The 10 Greatest Space Opera Films of All Time

There are very few things more fun than just watching a giant space opera on the big screen. These are epic movies meant to be watched among people with the most grandiose visuals possible.

Now, Space Operas were not always popular; they were once seen as melodramas, but Star Wars changed everything and brought them back in style.

Now, it feelsl ike we're still getting them and enjoying these big movies centered on cinematic myth-making and grand visual spectacle.

Today, I want to go over ten of the space operas I think are the best all-time and talk about why.

Let's dive in.

10. Flash Gordon (1980)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Mike Hodges
• Cinematographer: Gilbert Taylor, BSC
• Writer: Lorenzo Semple Jr., Michael Allin
• Cast: Sam J. Jones, Melody Anderson, Max von Sydow, Topol, Ornella Muti, Timothy Dalton

In a time when space operas were lighting up the big screen, Mike Hodges took Alex Raymond’s 1930s comic strip and made a campy journey that looks glorious in 4K. It has these vibrant colors and a soundtrack by Queen. Flash Gordon commits to the bit and never looks back.

9. The Fifth Element (1997)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Luc Besson
• Cinematographer: Thierry Arbogast
• Writer: Luc Besson, Robert Mark Kamen
• Cast: Bruce Willis, Gary Oldman, Milla Jovovich, Ian Holm, Chris Tucker

I remember seeing this movie in theaters and having truly no idea how to synthesize the visuals and worldbuilding at the time. Apparently, Luc Besson conceived this story as a teenager, and that kinda tracks when you see the half-naked ladies and big monsters. The whole thing is a maximalist dream.

8. The Last Starfighter (1984)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Moderator: Nick Castle
• Cinematographer: King Baggot
• Writer: Jonathan R. Betuel
• Cast: Lance Guest, Robert Preston, Dan O'Herlihy, Catherine Mary Stewart

I remember renting this movie and just losing myself in a world that you wanted to join. You follow a small-town teen who beats an arcade game, only to discover it's a secret testing suite for intergalactic defense. I mean, why does this never happen to me? The Last Starfighter retains a soft spot in cinema history as one of the earliest feature films to use extensive Computer-Generated Imagery (CGI) for its space battles and the one I played out the most in the backyard.

7. Serenity (2005)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Joss Whedon
• Cinematographer: Jack Green
• Writer: Joss Whedon
• Cast: Nathan Fillion, Gina Torres, Alan Tudyk, Morena Baccarin, Adam Baldwin, Jewel Staite, Sean Maher, Summer Glau, Ron Glass, Chiwetel Ejiofor

Okay, so this is kind of a cheat. We have this TV show in Firefly that's not getting ratings, but people do love it, and somehow, somehow, Joss Whedon gets a studio to let him make a movie that packages the story for everyone.

6. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: James Gunn
• Cinematographer: Ben Davis
• Writer: James Gunn, Nicole Perlman
• Cast: Chris Pratt, Zoe Saldaña, Dave Bautista, Vin Diesel, Bradley Cooper, Lee Pace, Michael Rooker, Karen Gillan, Djimon Hounsou, John C. Reilly, Glenn Close, Benicio del Toro

This trailer was massive when it came out. This was during the peak of Marvel; it got everyone talking about what these comic book movies could be. It had palpable excitement, and it turned Chris Pratt into an action star. James Gunn piloted an obscure comic featuring a talking raccoon and a tree, and somehow it redefined the space opera and had amazing needle drops.

5. Starship Troopers (1997)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Paul Verhoeven
• Cinematographer: Jost Vacano
• Writer: Edward Neumeier
• Cast: Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Clancy Brown, Michael Ironside

Misunderstood upon its initial release, Paul Verhoeven’s adaptation of Robert A. Heinlein’s novel is a brilliant, subversively dark satire of militarism disguised as a big-budget bug-hunting spectacle.

4. Forbidden Planet (1956)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Fred M. Wilcox
• Cinematographer: George J. Folsey
• Writer: Cyril Hume
• Cast: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens, Jack Kelly

The granddaddy of modern cinematic space opera. Transposing Shakespeare’s The Tempest to Altair IV, Forbidden Planet was the first studio film to show humans traveling in a faster-than-light starship of their own creation, featuring the iconic Robby the Robot and an entirely electronic score by Bebe and Louis Barron.

3. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Nicholas Meyer
• Cinematographer: Gayne Rescher
• Writer: Jack B. Sowards
• Cast: William Shatner, Leonard Nimoy, DeForest Kelley, James Doohan, Walter Koenig, George Takei, Nichelle Nichols, Bibi Besch, Merritt Butrick, Paul Winfield, Kirstie Alley, Ricardo Montalbán

After 1979’s The Motion Picture leaned heavily into slow cosmic wonder, Nicholas Meyer injected nautical tension and human stakes back into the franchise. Staging starship battles like WWII submarine duels in the Mutara Nebula, The Wrath of Khan proves space opera relies on interpersonal character drama.

2. Dune: Part Two (2024)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Denis Villeneuve
• Cinematographer: Greig Fraser, ASC, ACS
• Writer: Denis Villeneuve, Jon Spaihts
• Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya, Rebecca Ferguson, Josh Brolin, Austin Butler, Florence Pugh, Dave Bautista, Christopher Walken, Léa Seydoux, Stellan Skarsgård, Javier Bardem

Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel was long deemed "unfilmable." Denis Villeneuve and Greig Fraser proved otherwise by scaling the narrative into a brutalist, jaw-dropping opera of religious zealotry, spice warfare, and destiny.

1. Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

- YouTube www.youtube.com

• Director: Irvin Kershner
• Cinematographer: Peter Suschitzky, ASC
• Writer: Leigh Brackett, Lawrence Kasdan
• Cast: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Billy Dee Williams, Anthony Daniels, David Prowse, Kenny Baker, Peter Mayhew, Frank Oz

While 1977’s A New Hope established the archetype, The Empire Strikes Back perfected it. Director Irvin Kershner deepened the mythology, lowered the light levels, split the narrative threads, and delivered the greatest plot twist in cinematic history.

Summing It All Up

Let me know what you think in the comments.