Documentaries and movies
138 documentaries, TV series and films that shaped how people see UFOs and UAP, each with a sourced release date.
Documentaries
Documentary films, nonfiction series and TV specials about UFO and UAP cases. Their claims are their own; each event page links to the record of its release.
2025
Documentary 'The Age of Disclosure' premieres at SXSW
Dan Farah's documentary The Age of Disclosure had its world premiere at SXSW in Austin.
2023
History premieres spin-off 'Beyond Skinwalker Ranch'
History launched Beyond Skinwalker Ranch, a spin-off in which owner Brandon Fugal, Travis Taylor, Erik Bard and others investigate reported phenomena at other U.S. sites, including Bradshaw Ranch in Arizona and the Bridgewater Triangle in Massachusetts.
Photo: US Army, Public domain
2022
Documentary Moment of Contact on the Varginha case released
James Fox's documentary on the 1996 Varginha, Brazil reports was released digitally by 1091 Pictures.
Photo: Felipe Trombini, CC BY 3.0
2022
Documentary 'Ariel Phenomenon' released
Randall Nickerson's feature documentary Ariel Phenomenon was released for streaming.
2021
Peacock's 'Unidentified with Demi Lovato' premieres
Peacock premiered Unidentified with Demi Lovato, a four-part unscripted series in which the singer, their sister and a skeptical friend talk with UFO eyewitnesses and experts, look at government reports and run their own UFO experiments.
Photo: Soho Media Group, CC BY-SA 3.0
2021
Showtime premieres the docuseries 'UFO' from J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot
Showtime debuted 'UFO', a four-part documentary series from J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot and Zipper Bros.
Photo: Montclair Film Festival, CC BY 2.0
2021
History premieres 'The Proof Is Out There'
History launched The Proof Is Out There, hosted by journalist Tony Harris, in which a team of experts examines viral videos, photos and audio of UFOs and other claimed phenomena.
2020
Herzog and Oppenheimer's 'Fireball: Visitors from Darker Worlds' released
Apple TV+ released Fireball: Visitors From Darker Worlds, a documentary directed by Werner Herzog and Clive Oppenheimer on how shooting stars, meteorites and impacts have shaped human imagination and science.
Photo: Greg2600, CC BY-SA 2.0
2020
The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch premieres
History premiered The Secret of Skinwalker Ranch, a series following a team funded by owner Brandon Fugal, including astrophysicist Travis Taylor, as it investigates reported phenomena at the Utah ranch.
Photo: US Army, Public domain
2019
History premieres The UnXplained, hosted by William Shatner
History launched The UnXplained, a nonfiction series on unexplained mysteries hosted by William Shatner and produced by Kevin Burns of Ancient Aliens.
Photo: Super Festivals from Ft. Lauderdale, USA, CC BY 2.0
2019
History's 'Unidentified: Inside America's UFO Investigation' premieres
History premiered a six-part series following Luis Elizondo, Tom DeLonge's To The Stars Academy and former Pentagon official Chris Mellon.
Photo: Max Moszkowicz, CC BY 3.0
2019
Documentary 'The Nimitz Encounters' posted online
The Black Vault posted Dave Beaty's documentary The Nimitz Encounters in full on YouTube with his permission.
Photo: United States Navy, Public domain
2018
Jeremy Corbell's documentary 'Bob Lazar: Area 51 & Flying Saucers' released
Filmmaker Jeremy Corbell's feature revisited Bob Lazar's 1989 claim of working on alien craft near Area 51.
2015
Documentary Travis: The True Story of Travis Walton released
Filmmaker Jennifer Stein released a documentary on Travis Walton's account of being taken aboard a craft in Arizona in 1975 and how the claim shaped his life.
Photo: SMG2019, CC BY-SA 4.0
2014
'Hangar 1: The UFO Files' premieres
A cable documentary series built on the Mutual UFO Network's archive of more than 70,000 case files premiered on Feb.
