hairy Top 10 Science Fiction Movies Under USD 30 Million Box Office! (Updated)

From time to time, there will always be movies that succeed in the box-office that everyone do enjoy. The critics loved the film and the earnings are over USD 50 million, giving some films a decent profit depending on the production budget. While others that did not make it, they did pretty good in rental/purchase DVD/Blu-Ray much later. These movies that failed in the box-office are one of the top ten science fiction movies I enjoyed throughout my years of watching films. So here it is - the Top 10 Science Fiction Movies (Under USD 30 Million Box-Office)

Note:- All box-office earnings are compile domestically in North America, as confirm in Box-Office Mojo.

It was considered the disastrous movie of the year (and even the decade too). The critics hated it, the audience loath it and it won 7 Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Movie, Worst Actor, Worst Supporting Actor, Worst Supporting Actress, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay & Worst Screen Couple. The featured film runs about 117 minutes long, with which this is the last film director Roger Christian ever directed in his career.

To me, it was quite an entertaining film. I sit through the entire fiasco of a movie and yes the movie is bad. The script is horrible, the dialogue between actors are terrible and the aliens make-up are probably the dumbest looking ever. While I have no complains about the ship designs and the special effects, I was annoyed by the scene transitions. The changes between one scene to the next is one too many, making the film irritable to the eye.

And yet, this movie overall is not that bad. I do find some good points here where the action is concern. The theme about hope for mankind to fight back what they have left is unreal but it escapes the reality of defeat which makes it seem hopeful. Based on the science fiction novel version written by L. Ron Hubbard, the movie is bearable to some extend and I had watched it a few times and would not mind watching again. Terrible as it maybe for this film, it does grow on me that sometimes even the movie is deem the worst, it never stays that way at all.

While everyone knows Keanu Reeves is best known for his science fiction role as Neo in The Matrix Trilogy, he did another science fiction movie called Johnny Mnemonic. Based on a short story written by William Gibson, Johnny Mnemonic coins the cyberpunk term even though Blade Runner was the first. The visual effects and the direction of the film directed by Robert Longo made this movie as feasible watch as possible but sadly the movie was a box-office failure. For me, the movie had an interesting theme with some interesting characters and terms spoken never heard before.

It ran about 98 minutes long that does not bore me one bit. I loved the music done by Brad Fiedel but I have read the Japanese released of Mnemonic was composed by another composer Mychael Danna. Interesting enough, the movie is easier to understand because when I read any William Gibson stories I had a hard time trying to understand what he was trying to say. The movie at least made it easier to understand (but I have heard not everyone does understand the terms spoken). While his books are hard to adapt, I do wish there will be more movies based on William Gibson works. Johnny Mnemonic is not really a bad movie... it just needs time to adjust the liking of this film.

After Waterworld, Kevin Costner seems to be keen on directing yet another epic film and The Postman, based on David Brin's science fiction novel of the same name was released in December 1997. The movie reception had many bad reviews and it was a box-office flop. It won 5 Golden Raspberry Awards, including Worst Movie, Worst Actor, Worst Director, Worst Screenplay and Worst Original Song. I remember watching this film in the cinema and there were only 11 people out of a 228 seatings in the hall.

It only ran for one week.

Still, the movie had this sort of sentimental feeling that there is something I enjoy watching this film. Having read the novel, the movie is somewhat very different but yet because of the runtime of 178 minutes long makes it a little too unnecessary. Some scenes I felt is not that important but I can understand why Kevin Costner wanted it there in the first place. But the flow of the film was sidetrack and making this film can be unbearable. For me, the movie was quite good actually if you can forgive the lengthy part.

This is the first Sean Connery science fiction movie that I ever watched and thoroughly, I never thought it was very good. The movie is pretty much of a suspense thriller with science fiction backdrop. It had a good cowboy western frontier in space, with a strong leading actor like Connery taking charge the entire film. Despite I do not enjoy Peter Hyams directing, this is the only movie I loved most from all his films.

