Curated playlist

American science fiction action films

The Mandalorian and GroguHollywood's 2023 labor disputes turned a planned Mandalorian TV season into a movie.
Avengers: DoomsdayAvengers: Doomsday revealed its villain when a masked Doctor Doom removed his mask. Underneath was Robert Downey Jr.
Captain America: Civil WarThe villain of Captain America: Civil War beats the Avengers with patience and a stolen book of trigger words.
Avengers: EndgameAvengers: Endgame opens with Clint Barton losing his family to Thanos's snap. It was moved from Infinity War.
Justice League (film)Justice League used visual effects to erase Henry Cavill's mustache from its own footage.
Avengers: Age of UltronAvengers: Age of Ultron cut Loki out completely after test audiences thought he controlled Ultron.
Avengers: Infinity WarAvengers: Infinity War ends with Thanos watching a sunrise after erasing half of all life.
Blade RunnerBlade Runner exists in seven versions, but Ridley Scott controls only one.
Star Wars (film)George Lucas forgot Star Wars was opening the day it came out. That night, he saw crowds lined up outside a theater.
The Avengers (2012 film)Joss Whedon read the first Avengers script and said to pretend it never happened.
The TerminatorThe Terminator began as a fever dream in Rome. Director James Cameron, ill, dreamed of a metal torso crawling from fire.
Spider-Man: Brand New DaySpider-Man: Brand New Day drew 718.6 million trailer views in its first 24 hours, according to the research firm WaveMetrix. That was nearly double the 365 million views earned by Deadpool & Wolverine in 2024, the previous film record. It…
Spider-Man: No Way HomeSpider-Man: No Way Home drew 355.5 million global views for its first trailer in the first 24 hours. No trailer had drawn more views in such a span. Avengers: Endgame held the old record at 289 million, and the Far From Home trailer had…
RoboCopRoboCop's leading actor was fired partway through filming. The 1987 film's suit was too bulky for him to move in.
Mission: Impossible – The Final ReckoningAt the New York premiere of Mission: Impossible , The Final Reckoning in May 2025, Tom Cruise left no room for doubt about the title. "It's the final! It's not called 'final' for nothing," he said, confirming that this would be his last…
Deadpool & WolverineDeadpool & Wolverine almost went by the title Deadpool & Friend. The name leaked online in February 2024.
Transformers: Dark of the MoonMichael Bay bet $25,000 that two robots would not appear in Transformers: Dark of the Moon.
Return of the JediReturn of the Jedi was briefly renamed Revenge of the Jedi. Lucas reverted it after posters were printed.
InceptionInception's crew built a hotel corridor that rotated a full 360 degrees. It was planned at 40 feet, then grew to 100.
Star Wars: StarfighterStar Wars: Starfighter is set in a part of the galaxy never seen on screen. Ryan Gosling leads a mostly new cast.
Star Wars: The Last JediIn Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Luke hesitates to burn the Jedi library, so Yoda's spirit does it.
The Empire Strikes BackOn the set of The Empire Strikes Back, the actor playing Vader was given a fake line.
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom MenaceA sudden sandstorm wrecked the Tunisian set of The Phantom Menace. The shoot still left Tunisia on schedule.
Rogue OneRogue One first had an ending where the heroes lived. Director Gareth Edwards wrote it, but it was never filmed.
Star Wars: The Rise of SkywalkerJohn Boyega left a Rise of Skywalker script in a hotel room, and it turned up on eBay.
Avatar (2009 film)Avatar, the 2009 science fiction film from director James Cameron, began with a dream he had when he was 19 years old. In the dream, he saw a bioluminescent forest. Its trees were made of fiber-optic strands, fan lizards moved through the…
Avatar: The Way of WaterAvatar: The Way of Water, James Cameron's 2022 science fiction sequel, contains an underwater scene for which Kate Winslet held her breath for more than seven minutes. That broke the record for a breath hold during a filmed scene, which…
Flash Gordon (serial)The 1936 Flash Gordon serial reused Frankenstein's watchtower sets inside Emperor Ming's palace.
Star Wars: The Force AwakensIn early drafts of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, Luke took over every scene. So he became the one being sought.
Predator: BadlandsPredator: Badlands, a 2025 science fiction action film directed by Dan Trachtenberg, asks its audience to follow a Predator rather than flee from one. In a departure from earlier films, the hunter is the hero here and not the threat. His…
Superman (2025 film)Superman, the 2025 film written and directed by James Gunn, has a private detail hidden in its release calendar. The date was chosen because it matches the birthday of Gunn's late father. That personal thread runs through a project that…
The Fantastic Four: First StepsThe Fantastic Four: First Steps opens in 1964 on a world called Earth-828. Crowds are marking four years since a space mission gave four astronauts extraordinary powers. Reed Richards, Sue Storm, Ben Grimm and Johnny Storm are celebrities…
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the ClonesAttack of the Clones was the first Star Wars film not to be its year's top earner. It grossed $653.8 million worldwide.
Jurassic World RebirthJurassic World Rebirth begins in 2008 on Île Saint-Hubert, a research island in the Atlantic Ocean. There, the company InGen keeps mutated dinosaurs that its own head considers disturbing. One of them, a six-limbed Tyrannosaurus called…
Thunderbolts*Before Thunderbolts* reached theaters in 2025, its title carried a small asterisk that Marvel Studios refused to explain. Studio president Kevin Feige confirmed in April 2024 that the mark was official. He promised the meaning would be…
Final Fantasy: The Spirits WithinThe film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within named its heroine Aki after the director's mother.
Everything Everywhere All at OnceEverything Everywhere All at Once began as a script for a male lead, written with Jackie Chan in mind.
Star Wars: The Clone Wars (film)George Lucas liked early footage of a Clone Wars TV series so much that he made it a movie.
Tron: AresTron: Ares is a 2025 American science fiction action film directed by Joachim Rønning, and it is built around a countdown of 29 minutes. That is the longest a digital construct can survive in the real world before it disappears. A hidden…
Solo: A Star Wars StoryRon Howard reshot around 70 percent of Solo: A Star Wars Story after taking over.
Alita: Battle AngelAlita: Battle Angel began as a website address registered around June 2000. The film did not arrive until 2019.