2013
Mirage Men documentary premieres at Sheffield Doc/Fest
Mirage Men, a documentary based on Mark Pilkington's book of the same name, premiered at Sheffield Doc/Fest.
Photo: Sheffdocfest, CC BY-SA 4.0
2013
Documentary Sirius premieres with claims about the Atacama specimen
Sirius, a film built around ufologist Steven Greer's claims, premiered in Hollywood.
2010
Syfy premieres Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files
Syfy launched Fact or Faked: Paranormal Files, in which a team led by former FBI agent Ben Hansen tried to recreate viral photos and videos, including UFO footage, to judge whether they were hoaxes or unexplained.
2010
Documentary Westall '66: A Suburban UFO Mystery premieres on Foxtel
Rosie Jones's documentary Westall '66 premiered on the Sci Fi Channel on Foxtel.
Photo: Effluvium1, CC BY-SA 4.0
2008
History's UFO Hunters premieres
History premiered UFO Hunters, a series following a UFO Magazine team investigating cases in North America and Europe, on 30 January 2008.
2005
ABC News airs Peter Jennings' 'UFOs: Seeing Is Believing'
ABC broadcast a two-hour prime-time special in which anchor Peter Jennings examined UFO reports from 1947 onward, interviewing pilots, police and military witnesses as well as skeptics.
Photo: Sgt. John Queen, Public domain
2005
Lynne Kitei's The Phoenix Lights Documentary premieres
Paradise Valley physician Lynne Kitei, author of a book on the 1997 Phoenix Lights, premiered her documentary on the sightings at a Phoenix-area cinema in 2005.
2004
History Channel's documentary series UFO Files premieres
The History Channel began UFO Files, a documentary series reviewing reported UFO sightings from the late 1940s onward.
2002
Sci Fi Channel airs The Roswell Crash: Startling New Evidence
The Sci Fi Channel aired a two-hour special hosted by Bryant Gumbel on the dig it sponsored at the reputed 1947 crash site.
Photo: Peabody Awards, CC BY 2.0
1998
Fox special 'World's Greatest Hoaxes' calls its own Alien Autopsy film a fake
Fox, which aired 'Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction?' in 1995, broadcast 'World's Greatest Hoaxes: Secrets Finally Revealed,' hosted by Lance Henriksen.
1996
PBS NOVA airs 'Kidnapped by UFOs?'
The PBS science series NOVA examined alien abduction accounts, giving time to Budd Hopkins, John Mack and abductees, then weighing them against sleep paralysis, suggestibility and false-memory research presented by Carl Sagan, Elizabeth Loftus and other skeptics.
Photo: PBS, Public domain
1995
Fox airs 'Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction?'
Fox broadcast a special built around Ray Santilli's black-and-white film said to show a 1947 alien autopsy, hosted by Jonathan Frakes.
1988
'UFO Cover-Up? Live' TV special airs
A Michael Seligman-produced TV special, with actor Mike Farrell reporting from Washington, presented claims of a government UFO cover-up, including scrambled messages from a disguised military informant called 'Condor'.
Photo: Mercury at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0
1987
Unsolved Mysteries premieres as an NBC special
NBC aired the first Unsolved Mysteries special, hosted by Raymond Burr, from Cosgrove/Meurer Productions.
Photo: Alan Light, CC BY 2.0
1977
Anglia Television airs the hoax documentary 'Alternative 3'
Anglia Television's 'Science Report' aired 'Alternative 3', a spoof documentary with actors claiming missing scientists were being taken to a secret Mars colony.
Photo: Spudgun67, CC0
1974
Documentary 'UFOs: Past, Present, and Future' released
Robert Emenegger's documentary, hosted by Rod Serling, presented a possible 1964 alien landing at Holloman AFB.
Photo: CBS Television, Public domain
1973
NBC airs 'In Search of Ancient Astronauts' with Rod Serling
NBC aired In Search of Ancient Astronauts, a U.S. version of the German Chariots of the Gods documentary narrated by Rod Serling.
