Interstellar backdrop

Films like Interstellar (2014)

Published: Feb 22, 2026

Interstellar plot: Crop failure and relentless dust storms threaten Earth’s survival. Former NASA pilot Joseph Cooper sets off on a space journey with a team, hoping to find a habitable planet and save the people left on Earth—including his own family.

Keywords: Ensemble cast, Betrayal, Con job, Race against time, Outer space, Space exploration, Quest, Search, Legacy, Con artist

Style characteristics: Tension, Complexity, Pacing

Gravity

1. Gravity

Science Fiction Thriller Drama
7.7

2013 · 1h 31min

United States, United Kingdom

Director: Alfonso Cuarón

During a routine mission on a space station, debris from a destroyed satellite strikes, killing part of the crew and sending the rest drifting into open space. Alone, Ryan Stone and Matt Kowalski fight for their lives, hoping to find a way back to Earth.

Similarity

Closest characteristics: Pacing, Darkness, Tropes, Tone

Notable differences: Tension (+12%), Action (+15%), Complexity (-33%)

Shared keywords

Race against time, Outer space, Encroaching threat, Survival

Style

Tension
90%
Pacing
78%
Action
70%

Ad Astra

2. Ad Astra

Science Fiction Drama
6.5

2019 · 2h 3min

United States, Brazil

Director: James Gray

Astronaut Roy McBride sets out on a space journey to Mars to make contact with his father—a legendary astronaut whose expedition vanished without a trace 29 years ago during a mission to search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

Similarity

Closest characteristics: Bleakness, Tropes, Tone

Notable differences: Tension (-12%), Pacing (-18%), Complexity (-23%)

Style

Tension
66%
Bleakness
62%
Darkness
58%

Arrival

3. Arrival

Drama Science Fiction Mystery
7.9

2016 · 1h 56min

United States

Director: Denis Villeneuve

Alien ships arrive at multiple locations around the world. The U.S. government sends a team of scientists, led by a linguist and a physicist, to one of the ships to try to understand the visitors’ true purpose—before supporters of a military solution provoke a war.

Similarity

Closest characteristics: Complexity, Tension, Tropes, Themes

Notable differences: Pacing (-25%)

Style

Complexity
75%
Tension
70%
Darkness
55%

Sunshine

4. Sunshine

Science Fiction Thriller
7.2

2007 · 1h 48min

United Kingdom

Director: Danny Boyle

In the distant future, humanity faces global cold as the Sun gradually dims. A space mission called Icarus II sets out for the Sun with a nuclear bomb onboard to reignite the fading star.

Similarity

Closest characteristics: Tension, Bleakness, Pacing, Tone, Tropes

Notable differences: Darkness (+20%), Complexity (-18%)

Shared keywords

Race against time, Outer space, Quest, Encroaching threat, Survival

Style

Tension
78%
Darkness
70%
Pacing
62%

The Martian

5. The Martian

Drama Adventure Science Fiction
8.0

2015 · 2h 21min

United States

Director: Ridley Scott

Astronaut Mark Watney is stranded on Mars after his crew evacuates the planet, believing him dead. Now he has to rely only on his own ingenuity and wits to contact Earth and hold out for rescue.

Similarity

Closest characteristics: Pacing, Tension, Tropes, Tone

Notable differences: Complexity (-23%)

Shared keywords

Race against time, Outer space, Space exploration, Survival

Style

Tension
70%
Pacing
65%
Humor
55%

Contact

6. Contact

Drama Science Fiction Mystery
7.5

1997 · 2h 30min

United States

Director: Robert Zemeckis

After years of searching, a radio astronomer finds convincing proof of extraterrestrial intelligence when she receives a signal from an alien civilization. Embedded in the message are instructions for building a machine that could enable true contact with humanity.

Similarity

Closest characteristics: Complexity, Tropes, Tone

Notable differences: Tension (-13%), Pacing (-15%)

Shared keywords

Quest, Search

Style

Complexity
70%
Tension
65%
Pacing
55%

Moon

7. Moon

Science Fiction Drama
7.8

2009 · 1h 37min

United States, United Kingdom

Director: Duncan Jones

Two weeks before the end of his three-year contract on a lunar station, astronaut Sam is involved in an accident. As events unfold, he begins to suspect that something is wrong with the mission and the company controlling it.

