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The 25 Greatest Time-Travel Movies Ever Made

It must say something, surely, about humans, how often time-travel movies are about returning to the past rather than jumping to the future. As Mark Duplass’s forlorn character says in Safety Not Guaranteed , “The mission has to do with regret.” With all the potential to explore the unknown world of the future, so often when our minds conspire to bend the rules of time it’s instead to rehash the old. It’s compelling to watch a character in a movie do what we cannot — right past wrongs or uncover the reason for or meaning behind the events in their lives, whether they be emotionally catastrophic or merely geopolitically motivated.

So absent is the future from the canon, in fact, that when it is involved, typically future dwellers are leaving their own time to come back to the present. Back to the Future Part II aside, it seems as if there’s something about going forward in time that just doesn’t track for humans. (Of course, you could argue that this is because the present-day concept of bidirectional time travel would infinitely multiply or change beyond recognition any future that may occur, but that’s a knot for another article.)

In any case, the time-travel stories deemed worthy of Hollywood budgets aren’t always straightforward in their mechanics. Some films on this list barely qualify as time-travel movies at all; others could hardly qualify as anything else. There are movies about trips through time but also ones about the bending and fracturing and muddying thereof; then there are those about, as Andy Samberg aptly puts it in Palm Springs , “one of those infinite time-loop situations you might have heard about.” There’s even a movie in which we get only 13 seconds’ worth of time travel, when it functions more like a joke whose punch line hits at the film’s climax.

What these films all do have in common is a fascination with changing the way time works. That being said, the list leaves out movies in larger, more extended franchises in which time meddling is a one-off dalliance thrown into a sequel with little by way of foreshadowing: think Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban , Avengers: Endgame , and Men in Black III . (It also leaves off perhaps the Ur-time-travel movie, Primer , and the quite good Midnight in Paris because their directors don’t deserve the column inches.) We’re looking at self-contained stories using time mechanics from the start, with preference given to those that involve themselves more intently with the ins and outs of time travel; that ask questions about time, aging, memory and so forth; and that try to succeed at it in new and interesting ways. So let’s get to it.

25. Galaxy Quest (1999)

Does Galaxy Quest really count as a time-travel movie? Some compelling reasons argue that it doesn’t: Time travel isn’t a major factor in the plot, and the time traveling that does occur is, yes, only a 13-second jump. But its use of time travel is meaningful insofar as the movie itself is a loving spoof of Star Trek , which makes use of time travel in three films ( one of which made this list ), not to mention dozens of episodes across its various TV iterations. Tacking on time travel as a deus ex machina for the actors in a Star Trek– like show pressed into service as an actual space crew by an endangered alien race is the exact right amount of ribbing in a movie that’s as on point as it is hilarious.

Galaxy Quest is available to rent on Amazon .

24. Happy Death Day (2017)

Pick away at the surface of a time-loop movie and you find a horror movie. Most of the entries on this list are covered in enough feel-good spin to land as comedies, but Happy Death Day stares the horror of the time-loop phenomenon right in the face. (It’s also quite funny.) Reliving the same day over and over is an unimaginably potent form of psychological torture, and adding murder to the equation does little to dull that edge. The film follows a college-age protagonist struggling to escape from a masked slasher hell-bent on killing her again and again while she tries to solve the mystery of how she got stuck in a time loop.

Happy Death Day is available to rent on Amazon .

23. Back to the Future Part II (1989)

Seriously, this may be the only good movie in which the film’s whole focus is using a time machine to travel into the future. The fact that it’s a sequel is telling — the characters already traveled into the past in the first movie , and the filmmakers decided to save “traveling even further into the past“ for the third film in the trilogy. Still, Back to the Future Part II is a fun time that makes great use of sight gags and references, recasting scenes from the first film in the distant future year of 2015 with all its hoverboards and self-lacing Nikes.

Back to the Future Part II is available to rent on Amazon .

22. See You Yesterday (2019)

It’s a dirty little secret of time-travel movies that they tend to be, well, pretty white. Tenet ’s Protagonist aside, if Hollywood’s sending someone through time, they’re almost certainly not a Black person, and for obvious reasons: Most of post-contact North American history is deeply unfriendly to people of color, and the problems a person running around out of time and place is going to encounter are deeply compounded if they’ll likely be the target of racist abuse or violence — which makes See You Yesterday all the more compelling. Produced by Spike Lee and featuring one of filmdom’s most famous time travelers in a cameo role, it follows a Black teenage science prodigy who uses a time machine to try to save her brother from being killed by a police officer.