Photo: CBS Television; portrait by Gabor Rona, Public domain
1970
Documentary 'Chariots of the Gods' (Erinnerungen an die Zukunft) premieres
Harald Reinl's West German documentary Erinnerungen an die Zukunft, built on Erich von Daniken's ancient-astronaut thesis, premiered aboard a Lufthansa 747 from Frankfurt to New York.
Photo: Michal Manas, CC BY 3.0
1950
Edward R. Murrow's CBS flying saucer documentary
On April 7, 1950, CBS broadcast an Edward R. Murrow radio documentary on flying saucers, including Kenneth Arnold recounting his 1947 sighting.
Photo: US Information Agency, Public domain
TV series
Scripted television, from The Twilight Zone to The X-Files.
2021
Syfy premieres 'Resident Alien'
Syfy premiered Resident Alien, adapted by Chris Sheridan from a Dark Horse comic, starring Alan Tudyk as an alien who crash-lands near the small Colorado town of Patience and poses as a local doctor while hiding a mission to wipe out humanity.
Photo: Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America, CC BY-SA 2.0
2021
Canal+ comedy series 'OVNI(s)' premieres
French pay channel Canal+ began airing OVNI(s), a period comedy created by Clemence Dargent and Martin Douaire.
2019
The CW's Roswell, New Mexico premieres
The CW premiered Roswell, New Mexico, its second adaptation of Melinda Metz's Roswell High novels about aliens living in the town, after the WB's Roswell series of 1999.
2011
TNT premieres Spielberg-produced 'Falling Skies'
TNT premiered Falling Skies, an alien-occupation drama executive produced by Steven Spielberg, with Noah Wyle as a history professor leading resistance fighters.
Photo: starbright31, CC BY-SA 2.0
2009
ABC's remake of the alien-visitor series V premieres
ABC premiered a new version of V, the 1983 miniseries about outwardly friendly alien visitors.
Photo: Kristin Dos Santos, CC BY-SA 2.0
2005
CBS premieres first-contact drama 'Threshold'
CBS launched Threshold, a Friday-night drama starring Carla Gugino as a contingency planner leading a secret government team after a hostile alien first contact.
Photo: Sidewalks Entertainment, CC BY 3.0
2002
Spielberg's 'Taken' miniseries premieres
Steven Spielberg Presents Taken, a ten-part Sci Fi Channel drama following families entangled with alien abductions and government secrecy from the 1940s onward, premiered.
Photo: Helene C. Stikkel, Public domain
1999
Roswell TV series premieres on The WB
The WB premiered Roswell, a teen drama based on Melinda Metz's Roswell High novels in which a small-town high schooler learns that a classmate is an alien tied to the alleged 1947 crash in Roswell, New Mexico.
Photo: 20th Television, Public domain
1997
'Earth: Final Conflict' premieres in syndication
Earth: Final Conflict, developed from concepts left by Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry, began in U.S. first-run syndication.
Photo: Beth Madison, CC BY 2.0
1997
South Park premieres with an alien-abduction parody
Comedy Central premiered South Park with 'Cartman Gets an Anal Probe,' in which aliens probe Cartman and abduct a younger child.
Photo: Comedy Central, Public domain
1997
'Stargate SG-1' premieres on Showtime
Showtime premiered Stargate SG-1, a series sequel to the 1994 film starring Richard Dean Anderson as an officer leading teams through an alien gateway.
Photo: Falashad, CC BY 2.0
1996
NBC's Dark Skies premieres
NBC premiered Dark Skies, a drama in which a young couple in 1960s Washington uncovers Majestic-12, a secret agency fighting an alien presence.
Photo: Universal Television, Public domain
1996
'3rd Rock from the Sun' premieres on NBC
NBC premiered 3rd Rock from the Sun, a sitcom about extraterrestrials posing as a human family in Ohio to study people.
Photo: The Carsey-Werner Company, Public domain
1993
The X-Files premieres on Fox
Fox premiered Chris Carter's drama The X-Files, in which a skeptic and a believer investigate unexplained phenomena.
