Every Steven Spielberg Sci-Fi Film, Ranked From Misfires to Masterpieces

Spielberg is the guy studios call when they want spectacle that actually means something. He bounces between prestige dramas and popcorn thrones without breaking a sweat, but he keeps circling back to sci-fi to poke at big human stuff under all the shiny. He’s headed there again next year with a new UFO movie called 'Disclosure Day'. Until then, here’s how his eight sci-fi films stack up for me, from the ones that never quite clicked to the ones that defined the genre.

1. The Lost World: Jurassic Park

   As sequels go, this one trades the first film’s science-and-wonder vibe for bigger, louder set pieces and thinner characters. Yes, the San Diego rampage is memorable, but it also asks a lot of your disbelief. Spielberg has flat-out said he went in overconfident, and you can feel that in the finished movie. It’s telling he never came back to direct another Jurassic after this.

   IMDb: 6.6 | Tomatometer/Audience: 57% / 52%

2. Ready Player One

   A well-made sugar rush that lives and dies on references. It’s fun in the moment, but it’s also the shallowest thing here. Wade Watts is one of Spielberg’s least compelling leads: more passenger than driver, with a character arc that never really kicks into gear. Enjoyable? Sure. Lasting? Not really.

   IMDb: 7.4 | Tomatometer/Audience: 71% / 77%

3. War of the Worlds

   Spielberg’s only aliens-are-here-to-kill-us movie. The scale is impressive and some sequences are brutally effective, but the lead’s arc snaps from disengaged dad to action hero a little too quickly. The supporting characters veer broad, too. It’s still a solid watch; it just lands below his other extraterrestrial outings, which lean into empathy instead of annihilation.

   IMDb: 6.6 | Tomatometer/Audience: 76% / 42%

4. A.I. Artificial Intelligence

   Kubrick’s brain meets Spielberg’s heart, and the tone wobbles in fascinating ways. Kubrick developed it and handed it to Spielberg, who saw it through after Kubrick’s death in 1999. The story of David, a robot child programmed to love and then abandoned, plays like a dark futuristic Pinocchio. It was divisive at the time, but it’s aged well and feels uniquely singular.

   IMDb: 7.2 | Tomatometer/Audience: 76% / 64%

5. Close Encounters of the Third Kind

   A sincere, almost spiritual ode to the unknown. No evil aliens here—just raw curiosity and the pull of something bigger than suburbia. Roy Neary’s obsession feels weirdly holy, and the movie luxuriates in mood and music. The pacing is meditative, the plot is simple, and the payoff is pure movie magic.

   IMDb: 7.6 | Tomatometer/Audience: 91% / 85%

6. Jurassic Park

   The definitive spectacle movie. It’s awe and terror in perfect balance, grounded by characters who anchor the chaos. Under the T. rex and raptors, it’s about hubris—thinking we control nature until nature laughs. Also, he made this and Schindler’s List in the same year. Come on.

   IMDb: 8.2 | Tomatometer/Audience: 91% / 91%

7. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial

   Pure, open-hearted wonder. Spielberg taps directly into childhood—curiosity, fear, friendship—and lets it play without cynicism. Watching Elliott bond with a stranded alien still hits as a kids’ milestone and an adult gut punch at the same time. It’s the warmest movie blanket in his catalog.

   IMDb: 7.9 | Tomatometer/Audience: 99% / 72%

8. Minority Report

   Lean, propulsive, and loaded with ideas. Tom Cruise’s PreCrime true believer turns fugitive when the system tags him for a murder he hasn’t committed—yet. The worldbuilding (retinal scans, ads that greet you by name) isn’t just cool tech; it’s the story. At 145 minutes, it doesn’t waste a beat. In an era of personalized surveillance, it’s only gotten sharper. One of the best sci-fis, period.

   IMDb: 7.6 | Tomatometer/Audience: 89% / 80%

If 'Disclosure Day' really is next year, odds are he threads the needle again: big canvas, human core. Which one’s your personal champ?