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Science fiction is one of the most popular movie genres as it allows both the audience and the creators to let their imagination run free, to portray the world as it could be one day. But not every director who works in this genre becomes a well-known name as it takes both time and hard work to achieve it.
One good science fiction movie can be attributed to luck, two are an indication of promising talent, but it's only three and more that make for the most influential and popular science fiction film directors. Some of the greatest names have created movies that continue to attract viewers even years after their first release.
5 Georges Méliès
While his name might not be familiar to a lot of people, at least not to those who haven't seen Martin Scorsese's movie Hugo (2011) in which Méliès is one of the leading characters, Georges Méliès is the founding father of science fiction cinema. He's the first acknowledged director who started creating fictional movies at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries.
Before that, cinematography focused on portraying everyday life occurrences and documentaries. Méliès, on the other hand, used his background as a magician to create imaginative effects in his movies, most notably A Trip to the Moon (1902), the first science fiction movie ever that inspired countless other homages.
4 Stanley Kubrick
Sometimes it takes just one movie for a director to change the world of science fiction cinema forever. Stanley Kubrick achieved this when he directed 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968). Not only can the fans regularly find the movie on the list of the best movies, but it also inspired various other sci-fi works and directors. One example of a movie directly inspired by 2001: A Space Odyssey is Star Trek: Motion Picture (1979), the first Star Trek feature movie that has a similar meditative quality to it, albeit it doesn’t reach the same high as 2001: A Space Odyssey.
This movie to a certain degree overshadowed other Kubrick’s work using science fiction elements, such as the disturbing portrayal of the world in which Alex DeLarge (Malcolm McDowell) and his friends live in the 1971 movie A Clockwork Orange based on Anthony Burgess‘ novel.
3 Steven Spielberg
Steven Spielberg is one of the most active and recognizable names in the filmmaking industry. Spielberg is known for his ability to smoothly move between movies of various genres, such as war drama, fantasy, horror, and children’s movies. He’s no stranger to science fiction either and directed multiple movies that left their impact on the genre. His movie E.T. (1982) redefined how science fiction movies aimed at children can look.
Spielberg's journey to Jurassic Park (1993), based on Michael Crichton's novel, then helped make dinosaurs popular again among the wide audience and had many movies imitating it to a smaller or a larger degree. Spielberg returned to the science fiction genre again over the years and whenever he did (Minority Report in 2002 or Ready Player One in 2018), his movies got a lot of positive reviews from the viewers and critics alike.
2 James Cameron
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James Cameron is one of the few directors who’s well-known for his work in multiple genres, not just science fiction. However, his science fiction movies have become iconic and influenced multiple others, as well as helped start the careers of now-famous actors. Cameron started his solo directing career in a recognizable way when he created Terminator (1984), a franchise that survives in various forms to this day. He returned to the same world in 1991 with the sequel Terminator 2: Judgment Day.
Cameron not only created his own franchises but also added to already established ones when he made the movie Aliens (1986) – a sequel that precedes its original, in the eyes of some. James Cameron’s latest movie is the record-breaking Avatar (2009) which introduced special effects not seen before and became one of the most successful movies at the box office gross. Cameron is currently working on multiple sequels to Avatar, and if they succeed, he’ll continue to deepen his position as one of the living icons of science fiction movies.
1 Christopher Nolan
The British director Christopher Nolan moves smoothly between various genres, ranging from crime thrillers (Following, 1998) to war movies inspired by real events (Dunkirk, 2017). He became even better known when he brought Batman back into consideration as a serious crime fighter in the Batman trilogy with Christian Bale in the leading role. But some of Nolan's most appreciated and innovative movies belong to the science fiction genre. Inception (2010) takes place in a dream inside a dream and delves deep into the human mind.
Interstellar (2014) sees the heroes trying to save the world in a risky mission. And Nolan's latest movie, Tenet (2020), works with the director's unique version of time travel called inversion. Nolan's movies are complex, have many layers to them, and also follow scientific principles whenever they can, which was especially obvious in Interstellar. Some fans compare Nolan to Stanley Kubrick, but even without the comparison, Nolan has already become one of the directors whose work will continue to influence other creators.