47% Of Movie Fans Agree That This Is The Best Space Movie Of All Time

Space: the final frontier. From the earliest days of recorded human history, people and civilizations have looked to the stars in hopes of studying and perhaps traveling the cosmos. Humanity has reached the Moon, is closing in on Mars, and will someday unlock the secrets behind wider space exploration. However, before Earth's population can easily traverse the universe, there's much to discover and learn about in the meantime. Therefore, the closest thing one can get to an intergalactic vacation nowadays is through fiction, where space has provided the backdrop for some of the most beloved and acclaimed stories of all time.

For instance, back in 1902, French director Georges Méliès unveiled his short film, titled A Trip to the Moon to the world. Little did he realize his 18-minute masterpiece would go on to become one of the most influential pieces of media ever made. In the years that followed, the cinema world became infatuated with space-based narratives, resulting in adventure fiction like Star Trek to dramatic biopics such as First Man. Even in the modern era, moviegoers can't get enough of the stuff, helping it retain its popularity year after year. Of course, quantity doesn't exactly equal quality, but there are plenty of revolutionary projects in the bunch to revere.

With that in mind, one has to ask, which space movie is the best of the best? To find out the answer, Looper recently ran a poll through YouTube and asked cinephiles across the globe for their favorites. Here's what they had to say.

Of the 224,000 respondents who tossed in their two cents, roughly 47% of them share the opinion that director Christopher Nolan's 2014 hit Interstellar is the single-greatest space movie of all. 

As for the competition, 2015's The Martian came in a distant second with 17% of the vote, followed by 2001: A Space Odyssey from 1968, which took home 16%. In fourth was the write-in option at 14%, where voters plead their case for unlisted titles, including Event Horizon, Alien, Spaceballs, and more. Finally, in dead last came the 2016 historical drama, Hidden Figures, securing the remaining 5% of the ballots. Despite their many strengths, according to those who participated in our poll, none of them can hold a candle to Interstellar. 

The Oscar-winning film tells the story of Earth's future, where the ecosystem is unable to sustain any further agriculture, thus making it uninhabitable for human life. To hopefully find a new planet for the populace to live on, NASA calls on Joseph Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) to spearhead an expedition through a wormhole — sending him across the galaxy in search of the few suitable planets ripe for settlement. 

It's a tale of danger, scientific discovery, and heartbreak that culminates in Nolan's most emotional finale to date. Interstellar is also beautifully shot and incredibly well-acted, with standout performances from both McConaughey and Anne Hathaway, who plays Dr. Amelia Brand. The production perfectly encapsulates the vastness of space, the emotional weight of time, and the strength of the human connection, making it — in the eyes of many — the best the space genre has to offer.