10 Best Sci-Fi Movies That Received Oscar Nomination For Best Picture

Sci-Fi or science fiction is a genre of speculative fiction that typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as progressive science and technology or phenomena that are not fully accepted by mainstream science.

Usually, the storyline in this type of movie are space exploration, parallel universes, extraterrestrial life forms, extrasensory perception, and time travel. Along with futuristic elements such as spacecraft, robots, cyborgs, interstellar travel, or other technologies.

For big fans of Sci-Fi movies, you must be familiar with the complicated storyline that makes your brain think very hard and enjoy the extraordinary futuristic depiction of the setting. So Flokqers, here we give you the 10 best Sci-Fi movies with unique and interesting storylines that you should watch!

1. Black Panther (2018)

Black Panther is one must watch
Source: IMDB

Who’s not familiar with Marvel today? Black Panther is a Sci-Fi superhero movie by Marvel, with Ryan Coogler as director and starring the late Chadwick Boseman and also Michael B. Jordan.

Black Panther tells the story of T’Challa (Chadwick Boseman) who had just chosen as the new King of Wakanda after his father passed away. However, N’Jadaka or Killmonger (Michael B. Jordan), a former secret agent of the United States who also has Wakandan royal blood, intends to overthrow the new King. He wants to conquer Wakanda’s modern technology to get his revenge on the world.

Black Panther managed to make a box office of 1.3 billion US dollars during its broadcast. One of the biggest box office records in history. Black Panther also received many awards and nominations, one of which is a nomination for the Best Picture at 2019 Academy Awards. Wakanda Forever!

2. The Martian (2015)

The Martian is a must-watch for fans of sci-fi movies
Source: IMDB

The Martian is a science fiction movie with Ridley Scott as director and starring Matt Damon, based on a 2011 novel of the same name by Andy Weir.

The Martian depicts an astronaut, Mark Watney’s (Matt Damon) lone struggle to survive on Mars after being left behind, and efforts to rescue him and bring him home to Earth.

Thanks to the brilliant direction and acting, The Martian gets high ratings on every movie review website in the world. They also received a lot of awards and nominations. They were considered the winner of the Best Picture at the 2015 Academy Awards by many.

3. Inception (2010)

Inception is directed by Christopher Nolan
Source: IMDB

Inception is a science fiction action movie with Christopher Nolan as director and stars many famous actors such as Leonardo DiCaprio, Cillian Murphy, Tom Hardy, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, and Michael Caine.

Inception depicts  Leonardo DiCaprio as a professional thief who steals information by infiltrating the subconscious of his targets. They offer him a chance to have his criminal history erased as payment for the implantation of another person’s idea into a target’s subconscious.

Inception managed to get a lot of accolades thanks to the brilliant direction and acting. Inception also won several awards and nominations, one of which is of course the Best Picture nomination from the 2011 Academy Awards.

Also read: 10 Best Indonesian Movies of All Time: A Must Watch!

4. Her (2013)

Her is one of the sci-fi movies that you must watch
Source: IMP Awards

Her is a science fiction romantic comedy movie with Spike Jonze as writer, director, and producer. Also starring Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson.

Her follows Theodore Twombly (Joaquin Phoenix), a man who develops a relationship with Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), an artificially intelligent virtual assistant personified through a female voice.

Thanks to Spike Jonze’s brilliant script and Joaquin Phoenix’s excellent acting, Her was nominated for Best Picture at the 2014 Academy Awards. Jonze even won Best Original Script at that award.

5. E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982)

E.T. is an old sci-fi movie that you must watch
Source: IMDB

E.T. The Extra Terrestrial or commonly called ET is a science fiction movie with Steven Spielberg as producer and director. The movie stars Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote, and Henry Thomas.

ET tells the story of Elliott, a boy who befriends an extraterrestrial, dubbed E.T., who is stranded on Earth. The concept was based on an imaginary friend Spielberg created after his parents’ divorce.

Thanks to its uniqueness of the story as well as its success at that time, in which ET was the biggest selling movie of its time. ET was considered by many critics to be one of the best movies of all time. Although at that time ET failed to get the Best Picture award at the 1983 Academy Awards after being nominated, the director of the winner of the Best Picture at that time even said that ET should have won the award.

