5 excellent Netflix sci-fi movies to watch this weekend (September 18-20)

Credit: Lucas Gouveia/How-To Geek Published Sep 17, 2026, 6:30 PM EDT Derek Malcolm has been covering the worlds of tech and entertainment for more than two decades. Before coming to How-To Geek in 2025, Derek was a contributing editor and writer for the A/V and Home Theater section at Digital Trends, where he wrangled and wrote everything from what to watch on Netflix to reviews, explainers, and guides on the latest Bluetooth speakers, turntables, projectors, and other A/V gear. Based in Toronto, Derek graduated from Humber College's Journalism program in 1999, after which he started covering the worlds of music, movies, TV, and celebrity for publications such as TV Guide, Hello! magazine, and Inside Entertainment. He then got the bug for covering tech and gadgets in 2006, when he served as editor-in-chief of Canadian tech magazine Connected for more than a decade. An avid skier, when all the snow's gone Derek can be found at home spinning vinyl with his daughter or cheering on his favorite F1 team, McLaren. Sign in to your How-To Geek account Netflix isn't always the first streaming service you think of scrolling through when you're in the mood for a world-hopping, alien-hunting, or even Earth-based sci-fi movie. But while a Tyler Perry dramedy and Puss in Boots currently dominate the top three, we're here to launch you out of your brain and into something good. The five science fiction movies below offer just that—from a dystopian class struggle in Earth's orbit and one of the cheesiest, culty-est alien-bug battle movies ever (with a young Denise Richards!) to a diabolical AI doll and, my top pick here, a more emotional, character-driven Godzilla movie that, if you haven't seen it, should be at the top of your watchlist. 5 Elysium A desperate man fights for his life and has to get off-planet to do it If you loved South African filmmaker Neill Blomkamp's dusty, dystopian alien thriller District 9, then his 2013 action sci-fi epic Elysium will equally impress you. Here, Blomkamp takes another social commentary shot at concepts of inequality and greed, as we follow Max Da Costa (Matt Damon), a struggling laborer on a 2154 Earth that's overpopulated and polluted, while those with wealth and status float in orbit on Elysium, a utopian space station. Damon does his best action work when he's a man on a mission, so when Max's life is on the line after a fatal dose of radiation rips through his body, the only way to cure himself is to get to Elysium, where its wondrous healing pods can fix him in an instant. However, to infiltrate the station, Max must get past the defenses of its ruthless protector, Jessica Delacourt (Jodie Foster), who is determined to keep the lower-class "riff-raff" out. Elysium Release Date August 9, 2013 Cast Matt Damon, Jodie Foster, Sharlto Copley, Diego Luna, Wagner Moura, Alice Braga, William Fichtner, Jose Pablo Cantillo, faran tahir, Maxwell Perry Cotton, Brandon Auret, Josh Blacker, Emma Tremblay, Adrian Holmes, Jared Keeso, Michael Shanks, Carly Pope, Ona Grauer, Terry Chen, Chris Shields, Christina Cox, Derek Gilroy, Yolanda Abbud L., Claire Smithies, Tiffani Timms Runtime 109 minutes Director Neill Blomkamp Writers Neill Blomkamp Producers Bill Block Main Genre Science Fiction Budget $115 million Studio(s) Sony Distributor(s) Sony Executive Producer(s) Sue Baden-Powell 4 War Machine If anyone can take down a fierce alien killer robot, it’s Alan Ritchson With some excellently explosive and intense action vibes reminiscent of Predator and War of the Worlds, this 2026 Netflix alien sci-fi thriller starring Reacher’s muscle-bound star Alan Ritchson is a ride from start to finish. War Machine follows an Army Ranger trainee known only as the numerical 81 (Ritchson), who sets out on a training exercise into the woods with his fellow recruits to test their mettle. But what they find is a devastating war robot, an extraterrestrial killing machine that wakes up and is hell-bent on hunting them down. It’s an R-rated, man vs. machine fight for survival full of exploding limbs, harrowing near-escapes over waterfalls, and some cool cinematography. Not a bad next step for Jack Reacher (whose spinoff, Neagley, just arrived on Prime Video). War Machine Release Date March 6, 2026 Cast Alan Ritchson, Dennis Quaid, Stephan James, Jai Courtney, Esai Morales, Blake Richardson, Daniel Webber, Keiynan Lonsdale, Richard Cottam, Jack Patten, Joshua Diaz, Heather Burridge, Victory Ndukwe, Matt Testro Runtime 107 minutes Director Patrick Hughes Writers Patrick Hughes, James Beaufort Producers Todd Lieberman, Alexander Young, Patrick Hughes, Greg McLean, Rich Cook Main Genre Action Executive Producer(s) Valerie Bleth Sharp 3 Starship Troopers The cult-classic interstellar bug hunt A word of advice before pressing play on Paul Verhoeven’s gleefully over-the-top, teenybopper, alien sci-fi cult hit—don’t think too hard about it. Based on Robert A. Heinlein’s 1959 young-adult novel of the same name, Starship Troopers follows a group of young and sexy new recruits of Earth’s Mobile Infantry