Photo: Marcin Wichary from San Francisco, U.S.A., CC BY 2.0
1992
CBS airs abduction miniseries Intruders
CBS aired Intruders, a two-part prime-time miniseries starring Richard Crenna and Mare Winningham about people who believe they were abducted by aliens.
Photo: John Mathew Smith & www.celebrity-photos.com from Laurel Maryland, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0
1983
NBC miniseries V airs
NBC aired Kenneth Johnson's two-part miniseries V on consecutive nights, about friendly-seeming visitors who are secretly reptilian invaders.
Photo: ArquiWHAT, Public domain
1978
NBC's Project U.F.O. premieres
NBC premiered Project U.F.O., a Jack Webb series in which Air Force investigators looked into sightings.
Photo: Photographer not credited, Public domain
1967
ABC's The Invaders premieres
ABC premiered The Invaders, a Quinn Martin series starring Roy Thinnes as an architect who sees a saucer land and cannot persuade authorities that aliens are infiltrating society.
Photo: ABC Television, Public domain
1966
'Star Trek' premieres on NBC
NBC began airing Star Trek, a weekly hour-long series about a multinational starship crew meeting alien civilizations.
Photo: NBC Television, Public domain
1966
'Ultraman' premieres on Japanese television
Tsuburaya Productions' Ultraman, about a giant alien hero who battles monsters and invaders alongside a human Science Patrol, aired its first episode at 7 p.m.
1963
'My Favorite Martian' premieres on CBS
CBS premiered the sitcom My Favorite Martian on Sept.
Photo: CBS Television, Public domain
1963
The Outer Limits premieres on ABC
ABC premiered Leslie Stevens' science fiction anthology The Outer Limits with The Galaxy Being, about a radio engineer who contacts an alien made of energy.
Photo: ABC Television, Public domain
1959
The Twilight Zone premieres on CBS
CBS premiered Rod Serling's anthology series The Twilight Zone with the episode Where Is Everybody?
Photo: CBS Television via the Bureau of Industrial Service, Public domain
Feature films
Feature films and TV movies that shaped how the public pictures UFOs and visitors.
2026
Spielberg's UFO film Disclosure Day released
Universal released Steven Spielberg's Disclosure Day in U.S. theaters.
Photo: Raph_PH, CC BY 4.0
2025
Yorgos Lanthimos's 'Bugonia' opens in U.S. theaters
Yorgos Lanthimos's dark comedy Bugonia opened nationwide in U.S. theaters.
Photo: Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0
2023
Hulu film 'No One Will Save You' released
Hulu released Brian Duffield's nearly wordless thriller No One Will Save You, starring Kaitlyn Dever as a young woman defending her home from alien invaders.
Photo: DannyB Photos, CC BY 2.0
2022
Jordan Peele's flying-saucer horror film 'Nope' is released
Universal released Jordan Peele's 'Nope', in which a brother and sister try to film a hostile object hiding in the clouds over their California horse ranch.
Photo: Capital FM Kenya, CC BY 3.0
2020
The Vast of Night, a 1950s UFO mystery, released on Amazon Prime Video
Andrew Patterson's debut The Vast of Night went to Amazon Prime Video instead of theaters.
2018
Drama UFO, inspired by an airport sighting, released
Ryan Eslinger's film UFO, with Alex Sharp and Gillian Anderson, follows a math student trying to explain a saucer-like object seen hovering over an airport runway.
2017
Phoenix Forgotten, fiction set around the Phoenix Lights, released
Cinelou Films released Phoenix Forgotten, a found-footage horror film imagining teenagers who vanish while filming a search for the source of the 1997 Phoenix Lights.
2016
First-contact film Arrival released
Denis Villeneuve's Arrival, a first-contact story centered on a linguist trying to communicate with visiting aliens, opened in November 2016.
Photo: Paramount Pictures, Public domain
2016
Independence Day: Resurgence opens in U.S. theaters
Roland Emmerich's Independence Day: Resurgence, a sequel set 20 years after his 1996 alien-invasion hit, opened in U.S. theaters.
