1900–1920s

Science fiction films appeared early in the silent film era, typically as short films shot in black and white, sometimes with colour tinting. They usually had a technological theme and were often intended to be humorous. In 1902, Georges Méliès released Le Voyage dans la Lune, often considered the first sci fi movie and a film that used early trick photography effects to depict a spacecraft’s journey to the moon. Several films merged the science-fiction and horror genres, such as Frankenstein (1910), a film adaptation of Mary Shelley's novel, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1912). A longer science fiction film, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1916), was based on Jules Verne’s novel. In the 1920s, European filmmakers tended to use science fiction films for prediction and social commentary, as can be seen in German films such as Metropolis (1926) and Frau im Mond (1929).

1930s–1950s

In the 1930s, there were several big budget science fiction films, notably Just Imagine (the first feature length science fiction film by a US studio), the US-made films King Kong (1933) and Lost Horizon (1936) and the British-made Things to Come (1936). Starting in 1934, a number of science fiction comic strips were adapted as serials, notably Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, both starring Buster Crabbe. These serials, and the comic strips they were based on, helped fix in the mind of the US public the idea that science fiction was juvenile and absurd, and led to the common description of science fiction as "that crazy Buck Rogers stuff". After 1936, no more big budget science fiction films were produced until 1950's Destination Moon, the first color film.

During the 1950s, the science fiction film became a popular genre with American audiences, leading to an increase in film production.^[4] Public interest in space travel and new technologies revived. While many 1950s science-fiction films were still low-budget B movies, there were several successful films with larger budgets and impressive special effects. Some of the many B movies are also still of interest today. There was a close connection between many films in the science fiction genre and the monster movie, in, for example, Them!, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, and The Blob.

Ray Harryhausen began to use stop-motion animation to create special effects for films.

1960s

There were relatively few science fiction films in the 1960s, but some of the films transformed science fiction cinema. Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) brought new realism to the genre, with its groundbreaking visual effects and realistic portrayal of space travel and influenced the genre with its epic story and transcendent philosophical scope. Other 1960s films included Planet of the Apes (1968) and Fahrenheit 451 (1966), which provided social commentary, and the campy Barbarella (1968), which explored the sillier side of earlier science fiction. Jean-Luc Godard's French "new wave" film Alphaville (1965) posited a futuristic Paris commanded by an artificial intelligence which has outlawed all emotion.

Another influential science fiction film of the 1960s, though it was never produced, was Satyajit Ray's The Alien, a story about a boy in Bengal befriending an alien. After production of the film was cancelled, the script became available throughout America in mimeographed copies, and may have served as inspiration for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982).^[5][6]

1970s-1990

The era of manned trips to the moon in the 1970s saw a resurgence of interest in the science fiction film. Andrei Tarkovsky’s slow-paced Solaris (1972) had visuals and a philosophic scope reminiscent of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Science fiction films from the early 1970s explored the theme of paranoia, in which humanity is depicted as under threat from ecological or technological adversaries of its own creation, such as Silent Running (ecology), Westworld (man vs. robot), THX 1138 (man vs. the state), and Stanley Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange (threat of brainwashing). Conspiracy thriller films of the 1970s included Soylent Green and Futureworld. The science fiction comedies of the 1970s included Woody Allen's Sleeper and John Carpenter's Dark Star.

Star Wars and Close Encounters of the Third Kind, both released in 1977 , were box-office hits that brought about a huge increase in science fiction films. In 1979, Star Trek: The Motion Picture brought the television series to the big screen for the first time, While The Walt Disney Company released many science fiction films for family audiences such as Escape to Witch Mountain, Flight of the Navigator and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Ridley Scott's films, such as Alien and Blade Runner, along with James Cameron's The Terminator, presented the future as dark, dirty and chaotic, and depicted aliens and androids as hostile and dangerous. In contrast, Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, one of the most successful films of the 1980s, presented aliens as benign and friendly.

The big budget adaptations of Frank Herbert's Dune, Alex Raymond's Flash Gordon and Arthur C. Clarke's sequel to 2001, 2010, were box office duds that dissuaded producers from investing in science fiction literary properties. Disney's Tron turned out to be a moderate success. The strongest contributors to the genre during the second half of the 1980s were James Cameron and Paul Verhoeven with The Terminator and RoboCop entries. James Cameron's 1986 sequel to Alien, Aliens, was very different to the original film, falling more into the action/sci-fi genre, it was both a critical and commercial success and Sigourney Weaver was nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the Academy Awards. The Japanese anime film Akira (1988) also had a big influence outside Japan when released.

1990s–2000s

In the 1990s, the emergence of the world wide web and the cyberpunk genre spawned several movies on the theme of the computer-human interface, such as Total Recall (1990), The Lawnmower Man (1992), and The Matrix (1999). Other themes included disaster movies (e.g., Armageddon and Deep Impact both from 1998), alien invasion (e.g., Independence Day from 1996) and genetic experimentation (e.g., Jurassic Park from 1993 and Gattaca from 1997).

As the decade progressed, computers played an increasingly important role in both the addition of special effects (thanks to Terminator 2:Judgment Day", and"Jurassic Park) and the production of films. As software developed in sophistication it was used to produce more complicated effects. It also enabled filmmakers to enhance the visual quality of animation, resulting in films such as Ghost in the Shell (1995) from Japan, and The Iron Giant (1999) from the US.

During the first decade of the 2000s, superhero films abounded, as did earthbound SF such as the Matrix trilogy. In 2005, the Star Wars sextet was completed with the darkly-themed Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. Science-fiction also returned as a tool for political commentary in films such as A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Minority Report, Sunshine, and Children of Men. J.J. Abrams's "Star Trek", released in 2009, would be an example of a critically acclaimed sci-fi film.