The movie had some mixed reviews but had a strong opening in 1981 for the first week. The sets and theme of the film is as dark as 1979's Ridley Scott's Alien, which you can feel how much attention is focus upon the movie. The plot is interesting and there are some scenes which are pretty scary. With a runtime of 109 minutes long, it kept me glued from start to finish.

Outland to me was an enjoyable experience that kept me watching in suspense. There are no aliens nor any fanciful gadgets involved. It kept it real as if the future would be like this and it kept it realistic to the very end.

When Freejack was released, I was very excited about watching this movie based on the plot. It was the science of being immortal talks about how one man can really cheat death by a method most deem illegal. Adapted on a 1959 novel entitled Immortality, Inc. by Robert Sheckley, the movie version directed by Geoff Murphy had a mix element of time travel, dark future and romance which depicts Alex Furlong (played by Emilio Estevez) as a race driver kidnapped into the future and his body was owned by a mysterious conglomerate figure who wants to live forever.

The theme is interesting, the movie had some memorable terms and some action sequences are very good. While the movie did not earned much in the box-office, the movie to me was an enjoyable science fiction film even though the lead actor for me wasn't that good. Mick Jagger as Victor Vacendak, calling his name played a very memorable supporting character as a mercenary that gets his bone if there's a bounty on the merchandize.

With a runtime of 108 minutes, the movie is fast, exciting and filled with thrills. Freejack is pretty much a good ride even though the ending is predictable and cheezy.

Enemy Mine is a rather small film based on a story of the same name written by Barry B. Long Year. The premise is an interesting one - two pilots of different sides crash landed on a planet where a war is going on. Both are enemies of each side and both have to work together to survive on their own without any help of course. They learn much about their culture and soon they became friends before soon it became an emotional ending that relates to culture and race.

This movie has a similar theme to another film of 2001 Bosnian film called Ničija zemlja (also known as No Man's Land) where two soldiers from each side are trap in a trench and they start to learn about each other and how each learn and form a friendship together. Similar to that, even though it is nothing new, Enemy Mine is a much more approachable film in science fiction term that is which is worth watching. A runtime of 108 minutes, the movie's pacing is rather good and coming from director Wolfgang Petersen, it's very epic.

One of the main reasons I enjoy Pandorum was because of a video game called Dead Space - it had everything from the feel of the game to the horrors in the ship that Corporal Bower (played by Ben Foster) faced - unspeakable evil. As Bower together with Lieutenant Payton (played by Dennis Quaid) trying to piece together what is going on in a ship they can not remember to be aboard, the movie had all the space horror you can find and the encounters and meaning of "Pandorum" is what most people fear most in space.

The movie is not that bad and the only thing that did not work was probably what Bower and some survivors discover in the ship that turns me off. Reviews were rather negative and mixed but I find this movie a good watch and this is probably due to the theme is rather similar to my favorite game. At the runtime of 108 minutes, the movie spares no time going from one scene to the next, the pacing is fast and waste no time in throwing us what we fear most that we are not sure what will happen. Directed by Christian Alvart, I felt his take on Pandorum is very interesting.

While Ridley Scott's Alien set the genre of space horror, Pandorum is the next best version but much darker in the sense that where the characters goes next they discover more fear of what is in the distant and the only way to escape is death. The ending can be typical but nonetheless an enjoyable movie.

Director Kathryn Bigelow recently won an Oscar for The Hurt Locker. Before, she directed one of James Cameron script called Strange Days. What made me watch this movie was the selling point of the teaser. Ralph Fiennes playing as Lenny Nero, was trying to sell the audience a perfect escape - be someone else for just a few minutes. The movie is pretty much of a cyberpunk science fiction film but in a surreal world where civil unrest is a nightmare.

Strange Days maybe a strange title but the movie is captivating and it does hook on you just like how Nero was trying to sell us his selling point. The movie is rather long - 145 minutes long. But everything that was written works out well. The pacing of the film can be halted, with some scenes quite slow. But otherwise the movie is worth a watch with wonderful performance by Fiennes himself and Angela Bassett. Although in the movie it is 1999 (with the Y2K situation), it serves as an alternate look of reality where the future is dark and restless but there is hope as well in dark times. I enjoy the soundtrack of this film and the ending, although I felt it rather long to reach the climax, is satisfying.