Photo: Dick Thomas Johnson from Tokyo, Japan, CC BY 2.0
2015
Oren Peli's found-footage 'Area 51' finally released
Six years after filming, Paramount gave Oren Peli's found-footage film Area 51, about friends who break into the Nevada base, a one-weekend run at 16 Alamo Drafthouse theaters alongside a video-on-demand release.
2014
Aamir Khan alien satire 'PK' released
Rajkumar Hirani's Hindi film PK opened, with Aamir Khan as an alien stranded in the Rajasthan desert after his ship's remote is stolen.
Photo: Bollywood Hungama, CC BY 3.0
2014
Found-footage film Alien Abduction draws on the Brown Mountain Lights
IFC released Alien Abduction, a found-footage horror film directed by Matty Beckerman about a family who encounter aliens while camping.
Photo: Thomson200, CC0
2013
Alien-abduction horror film Dark Skies opens
Dimension Films released Dark Skies, written and directed by Scott Stewart, in which a suburban family comes to believe aliens are targeting them for abduction.
Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0
2012
Alien-invasion comedy 'The Watch' opens
Twentieth Century Fox released The Watch, a comedy with Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Jonah Hill and Richard Ayoade as suburban Ohio neighborhood-watch volunteers who discover aliens.
Photo: Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0
2011
Cowboys & Aliens opens in U.S. theaters
Jon Favreau's Cowboys & Aliens, starring Daniel Craig and Harrison Ford, opened in U.S. theaters.
Photo: The Conmunity - Pop Culture Geek from Los Angeles, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0
2011
J.J. Abrams' Super 8 opens in U.S. theaters
Paramount released Super 8, written and directed by J.J. Abrams and co-produced by Steven Spielberg.
2011
Joe Cornish's 'Attack the Block' released in Britain
Joe Cornish's debut feature Attack the Block, in which a teenage street gang defends a South London tower block from invading aliens on Guy Fawkes Night, was released in British cinemas by Optimum.
Photo: Raffi Asdourian from New York, United States, CC BY 2.0
2011
Comedy 'Paul' released
Universal released Paul in the U.S., a comedy by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost about two British sci-fi fans who tour U.S. UFO sites after Comic-Con and pick up an alien who escaped from Area 51.
Photo: Paul Hudson, CC BY 2.0
2011
'Battle: Los Angeles' released, marketed with the 1942 air raid scare
Sony's alien-invasion film Battle: Los Angeles opened with marketing tied to the real February 1942 air raid false alarm over Los Angeles, when anti-aircraft guns fired at unidentified objects.
Photo: Unknown author, Public domain
2010
Alien-invasion film 'Skyline' opens
Universal released Skyline, directed by visual-effects specialists Greg and Colin Strause, in which partygoers wake to find alien ships over Los Angeles drawing people up with pulses of light.
Photo: donabelandewen (Flickr), CC BY 2.0
2009
'District 9' released
TriStar released Neill Blomkamp's District 9 in the U.S., a film about stranded aliens confined to a Johannesburg camp.
Photo: Natasha Baucas at https://www.flickr.com/photos/sdnatasha, CC BY 2.0
2008
Remake of The Day the Earth Stood Still opens in U.S. theaters
20th Century Fox released a remake of the 1951 alien-visitor film The Day the Earth Stood Still, with Keanu Reeves as the visitor Klaatu.
Photo: Y! Musica's photostream, CC BY 2.0
2008
'The X-Files: I Want to Believe' opens in theaters
20th Century Fox released the second X-Files feature, which grossed about 21 million dollars in the U.S. Critics noted it set aside the alien-conspiracy arc for a stand-alone case, though its title echoed the series' 'I want to believe' poster slogan.
Photo: 20th Century Fox, Public domain
2005
Spielberg's War of the Worlds released
Paramount released Steven Spielberg's remake of H.G. Wells' alien-invasion story in U.S. theaters on 29 June 2005.
Photo: Mr Bullitt, CC BY 3.0
2003
Bollywood alien film 'Koi... Mil Gaya' released in India
Rakesh Roshan's Hindi film Koi...