Similarity

Closest characteristics: Tension, Tone, Tropes

Notable differences: Bleakness (+17%), Darkness (+18%), Pacing (-24%), Complexity (-12%)

Style

Tension
74%
Bleakness
72%
Darkness
68%

Apollo 13

8. Apollo 13

Drama History
7.7

1995 · 2h 20min

United States

Director: Ron Howard

The film tells the story of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission to the Moon, meant to be the third crewed lunar landing, but instead the crew is forced to fight for their survival and a safe return home.

Similarity

Closest characteristics: Pacing, Tension, Tone, Tropes

Notable differences: Complexity (-13%)

Shared keywords

Race against time, Outer space, Survival

Style

Tension
85%
Pacing
70%
Complexity
65%

Tenet

9. Tenet

Action Thriller Science Fiction
7.3

2020 · 2h 30min

United States, United Kingdom

Director: Christopher Nolan

A secret service agent learns to use time inversion to save the world from criminals from the future who are trying to destroy the planet.

Similarity

Closest characteristics: Tension, Pacing, Complexity, Tropes, Tone

Notable differences: Darkness (+15%), Action (+30%)

Shared keywords

Race against time, Encroaching threat

Style

Complexity
88%
Action
85%
Tension
80%

Coherence

10. Coherence

Thriller Science Fiction
7.2

2014 · 1h 29min

United States, United Kingdom

Director: James Ward Byrkit

During a dinner with friends, at the moment a comet passes overhead, the power goes out across the city. Trying to make sense of what’s happening, they run into unknown strangers who look exactly like them.

Similarity

Closest characteristics: Complexity, Tension, Bleakness, Tropes, Tone

Notable differences: Darkness (+20%), Pacing (-12%)

Style

Tension
84%
Complexity
82%
Darkness
70%

Mickey 17

11. Mickey 17

Science Fiction Comedy Adventure
6.7

2025 · 2h 17min

United States, United Kingdom

Director: Bong Joon Ho

In the near future, Mickey Barnes takes on dangerous assignments for space colonization. Each time he dies, the people in charge create a new clone and upload his memories into a new body—until a malfunction leads to multiple versions of Mickey…

Similarity

Closest characteristics: Pacing, Tropes, Setting

Notable differences: Tension (-13%), Complexity (-13%)

Shared keywords

Outer space, Survival, Survival game

Style

Pacing
70%
Tension
65%
Complexity
65%

Cloud Atlas

12. Cloud Atlas

Drama Science Fiction
7.4

2012 · 2h 52min

United States, Germany

Director: Lilly Wachowski

Several stories unfolding across different eras—from the 19th century to the distant future—follow people whose actions and their consequences travel through time and echo into what comes next.

Similarity

Closest characteristics: Pacing, Action, Complexity, Tone, Themes

Notable differences: Darkness (+15%)

Style

Complexity
85%
Pacing
72%
Tension
70%

A.I. Artificial Intelligence

13. A.I. Artificial Intelligence

Drama Science Fiction Adventure
7.2

2001 · 2h 26min

United States, United Kingdom

Director: Steven Spielberg

In a world where an ecological catastrophe and Earth’s overpopulation have led to strict limits on childbirth, a series of humanlike androids appears—capable of thoughts and emotions, yet tightly restricted in their rights.

Similarity

Closest characteristics: Tone, Themes

Notable differences: Bleakness (+23%), Darkness (+22%), Tension (-12%), Pacing (-12%), Complexity (-16%)

Style

Bleakness
78%
Darkness
72%
Tension
66%

Oblivion

14. Oblivion

Action Science Fiction Adventure Mystery
7.0

2013 · 2h 4min

United States

Director: Joseph Kosinski

After a war with alien invaders, Earth is no longer habitable, and what’s left of humanity has moved to the orbital station Tet. Jack Harper carries out technical missions on the devastated planet and coordinates resource-harvesting drones, but a chance discovery makes him question everything he believed about the war and his own assignment.

Similarity

Closest characteristics: Pacing, Tension, Darkness, Tropes, Tone

Notable differences: Complexity (-16%)

Style

Tension
70%
Pacing
68%
Action
65%

Dune

15. Dune

Science Fiction Adventure
8.0

2021 · 2h 35min

United States

Director: Denis Villeneuve

In the distant future, young Paul Atreides and his family find themselves at the heart of a struggle for the dangerous desert planet Arrakis. A conflict between powerful houses over control of the planet’s resources pulls the native people—the Fremen—into war.

Similarity

Closest characteristics: Tension, Action, Complexity, Tone, Themes

Notable differences: Darkness (+20%), Pacing (-12%)

Shared keywords

Betrayal, Survival

Style

Tension
78%
Complexity
72%
Darkness
70%