Best Space Opera Movies on Criterion Channel

Every space opera movie streaming on Criterion Channel in the US right now — 9 films ranked by rating, checked against Criterion Channel’s live catalog.

Updated July 2026 · Availability refreshed from Criterion Channel US

1

Fantastic Planet (1973)

IMDb 7.6 🍅 91% Letterboxd 4.0 1h 12m

Directed by René Laloux

✦ MovieMuse AI takeLaloux's grotesque hierarchy inverts space-opera colonialism—the Draags embody sublime, terrifying otherness rather than conquerable foes.

On the planet Ygam, the Draags, extremely technologically and spiritually advanced blue humanoids, consider the tiny Oms, human beings descendants of Terra's inhabitants, as ignorant animals. Those who live in slavery are treated as simple pets and used to entertain Draag children; those who live hidden in the hostile wilderness of the planet are periodically hunted and ruthlessly slaughtered as if they were vermin.

2

The Fabulous World of Jules Verne (1958)

IMDb 7.5 🍅 100% Letterboxd 3.9 1h 23m

Directed by Karel Zeman

✦ MovieMuse AI takeVerne's fantastical tech designs—submarines, flying machines—establish the visual vocabulary that defines space opera's retro-futurism.

As the world progresses into the industrial age, a professor studying the "nature of pure matter" is spirited away by a would-be dictator and connived into building a super-bomb, as a young reporter and a girl rescued from the sea attempt to warn him of their mutual kidnapper's intentions to dominate the world with a new and more-deadly-yet weapon.

3

Ikarie XB 1 (1963)

IMDb 6.9 Letterboxd 3.7 1h 28m

Directed by Jindřich Polák

✦ MovieMuse AI takeSoviet-era hard sci-fi that grounds space exploration in psychological realism rather than spectacle, defining cerebral space opera.

The year is 2163. Starship Ikaria XB 1 embarks on a mission deep into space in search of alien life. During their perilous journey the crew confront the effects of a malignant dark star, the destructive legacy of the 20th century and, ultimately, the limits of their own sanity.

4

Things to Come (1936)

IMDb 6.6 🍅 91% Letterboxd 3.3 1h 40m

Directed by William Cameron Menzies

✦ MovieMuse AI takeWells's sweeping century-spanning narrative and utopian vision of technological progress birthed the space opera genre's core DNA.

The story of a century: a decades-long second World War leaves plague and anarchy, then a rational state rebuilds civilization and attempts space travel.

5

Destroy All Monsters (1968)

IMDb 6.4 🍅 82% Letterboxd 3.3 1h 29m

Directed by Ishirō Honda

✦ MovieMuse AI takeAlien invasion reshuffles Toho's kaiju mythology into space-opera conquest narrative, establishing extraterrestrial colonization stakes.

At the turn of the century, all of the Earth's monsters have been rounded up and kept safely on Monsterland. Chaos erupts when a race of she-aliens known as the Kilaaks unleash the monsters across the world.

6

Invasion of Astro-Monster (1965)

IMDb 6.2 🍅 50% Letterboxd 3.2 1h 36m

Directed by Ishirō Honda

✦ MovieMuse AI takePlanet X encounter catalyzes the genre's essential conflict: Earth diplomacy against incomprehensible alien intelligence and cosmic threat.

Astronauts Glenn and Fuji investigate Planet X and encounter mysterious aliens known as the Xiliens, who ask Earth's people to help save their world from "Monster Zero". In exchange for borrowing Godzilla and Rodan, the Xiliens offer a cure for cancer. As Glenn investigates, he develops a romance with Miss Namikawa and uncovers the Xilien's true intentions.

7

The Wild Blue Yonder (2005)

IMDb 6.1 🍅 69% Letterboxd 3.3 1h 21m

Directed by Werner Herzog

✦ MovieMuse AI takeFilmmaker Frissell's philosophical narration from an alien perspective reframes humanity's cosmic insignificance—space opera as existential reckoning.

An alien narrates the story of his dying planet, his and his people's visitations to Earth and Earth's self-made demise, while human astronauts in space are attempting to find an alternate planet for surviving humans to live on.

8

The Mysterians (1957)

IMDb 6.1 Letterboxd 3.1 1h 29m

Directed by Ishirō Honda

✦ MovieMuse AI takeToho's invading Mysterians embody the genre's Cold War anxiety through alien aggression and kaiju-scale interplanetary conflict.

In Japan, scientifically advanced invaders from the war-destroyed planet Mysteroid cause an entire village to vanish, then send a giant robot out to storm the city by night, after which they request a small patch of land on Earth and the right to marry earthling women, claiming to be pacifists. Mankind must decide whether to capitulate or to resist.

9

Atragon (1963)

IMDb 5.8 Letterboxd 2.9 1h 36m

Directed by Ishirō Honda

✦ MovieMuse AI takeA sunken civilization's resurrection as space-age threat perfectly captures space opera's blend of lost worlds and advanced weaponry.

The legendary empire of the lost continent of Mu reappears to threaten the world with domination. While countries unite to resist, an isolated World War II Captain has created the greatest warship ever seen, and possibly the surface world's only defense.