Photo: Bollywood Hungama, CC BY 3.0
2002
M. Night Shyamalan's 'Signs' released
Disney's Touchstone released Signs, a thriller in which crop circles on a Pennsylvania farm herald an alien invasion.
Photo: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0
2002
'The Mothman Prophecies' film released
Screen Gems released a thriller starring Richard Gere loosely adapted from John Keel's 1975 book about strange sightings around Point Pleasant, West Virginia.
Photo: Jacket design by Peter Parnell, Public domain
2001
Ivan Reitman's alien comedy 'Evolution' opens
Ivan Reitman's comedy Evolution, starring David Duchovny and Orlando Jones, opened in U.S. theaters.
Photo: Jose Galvez, Los Angeles Times, CC BY 4.0
1998
The X-Files: Fight the Future opens in theaters
20th Century Fox released the first X-Files feature film, which carried the TV series' story of a government cover-up of alien activity to a theatrical audience between the show's fifth and sixth seasons.
Photo: Fox Broadcasting Company, Public domain
1998
UPN airs Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County
UPN aired the mock documentary Alien Abduction: Incident in Lake County, a TV remake of Dean Alioto's 1989 McPherson Tape.
1997
Men in Black released
Sony released Men in Black, a comedy about agents who police aliens living secretly on Earth, drawing on UFO lore about mysterious men who silence witnesses.
Photo: Sony Pictures Entertainment Inc., Public domain
1996
Independence Day released
20th Century Fox released Independence Day, an alien-invasion blockbuster.
Photo: 20th Century Studios, Public domain
1996
The Arrival released
David Twohy's The Arrival starred Charlie Sheen as a SETI radio astronomer who detects an alien signal, is fired, and uncovers aliens disguised as humans who are secretly warming Earth.
Photo: Angela George, CC BY-SA 3.0
1994
'Stargate' released
MGM released Roland Emmerich's Stargate, starring Kurt Russell and James Spader, which builds on the ancient-astronaut idea that an alien posed as an Egyptian god.
Photo: Georges Biard, CC BY-SA 3.0
1994
Showtime film 'Roswell' airs
Showtime aired Roswell, a TV film directed by Jeremy Kagan with Kyle MacLachlan as an Air Force intelligence officer revisiting the 1947 events and Martin Sheen in support.
Photo: Roswell Daily Record, Public domain
1993
'Coneheads' released
Paramount released Coneheads, a comedy based on the Saturday Night Live sketch, starring Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin as stranded aliens passing as suburban Americans while immigration agents pursue them.
1993
Fire in the Sky film released
Director Robert Lieberman's film Fire in the Sky, starring D.B. Sweeney as Travis Walton, opened in March 1993.
Photo: SMG2019, CC BY-SA 4.0
1989
James Cameron's 'The Abyss' released
20th Century Fox released James Cameron's The Abyss, in which oil-rig divers helping the U.S. Navy reach a lost nuclear submarine encounter a non-human intelligence living deep in the ocean, an early big-screen take on underwater unidentified craft.
Photo: Towpilot, CC BY-SA 3.0
1989
Communion film starring Christopher Walken released
Philippe Mora's film Communion, adapted by Whitley Strieber from his bestselling 1987 account of alleged abduction experiences, starred Christopher Walken as Strieber.
Photo: John Harrison, CC BY-SA 3.0
1987
'*batteries not included' released
Universal released *batteries not included, produced by Steven Spielberg's Amblin, in which small living flying saucers help elderly tenants resist eviction from their New York building.
Photo: Alan Light, CC BY 2.0
1986
Tobe Hooper's Invaders from Mars remake released
Cannon released Tobe Hooper's remake of the 1953 film Invaders from Mars, written by Dan O'Bannon and Don Jakoby, with Hunter Carson, Karen Black and Louise Fletcher.
Photo: Dark Attsios, CC BY-SA 3.0
1986
Flight of the Navigator released
Disney released Randal Kleiser's Flight of the Navigator, in which a 12-year-old returns home to find eight years have passed while he has not aged.