as they go to war against the Bugs, a deadly race of gigantic alien insects that are colonizing the galaxy. The story centers around Johnny Rico (Casper Van Dien, Sleepy Hollow), his girlfriend Carmen Ibanez (Denise Richards, Wild Things), and Carl Jenkins (Neil Patrick Harris, How I Met Your Mother), who are all swept into the war, starting with a disastrous invasion of the Bugs' homeworld. That’s it, that’s all you need to know. The Bugs are big, they’re filled with goo, and they must be stopped. Starship Troopers Release Date November 7, 1997 Cast Casper Van Dien, Dina Meyer, Denise Richards, Jake Busey, Neil Patrick Harris, Clancy Brown, Michael Ironside, Patrick Muldoon, Seth Gilliam, Rue McClanahan, Blake Lindsley, Steven Ford, Ungela Brockman, Bruce Gray, Denise Dowse, Amy Smart, Tami-Adrian George, Julianna McCarthy, Dale Dye, Dean Norris, Marshall Bell, Eric Bruskotter, Matt Levin, Anthony Ruivivar, Brenda Strong Runtime 129 minutes Director Paul Verhoeven Writers Edward Neumeier Producers Alan Marshall, Jon Davison Sequel(s) Starship Troopers 2: Hero of the Federation, Starship Troopers 3: Marauder, Starship Troopers: Invasion, Starship Troopers: Traitor of Mars Franchise(s) Starship Troopers Main Genre Sci-Fi Budget $105 Million Studio(s) TriStar Pictures, Touchstone Pictures Distributor(s) TriStar Pictures 2 Megan Chucky’s got nothing on this killer AI doll In a world where we’re all on edge about the AIs putting an end to humans, may I return your attention to this horror-sci-fi hit from 2022 about M3gan (Model 3 Generative Android), a companion doll that takes its core objective way, way too far. M3gan follows brilliant roboticist Gemma (Get Out’s Allison Williams), who suddenly becomes the legal guardian of her young niece Cady (Violet McGraw, The Haunting of Hill House), whose parents have both been killed. To help Cady cope, Gemma gives her M3gan, who starts off as nurturing and helpful, but soon takes its protocol of protecting Cady to extremes, as it becomes self-aware and starts eliminating any threat to Cady’s well-being. The creepy film is full of weird, iconic scenes (the arm-swinging dance scene that became a global meme, for one), and has so far spawned a sequel, M3gan 2.0, plus a spinoff, Soulm8te. M3GAN Release Date January 6, 2023 Cast Allison Williams, Violet McGraw, Ronny Chieng, Amie Donald, Jenna Davis, Brian Jordan Alvarez, Jen Van Epps, Stephane Garneau-Monten, Lori Dungey, Amy Usherwood, Jack Cassidy, Michael Saccente, Samson Chan-Boon, Kira Josephson, Renee Lyons, Millen Baird, Chelsie Preston Crayford, Arlo Green, Natasha Daniel, Jaya Beach-Robertson, Clinton Randell Runtime 102 minutes Director Gerard Johnstone Writers Akela Cooper Producers Jason Blum, James Wan Main Genre Horror Budget $12 million Studio(s) Universal Pictures Distributor(s) Universal Pictures Executive Producer(s) Judson Scott, Mark David Katchur, Ryan Turek, Adam Hendricks, Allison Williams, Greg Gilreath, Michael Clear 1 Godzilla Minus One A modern, more emotional take on the kaiju classic I don’t think anyone had "Godzilla movie wins Oscar" on their bingo card for the 2024 Academy Awards, but here we are. And still, Godzilla Minus One remains the only film in the classic kaiju franchise’s history to do so. OK, the award was for Best Visual Effects, which are absolutely incredible, but Minus One stands above the others for its emotional angle, and not just its giant, lizard-like star. Set in postwar Japan, the film follows kamikaze pilot Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki), who returns home guilt-ridden after a cowardly encounter with Godzilla during the war. Kōichi settles down with Noriko Ōishi (Minami Hamabe) as they raise an orphaned baby together, but when the nightmarish kaiju returns, Kōichi gets his chance for redemption, joining a civilian team that sets out to stop the monster before it decimates the nation. Godzilla Minus One Release Date November 3, 2023 Cast Ryunosuke Kamiki, Minami Hamabe, Yuki Yamada, Munetaka Aoki, Hidetaka Yoshioka, Sakura Ando, Kuranosuke Sasaki, Saki Nakatani, Mio Tanaka, Yuya Endo, Kisuke Iida, Kenji Anan, Kenji Mizuhashi, Kunihiro Suda, Shota Taniguchi, Ippei Sasaki, Ozuno Nakamura, Sho Nishigaki, Tsutomu Osabe, Yuji Komatsu, Yosuke Minokawa, Sentarou Kusakabe, Kota Kawabata, Kiyomi Aratani, Yukio Tsukamoto, Shoji Omiya Runtime 124 minutes Director Takashi Yamazaki Writers Takashi Yamazaki Producers Keiichiro Moriya, Kazuaki Kishida, Kenji Yamada Franchise(s) Godzilla Main Genre Action Studio(s) Toho Studios, Robot Distributor(s) Toho Studios Executive Producer(s) Shuji Abe, Minami Ichikawa, Hisashi Usui Time to blast off with some Netflix sci-fi Whether you’re into killer robots, giant bugs, creepy AI dolls, or kaiju-sized destruction, there’s plenty here to keep your sci-fi appetite happy. Check out last week's roundup of sci-fi movies too, or hop over to our other streaming recommendations on How-To Geek. Subscription with ads Yes, $8/month Simultaneous streams Two or four Live TV No Price Starting at $8/month Stream licensed and original programming with a monthly Netflix subscription.