Ten Key Alien Contact Films
A pre-Disclosure Day rundown of friendly and not-so-friendly cinematic extra-terrestrial visitation
Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day is about to hit cinemas. Therefore, now seems an opportune time to discuss previous films of note dealing with aliens, UFOs, and the possibility that we might not be alone in the universe. Here’s a list of ten key examples where extra-terrestrial intelligence visits humanity, sometimes with benevolent intent, and sometimes with less than friendly motives.
For this list, I am sticking to my ten-year rule. That rules out recent films like The Vast of Night (2019) and Project Hail Mary (2026), both of which I greatly enjoyed. I’m also omitting films I consider fantasy rather than science fiction, so no E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) here. Much as I love that film, it’s more of a modern fairy tale than a story seriously examining the ins and outs of potential alien contact.
On the more malevolent side of alien contact, films I consider horror primarily, such as The Thing (1982) or Alien (1979), are also inadmissible. In any case, even if I had considered the latter, I ultimately opted to stick to first contact films that take place predominantly on Earth to narrow the selection. Hence why I’ve also left out 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) and Solaris (1972).
On with the list, in chronological order.