Photo: Almagordo; derivative work by Keraunoscopia, Public domain
1985
Joe Dante's 'Explorers' released
Paramount released Joe Dante's Explorers, starring Ethan Hawke and River Phoenix as boys who build a small spacecraft and meet aliens whose idea of Earth comes from its TV broadcasts.
Photo: nicolas genin, CC BY-SA 2.0
1985
Cocoon released
Twentieth Century Fox released Ron Howard's Cocoon, in which visitors from the planet Antarea retrieve cocoons off St. Petersburg, Florida, and residents of a retirement community are rejuvenated by them.
1984
John Carpenter's 'Starman' released
Columbia Pictures released John Carpenter's Starman, in which a stranded alien takes human form and travels with a widow to reach a pickup site.
1983
'Strange Invaders' released
Michael Laughlin's Strange Invaders, a pastiche of 1950s saucer films, opened in U.S. theaters.
1982
John Carpenter's 'The Thing' released
Universal released John Carpenter's The Thing, which opens with a flying saucer crashing to Earth and follows an Antarctic research team menaced by a shape-shifting alien.
Photo: Kyle Cassidy, CC BY-SA 4.0
1982
E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial opens in U.S. theaters
Steven Spielberg's E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial opened across the U.S. after closing the 1982 Cannes Film Festival.
1980
Hangar 18 film released
Sunn Classic Pictures released Hangar 18, directed by James L. Conway, a drama in which the Air Force hides a crashed saucer at a Texas base while the White House chief of staff keeps it quiet before an election.
1979
Le Gendarme et les extra-terrestres released in France
Jean Girault's comedy Le Gendarme et les extra-terrestres opened in French cinemas.
Photo: Rolf Gebhardt, CC BY-SA 4.0
1977
Close Encounters of the Third Kind premieres
Steven Spielberg's film Close Encounters of the Third Kind had its premiere in New York.
Photo: Sanjay Acharya, CC BY-SA 4.0
1976
'The Man Who Fell to Earth' premieres in London
Nicolas Roeg's The Man Who Fell to Earth premiered at the Leicester Square Theatre in London, with David Bowie in his first major film role as Thomas Jerome Newton, an alien visiting Earth.
Photo: Jean-Luc, CC BY-SA 2.0
1975
NBC airs The UFO Incident
NBC broadcast The UFO Incident, a TV movie dramatizing Betty and Barney Hill's account of a 1961 abduction, based on John G. Fuller's book The Interrupted Journey.
1974
NBC airs TV film The Disappearance of Flight 412
NBC aired the TV movie The Disappearance of Flight 412, starring Glenn Ford.
Photo: Alan Light, CC BY 2.0
1968
2001: A Space Odyssey premieres in Washington
Stanley Kubrick and Arthur C. Clarke's 2001: A Space Odyssey premiered at the Uptown Theater in Washington.
Photo: Warner Brothers, Public domain
1967
Hammer's film Quatermass and the Pit released
Hammer released Roy Ward Baker's film of Nigel Kneale's serial Quatermass and the Pit, titled Five Million Years to Earth in the U.S. Workers extending the London Underground uncover an ancient Martian spacecraft.
Photo: Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, Public domain
1960
Jerry Lewis comedy 'Visit to a Small Planet' opens
Paramount's Visit to a Small Planet, adapted from Gore Vidal's play, opened in Los Angeles.
Photo: Paramount Pictures, Public domain
1960
Village of the Damned released
MGM released Wolf Rilla's British film Village of the Damned, adapted from John Wyndham's novel The Midwich Cuckoos.
Photo: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Public domain
1959
'Plan 9 from Outer Space' released
Ed Wood's low-budget film, in which saucer-flying aliens raise the dead to stop Earth's nuclear weapons, was released by Distributors Corporation of America.
Photo: Distributors Corporation of America, Public domain
1958
"The Blob" opens in Los Angeles
The Blob, a low-budget film in which a jelly-like alien mass arrives inside a meteorite and terrorizes a small town, opened in Los Angeles ahead of its October 1958 general release by Paramount.
