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After 'Project Hail Mary', here are 5 sci-fi films worth revisiting
If Ryan Gosling’s latest space epic has left you wanting more high-concept storytelling with emotional weight, these could be your next watch
- PUBLISHED: Tue 31 Mar 2026, 2:27 PM
There are some films that do more than just perform well at the box office. They remind audiences of a feeling. With Project Hail Mary quickly emerging as one of 2026’s biggest movie events and breaking major records along the way, it has once again brought back the thrill of the sci-fi epic. The kind of cinema that feels immersive, intelligent yet larger-than-life.
The film also serves as a reminder that audiences will always show up for stories that dare to think bigger than what's currently at stake.
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So, if Project Hail Mary has left you wanting more, here are five sci-fi films that deserve a spot on your watchlist.
1. Interstellar
If Project Hail Mary left you craving emotional scale in your science fiction, Interstellar is perhaps the most obvious next watch. Christopher Nolan’s 2014 epic is not just about space travel, wormholes and the survival of humankind. It also strikes a deep emotional chord through its exploration of love, the unbearable weight of separation and the fragility of time as a human construct.
Few films have managed to make astrophysics feel this intimate, but you can count on Nolan to make the impossible seem possible — at least within the realm of his cinematic universe. So if you’re ready to go down the rabbit hole of existential questions once again, be prepared to sit with them long after the credits roll... perhaps even longer this time.
2. Everything Everywhere All at Once
This may not be traditional space-bound science fiction, but it absolutely earns its place on this list. Everything Everywhere All at Once takes the idea of alternate universes and turns it into something wildly inventive, chaotic, tender and surprisingly profound.
Beneath all the absurdity, action and visual overload is a story about identity, regret, family and finding meaning in a fractured world. It is sci-fi with intricate emotional layering and that is exactly what makes it so memorable. Much like Project Hail Mary, it understands that spectacle alone is never enough. The real hook is what the impossible reveals about being human.
3. Inception
Before dream logic became a meme and spinning tops turned into cultural shorthand, Inception arrived as one of the most cerebral sci-fi blockbusters of its time. It's sleek and demanding in the best possible way, asking viewers to keep up while also drawing them into a deeply emotional story about grief, guilt and memory.
Nolan builds a world where the mind itself becomes the battleground and somehow makes the rules of that world feel thrilling rather than exhausting. If what drew you to Project Hail Mary was the mix of intelligence and scale, Inception offers that same satisfaction with a more psychological edge.
4. Gravity
If you are looking for a sci-fi film that captures the vulnerability of being alone in space, Gravity still holds up beautifully. Alfonso Cuarón’s film is leaner and more stripped-back than many others in the genre, but that is exactly where its power lies.
5. The Martian
Of all the films on this list, The Martian may be the closest in spirit to Project Hail Mary. It has the same problem-solving energy, the same wit in the face of impossible odds and the same belief that the world of sci-fi epics can be both dramatic and deeply entertaining.
Ridley Scott’s film gives us a stranded astronaut, a hostile planet and a survival story that somehow remains funny, hopeful and relentlessly watchable.