Sunshine is one of my favorite movies that I can not get tired of watching it again and again. There is something special about this movie I can never understand why it did not make it in the box-office. For one - this is probably a personal taste but I just enjoyed a doom crew with a doom ship that never returns home. The plot is rather thin and simple - on a mission to bomb the sun to re-ignite the sun, trouble along the way, being sabotage by a mysterious figure and ends with a beautiful saying. And what's even better - Danny Boyle directed it.

A crew of 9, this is the first film that combines different races and culture that are on one goal - to save planet Earth. I enjoyed the special effects that I felt is one of the best I have seen. Some moments waste no time as the movie is very balance and the movie is just beautiful to watch. For the actors, nobody outshine anybody. Each of them have a role to play and they balance it out very well. While I do not like the idea of how the mysterious figure was introduced and his purpose, it serves the movie plot for the crew and the shine to be doom even though achieved it's objective.

The is about 108 minutes long, a well spent time that brings out the beauty and horror that does not waste anytime on how they entertain the audience. Sadly, it was also one movie that was considered not the best for director Danny Boyle. For me, I felt this is the best yet to date besides all his movies (yes, even better than Slumdog Millionaire). One of the best science fiction for me to this day.

After The Matrix, there is a movie that is almost similar to the coolness of its feel - Equilibrium. Sadly, it was also the one movie that failed badly in the box-office, making it only a million over compare to the budget of USD 20 million. While the premise of the movie is about giving freedom and hope in an oppressive society where nobody can have feelings, the plot is rather weak as to how one man from the inside can bring back what mankind had abandon a long time ago - a heart.

The main focus point on this movie was the action. I can't help but deny the action sequence where they term "Gun Kata" was the most impressive gun martial arts sequence I have ever seen. There is no doubt I felt the movie is actually pretty darn good for an actioner in a science fiction genre. If not for the plot and the pacing of the film (which at times are rather slow), the movie would have reach it's uniqueness but sadly reviews for the movie were downright bad.

Director Kurt Wimmer had some good and bad moments in his career. For Equilibrium, he manage to made a film he told in his point of view what society should go against the nature of the heart. I do enjoy this movie for its action sequence because it is very cool but it would have been better if the plot is much more interesting.

These are the science fiction films that did not even earned a million dollars in the box office. They aren't so bad really... just maybe it was not their time at all...

This is sadly, one of the lowest grossing science fiction film to this day! Outlander was sadly shove from one end to another and was meant to be released in 2008 but instead had a late released one year later. Director Howard McCain had written the script since 1992 when he was a student and finally managed to make this movie, only to be butchered by critics and everyone else that deem the movie rubbish and not creative. While this is also one of the worst for Jim Caviezel, at least it did not win a Raspberry Award.

To me, the plot is nothing exceptional - man from outer space chase an alien creature that lands in an era where Vikings rule in 709 AD. As the theme is rather interesting, the only thing that fails is actually the special effects - it was horrible! The creature effects is redone many times and very unrealistic. The movement and the flow of the film can be dull too but what kept me watching was how the Vikings deal with the alien creature with no technology involved and only the use of knowledge of that era that manage to kill it. The movie is alright as the plot is interesting... it is only how it was executed that fails badly for a USD 47 million budget that made a loss of 99%.

Outlander is to me an alright movie, not that lousy and not that good either. I watched this in cinema and I find it is quite entertaining. At least, I managed to watch it all... unlike Pathfinder, which I had to admit I slept 1/3 of the film and Outlander is a better Viking movie for a science fiction theme so far.

Well, this is my top 10 science fiction movie that earned below USD 30 million in North America that I find them actually good entertainment. I am sure there are other science fiction movies that do not gross that much but they are good. Still, these movies deserves much better in the box-office than its actual earnings. If you have not watch any of the movies I had mention above, give them a try - they are actually quite good.