question. They have been able to use gene editing on some human cells to help with HIV and sickle cell disease. In 2020, Berkeley professor Jennifer Doudna predicted in about 30 years, scientists will be able to make significant changes to human genes.

The Martian follows Mark Watney's attempt to stay alive on Mars after his crew abandoned him because they thought he had died in a dust storm. The dust storm that leaves Mark stranded was confirmed unrealistic as Mars dust storms aren't that intense. However, some other aspects are realistic, like Mark transmuting rocket fuel into water and the eight-month time period it took to travel to Mars, which lined up with what technology in 2015 was capable of.

Arrival is another film that explores the possibility of aliens, with a heavy focus on communication between humans and extraterrestrial life. The film's language deciphering is meticulously well done, and one part of the film even shows the miscommunication between aliens and China, causing the country to believe the aliens want to harm them. Another accurate aspect of the film is that the aliens live in a different atmosphere than humans on Earth, which is only logical, considering that Mars' atmosphere is not at all similar to Earth's.

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Interstellar was directed by acclaimed filmmaker Christopher Nolan and took home the Oscar for Best Visual Effects in 2015. The film's storyline, directing, and accuracy regarding space travel have been heavily praised. The movie's interpretation of a black hole, for example, was deemed very close to what scientists have learned about them and is counted as one of the most painstakingly accurate portrayals of a black hole in science fiction movies. Interstellar also hit the nail on the head with its depiction of gravity and its effect on time. Time moves slower when gravity is stronger, and because of the black hole's gravitational pull, every hour is seven years on Earth.

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10 Wildest Science Fiction Movies That Could Actually Happen - Screen Rant