7 Space Movies to Watch After Playing Starfield

Starfield’s early access release has come and gone with the full release now upon us, and understandably, the hype for the game is at an all-time high. It’s the first new IP Bethesda Game Studio has made in over two decades and will be one of the biggest exclusives Xbox has released this generation, if not ever. It’s a pretty big game and Bethesda is shooting for stars with its ambitions. With 1,000 explorable planets, the ability to create a character and chart your own path, customizable space ships, and more, it’s a game that sci-fi fans have dreamed of for years.

If you’re one of those people who’ve counting down the days until Starfield and are trying to find ways to occupy your time, we have you covered with what you can be doing when you’re wishing that you were playing Starfield. There are a bunch of incredible space/sci-fi movies out there and we’ve rounded up seven of them for you. Although they’re all sci-fi movies, they vary in genre with some being more horror-focused, others being more light-hearted, and some being emotionally devastating. There’s almost something for everyone on this list and they should all help scratch your Starfield itch in some capacity. If you’re looking for something non-fiction, Bethesda’s Pete Hines recommended a Netflix documentary called Unknown: Cosmic Time Machine that chronicles the story of some real life space explorers.

Moon (2009) – Directed by Duncan Jones

Moon follows a man named Sam Bell (Sam Rockwell) who has been stationed all by himself at a mining facility on the moon for years. He’s nearing the end of his contract and is ready to be reunited with his family, but one day, he’s alerted to the presence of someone else on the moon. Once he makes contact with them, he realizes it’s someone who appears to be a clone of himself. Naturally, this causes him to spiral and creates a pretty big mystery that he’s determined to solve before he goes home. It’s a pretty heady movie, but gives a great actor like Sam Rockwell the runway to turn in a career-defining performance. It’s yet another movie that depicts just how isolating something as vast and seemingly never-ending as space can be.

Bethesda is known for crafting some pretty strange side quests and loves to pay homage to movies, so it’s entirely possible Starfield could feature a nod to a movie like Moon given its strange premise.

Alien (1979) – Directed by Ridley Scott

Although Starfield is not a horror game, Bethesda is known for putting in some horrific stuff in all of its RPGs. There is simply no better movie other than Alien to depict the horrors that lie in an unknown, unexplored part of the universe. 

In case you’re somehow unfamiliar with the film, a group of people who have been in cryosleep aboard a space vessel known as the Nostromo are awoken out of their slumber to investigate a mysterious transmission. Unfortunately, they end up bringing a giant alien creature aboard and all hell breaks loose. It’s disgusting, tense, and has some incredibly great sci-fi production design that still holds up decades later. If you’re looking for something unlike the other movies on this list while still immersing yourself in a sci-fi world, you can’t go wrong with Alien. Its also a franchise with numerous sequels and there are more on the way, if you managed to get hooked by the premise/world.

Oblivion (2013) – Directed by Joseph Kosinski

Oblivion marks the first collaboration between Tom Cruise and Top Gun: Maverick director Joseph Kosinski. It’s a fully original sci-fi film where Jack Harper (Tom Cruise) is one of the last people on an Earth that has been left ravaged by a war with aliens. Surviving humans managed to evacuate the planet on a colony ship, but Harper is assigned to stay on the planet and fix combat drones and other machines on the planet. However, with just two weeks left until he’s allowed to join the others, he finds a pod with a human woman that he has been having visions of and it turns his whole world upside down.

Oblivion perfectly depicts that feeling of wandering a desolate planet thanks to its incredible sense of atmosphere. There are also a number of action scenes that highlight just how dangerous these wastelands are for a guy like Harper where scavengers lay traps and frequently ambush him while he’s out exploring. Previously, it felt like something you’d see in a Fallout game, but now it feels more in line with what we can likely expect from Starfield.

Ad Astra (2019) – Directed by James Grey

Ad Astra is a bit similar to Interstellar in that it uses the backdrop of the vastness of space to tell an incredibly human story. Sometime in the not-so-distant future, Major Roy McBride (Brad Pitt) leaves Earth in search of his father (Tommy Lee Jones) who disappeared 30 years prior while orbiting Neptune. His rather isolating journey takes him across the solar system where he encounters space pirates, other space travelers, and various cosmic dangers along the way. 

It’s a slow-burn, but it’s worth a watch if you’re into movies like Interstellar. It also shows that the moon has been essentially commercialized with an airport, making it out to be a normal vacation spot like Florida. Given all of the bustling sci-fi cities we’ve seen in Starfield already, Ad Astra will definitely get you in the mindset for that kind of world.

Solo: A Star Wars Story (2018) – Directed by Ron Howard

Solo: A Star Wars Story is a movie that is unlike any other Star Wars film out there. Instead of having galactic stakes, big lightsaber battles, or focusing on one of the titular wars, it hones in on the criminal underbelly of the iconic sci-fi universe. Given Starfield will allow you plunge into the criminal underworld (or combat said underworld), there’s no better time than now to brush up on the adventures of one of space’s most beloved smugglers: Han Solo. Just don’t get too attached to the film, as a sequel isn’t expected to happen anytime soon.

The Martian (2015) – Directed by Ridley Scott

The Martian follows astronaut Mark Watney (Matt Damon) after he becomes stranded on Mars with little to no resources. If you’re the type of person who loves crafting in RPGs or spent a lot of time building a town in Fallout 4, this movie will definitely excite you. Watney is forced to find ways to grow food on Mars and set up a somewhat sustainable environment for himself until he can find a way off of the planet. Despite the fact Mars isn’t exactly the most exciting location for a movie given it’s pretty desolate, it manages to be a super suspenseful drama with well-placed sprinkles of comedy.

Interstellar (2014) – Directed by Christopher Nolan

Starfield director Todd Howard has gone on record as saying Interstellar was one of the films that influenced the new RPG. Howard even expressed enthusiasm over being able to get screenwriter Jonathan Nolan to help lead the charge on the Fallout TV series. The acclaimed Christopher Nolan film is a deeply emotional sci-fi drama starring Matthew McConaughey about NASA sending a group of scientists and astronauts out into space in hopes of finding a black hole. In theory, this black hole will give them a new home as Earth is succumbing to a global famine that could wipe out humanity.

On top of being absolutely devastating, it approaches space and other planets as something extremely terrifying. The various planets explored are familiar, yet treacherous. One planet is covered in water and every hour spent on it is seven years back on Earth, meaning the longer they spend on the planet, the less time they’ll have to possibly save everyone back home. It’s a great film and arguably one of the best space movies of the modern era.