Photo: Paramount Pictures, Public domain
1958
"I Married a Monster from Outer Space" opens in Los Angeles
Paramount opened I Married a Monster from Outer Space, in which a young bride finds that her new husband and other men in town have been replaced by aliens.
Photo: Paramount Pictures, Public domain
1957
"20 Million Miles to Earth" released
Columbia released 20 Million Miles to Earth, in which a U.S. spacecraft returning from Venus crashes off Sicily carrying a creature that grows to giant size.
Photo: Columbia Pictures, Public domain
1957
'Invasion of the Saucer Men' released
American International Pictures released Edward L. Cahn's teen comedy-horror film about small, bulbous-headed aliens who land in a flying saucer.
Photo: American International Pictures, Public domain
1956
"It Conquered the World" released
American International Pictures released Roger Corman's It Conquered the World, in which a scientist in radio contact with Venus helps a creature from that planet try to take over Earth.
Photo: American International Pictures, Public domain
1956
Earth vs. the Flying Saucers released
Columbia released Earth vs. the Flying Saucers, a science fiction film with saucer effects by Ray Harryhausen.
Photo: american film trailer screenshot (Columbia Pictures), Public domain
1956
MGM's Forbidden Planet released
MGM released Forbidden Planet, a big-budget science fiction film loosely based on The Tempest in which a future human crew travels by space cruiser to a distant world.
Photo: Loew's International (MGM), Public domain
1956
"Invasion of the Body Snatchers" released
Allied Artists released Don Siegel's Invasion of the Body Snatchers, in which pods from space replace the people of a small California town with emotionless copies.
Photo: Distributed by Allied Artists Pictures Corporation, Public domain
1955
'This Island Earth' premieres
Universal-International's Technicolor science-fiction film, in which an alien recruits Earth scientists for his war-torn planet Metaluna, had its world premiere in New York.
Photo: Universal-International, Public domain
1954
"Killers from Space" released
RKO released Killers from Space, a W. Lee Wilder film in which a scientist whose plane crashes near an atomic test wakes in an underground lair of bug-eyed aliens who have operated on him.
Photo: film screenshot (RKO Radio Pictures), Public domain
1953
Paramount's The War of the Worlds opens
George Pal's production of H. G. Wells's The War of the Worlds, directed by Byron Haskin for Paramount, opened in New York on August 13, 1953, ahead of its general release in October.
Photo: Illustrator unknown. "Copyright 1953 Paramount Pictures Corporation "., Public domain
1953
It Came from Outer Space premieres
Universal's first 3-D film, directed by Jack Arnold from a Ray Bradbury story, premiered in Los Angeles.
Photo: Universal Pictures, Public domain
1953
Invaders from Mars premieres
William Cameron Menzies' color film, distributed by 20th Century-Fox, premiered in Detroit.
Photo: Twentieth Century-Fox, Public domain
1952
"Red Planet Mars" released
United Artists released Red Planet Mars, a Cold War drama in which an American scientist makes radio contact with Mars and the replies upend world politics.
1951
"The Man from Planet X" released
United Artists released The Man from Planet X, an Edgar G. Ulmer film in which a visitor from an approaching planet lands its spaceship on the moor of a remote Scottish island.
Photo: film trailer screenshot (United Artists), Public domain
1951
The Thing from Another World released
RKO and Howard Hawks's Winchester Pictures released The Thing from Another World, directed by Christian Nyby.
Photo: RKO Radio Pictures, Public domain
1951
The Day the Earth Stood Still released
Twentieth Century Fox released Robert Wise's The Day the Earth Stood Still, in which the visitor Klaatu lands a flying saucer in Washington with his robot Gort to warn humanity against violence.
Photo: "Copyright 1951 by Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corp. ", Public domain
1950
The Flying Saucer, first feature film about saucers, opens
Mikel Conrad's independent film The Flying Saucer opened in New York; general release followed Jan.