6. Gravity (2013)

Gravity is a sci-fi thriller movie that you must watch
Source: IMDB

Gravity is a science fiction thriller movie with Alfonso Cuarón as director and producer, who also co-wrote, and co-edit the movie. It stars Sandra Bullock and George Clooney as American astronauts who are stranded in space after the mid-orbit destruction of their Space Shuttle and attempt to return to Earth.

Gravity gets a lot of accolades from critics thanks to the slick direction from Alfonso Cuarón and the brilliant acting of the two actors. Gravity has also won numerous awards, including Best Director at the 2014 Academy Awards. Including Best Female Lead and Best Picture at the 2014 Academy Awards.

Also read: 5 Scary Movies to Watch

7. Avatar (2009)

Avatar is a sci-fi movie with the best CGI effects that you must watch
Source: IMDB

This movie has James Cameron as director, which also stars many actors such as Sam Worthington, Zoe Saldana, Stephen Lang, and many more. Made a breakthrough with its CGI effects which were extraordinary at that time.

Avatar is set in the mid-22nd century when humans are colonizing Pandora, a lush habitable moon of a gas giant in the Alpha Centauri star system. In order to mine the mineral unobtanium, a room-temperature superconductor. The expansion of the mining colony then threatens the continued existence of a local tribe of Na’vi – a humanoid species indigenous to Pandora.

Thanks to the breakthrough in its CGI effect, Avatar managed to become the biggest selling movie at that time. In fact, they reach 2.79 billion US dollars at the box office. Avatar was nominated in 9 categories at the 2010 Academy Awards, including Best Picture and also Best Director.

8. Arrival (2016)

Arrival is the best sci-fi mystery movie that you must watch
Source: IMDB

Arrival is one of the best sci-fi movie with Denis Villeneuve as director and Eric Heisserer as writer. Based on the 1998 short story “Story of Your Life” by Ted Chiang, it stars Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner.

The movie follows a linguist enlisted by the United States Army to discover how to communicate with extraterrestrial aliens who have arrived on Earth, before tensions lead to war.

With a very unique story and also very slick cinematography, Arrival gets 8 nominations at the 2017 Academy Awards. Including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Cinematography, and Best Adapted Screenplay.

9. District 9 (2009)

District 9 is a movie you must watch
Source: IMDB

District 9 is a science fiction action movie with Neill Blomkamp as a director in his feature movie debut, Blomkamp and Terri Tatchell as writers, and Peter Jackson and Carolynne Cunningham as producer It is a co-production of New Zealand, the United States, and South Africa. 

The movie is partially presented in a found footage format by featuring fictional interviews, news footage, and video from surveillance cameras. The story, which explores themes of humanity, xenophobia, and social segregation, begins in an alternate 1982 when an alien spaceship appears over Johannesburg, South Africa.

When a population of sick and malnourished insectoid aliens is discovered on the ship, the South African government confines them to an internment camp called District 9. Twenty years later, during the government’s relocation of the aliens to another camp, one of the confined aliens named Christopher Johnson tries to escape from Earth. He plans to go with his son and return home but crosses paths with a bureaucrat leading the relocation named Wikus van der Merwe.

Thanks to its slick direction and interesting stories, District 9 received 4 nominations at the 2010 Academy Awards. Those were Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Visual Effects, and Best Film Editing. Some movie critics even considered this movie to be the best Sci-Fi movie of the 2000s.

10. Star Wars (1977)

Star Wars movie smash hit at early time
Source: IMDB

Who hasn’t heard the name Star Wars? Although this movie was first released in 1977, people nowadays still often hear the name. It has many sequels which have also had great successes.

This George Lucas’s movie tells the journey of Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), along with Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guinness), smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford), and also his Wookie partner Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew) who tries to free Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher) from the grip of the Galactic Empire tyranny.

Thanks to the great success of the movie at that time, Star Wars had ten nominations for the 1978 Academy Awards. Including Best Picture, and won seven of them. There is no doubt that Star Wars is one of the greatest movies of all time.

Also read: 17 Christmas Movie You Should Watch on Christmas


That is all, Flokqers! These movies are the 10 best Sci-Fi movies that you must watch. These movies even got nominations for Best Picture of their time. Happy watching, Flokqers!

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