American dystopian films

1999 American science fiction action thriller film

1984 film by James Cameron

2005 film directed by James McTeigue

Interstellar is a 2014 epic science fiction film directed by Christopher Nolan, who co-wrote the screenplay with his brother Jonathan Nolan. It features an ensemble cast led by Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain, Bill Irwin, Ellen Burstyn, and Michael Caine. Set in a dystopian future where Earth is suffering from catastrophic blight and famine, the film follows a group of astronauts who travel through space in search of a new home for humanity.

1982 film by Ridley Scott

2012 film directed by Gary Ross

1989 film by Robert Zemeckis

1995 film directed by Terry Gilliam

2017 film directed by Denis Villeneuve

2017 film directed by James Mangold

2014 film directed by Bryan Singer

2004 film directed by Alex Proyas

2012 animated film directed by Chris Renaud

2015 science-fiction film directed by Alan Taylor

2011 film directed by Rupert Wyatt

2002 film directed by Steven Spielberg

2009 film directed by Zack Snyder

2006 film directed by Alfonso Cuarón

2014 film directed by Matt Reeves

2013 film by Francis Lawrence

1990 film directed by Paul Verhoeven

Gattaca is a 1997 American dystopian science fiction film written and directed by Andrew Niccol in his feature directorial debut. It stars Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman with Jude Law, Loren Dean, Ernest Borgnine, Gore Vidal, and Alan Arkin appearing in supporting roles. The film presents a future society driven by eugenics where children are conceived through genetic selection to ensure they possess the best hereditary traits of their parents. The principal character, Vincent Freeman, played by Hawke, was conceived outside the eugenics program and struggles to overcome genetic discrimination to

2014 film directed by Doug Liman

2014 film by Neil Burger

2019 film directed by Robert Rodriguez

2004 film directed by Alexander Witt

2012 film directed by Tom Tykwer and the Wachowskis

2014 film by Francis Lawrence

2013 film by Joseph Kosinski

2018 film directed by Christian Rivers

1993 film directed by Marco Brambilla

2005 film directed by Michael Bay

Waterworld is a 1995 American post-apocalyptic action film, directed by Kevin Reynolds and co-written by Peter Rader and David Twohy. It was based on Rader's original 1986 screenplay and stars Kevin Costner, who also produced it with Charles Gordon and John Davis. It was distributed by Universal Pictures.

2018 film directed by Steven Spielberg

2011 film by Andrew Niccol

2012 film directed by Rian Johnson

2013 film directed by Guillermo del Toro

2013 film directed by Neill Blomkamp

2002 film directed by Kurt Wimmer

Wicked is a 2024 American musical fantasy film directed by Jon M. Chu and written by Winnie Holzman and Dana Fox. It adapts the first act of the 2003 stage musical by Stephen Schwartz and Holzman, which was loosely based on Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel, a re-imagining of L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and its 1939 film adaptation. Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande star as Elphaba Thropp and Glinda Upland, respectively; while Jonathan Bailey, Ethan Slater, Bowen Yang, Peter Dinklage, Michelle Yeoh, and Jeff Goldblum appear in supporting roles. Set in the Land of Oz before the events of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, the film explores the early relationship between Elphaba, the future Wicked Witch of the West, and her schoolmate Galinda, who becomes Glinda the Good.

2015 film directed by Francis Lawrence

2017 film directed by Matt Reeves

2002 film directed by Simon Wells

1981 film by John Carpenter

2018 film directed by Wes Anderson

2014 film by José Padilha

2016 film by Justin Kurzel

1995 film directed by Danny Cannon

2014 film directed by Wally Pfister

1988 film by John Carpenter

2012 film directed by Len Wiseman

2018 film directed by Wes Ball

28 Years Later is a 2025 post-apocalyptic coming-of-age horror film produced and directed by Danny Boyle and written by Alex Garland. The third film in the 28 Days Later film series, it stars Jodie Comer, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Jack O'Connell, Alfie Williams, and Ralph Fiennes. The film tells the story of a boy living in a post-apocalyptic world who undertakes a hazardous journey with his ill mother in an effort to obtain medical treatment for her.

2017 film directed by Rupert Sanders

Idiocracy is a 2006 American science fiction comedy film directed and produced by Mike Judge, who co-wrote with Etan Cohen. The plot follows United States Army librarian Joe Bauers and prostitute Rita who undergo a government hibernation experiment and awake five hundred years later in a dystopian anti-intellectual society. The cast includes Luke Wilson, Maya Rudolph, Dax Shepard, Terry Crews, David Herman, Justin Long, Andrew Wilson, and Brad Jordan.

The Running Man is a 1987 American science fiction action film directed by Paul Michael Glaser from a screenplay by Steven E. de Souza. It is loosely based on the 1982 novel The Running Man by Stephen King. Starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, María Conchita Alonso, Richard Dawson, Yaphet Kotto, and Jesse Ventura, the film is set in a dystopic and totalitarian future United States, where a state-controlled broadcaster airs a deadly game show in which convicted criminals, known as "runners", must survive pursuit by themed gladiatorial assassins called "stalkers". The story follows Captain Ben Richards (Schwarzenegger), a framed police officer forced to compete on the show, who becomes an unlikely symbol of resistance against a corrupt government and its manipulative media machine.

2024 film directed by Wes Ball

2015 film directed by Robert Schwentke

1993 film directed by Rocky Morton and Annabel Jankel