See You Yesterday is streaming on Netflix .

21. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

No offense to the Back to the Future franchise, but time travel never looks more fun on film than it does in the first Bill & Ted movie. It’s a concept that feels distinctly of a different era, so pure is its zaniness, that it’s hard to imagine anyone concocting it today. The titular duo, Californian high-school students in the ’80s, travel through the past looking for historical figures in order to ace a history project, then bring them all back to the present. High jinks ensue! We get Genghis Khan in a sporting-goods store and Mozart on an electric keyboard. What more could you want?

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure is streaming on HBO Max .

20. Source Code (2011)

Time-travel-film aficionados know this won’t be Jake Gyllenhaal’s only stop on this list, but no matter. Source Code finds him repeating the same eight minutes over and over as he struggles to find the culprit in a train bombing — with each replay ending in his own death by explosion. For some reason, a romantic subplot is shoehorned into this, along with a bunch of frankly unnecessary technical mumbo-jumbo, but the core idea is a compelling mix of the time-loop movie and the train whodunit that Gyllenhaal is a perfect fit for.

Source Code is available to rent on Amazon .

19. 12 Monkeys (1995)

Some sort of law of nature dictates that every genuinely good idea and/or piece of true art has to at some point be turned into a Hollywood movie. Thank God La Jetée was adapted into something that can stand on its own feet artistically. 12 Monkeys may not retain its source material’s black-and-white look or stripped-down, static-image presentation, but it is a rollicking good time nonetheless. That’s in no small part due to director Terry Gilliam getting the best out of Bruce Willis and a young Brad Pitt, and recasting World War III as a planet-decimating virus. Which, like at least one other movie on this list , “speaks to the present moment,” or whatever.

12 Monkeys is available to rent on Amazon .

18. Run Lola Run (1998)

Unlike almost all of the other films on this list, the terms time travel and time machine don’t show up anywhere in Run Lola Run . Rather, it’s a sort of de facto time-loop scenario in which the protagonist tries repeatedly to pay a ransom to save her boyfriend’s life. In fact, if not for a few key details, it could easily be characterized (and often has been) as an alternate-endings movie rather than a time-travel film. But the fact that Lola seems to be learning from her past attempts with each successive one suggests that she is, indeed, using knowledge gained from previous loops to bring a satisfactory end to this situation.

Run Lola Run is available to rent on Amazon .

17. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

One of the most striking things about Groundhog Day is the mutability and replicability of its core conceit. Perhaps the best case in point is Edge of Tomorrow , sometimes known as Live. Die. Repeat. after its original tagline. It’s the kind of physically grueling movie only an actor as genuinely unhinged as Tom Cruise could pull off. A noncombatant thrust into a war against invading aliens, Cruise’s character finds himself reliving day one of combat over and over, slowly but surely refining his techniques in order to survive the extraterrestrial onslaught. Like the central twosome in the much less violent Palm Springs , he winds up with a partner in (war) crime, teaming up with the similarly time-trapped Emily Blunt, and the explanation for the replay glitch here is actually pretty satisfying.

Edge of Tomorrow is streaming on Fubo TV .

16. Star Trek (2009)

If you could create some sort of an advanced stat to measure controversy generated per unit of interesting filmmaking decisions, J.J. Abrams would have to be near the top in terms of his ability to rig up movie drama from almost nothing. This is a guy whose filmography is like Godzilla rip-off, Spielberg homage, safe reboot of cherished IP, repeat. Star Trek may be his best film, though, a sure-footed reinvention of a dorky sci-fi franchise that made it, well, cool. Somehow, the beauty of Spock and Kirk’s bromance being woven through chance encounters with future selves kind of … works?

Star Trek is available to rent on Amazon .

15. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)

There’s a relative dearth of time travel in animated film, which perhaps is a function simply of the fact that it’s less impressive to stage in a world that’s already unreal. If you can Looney Tunes your way through physics, what’s so special about grabbing the flow of time and tying it into a bow? Still, the original Girl Who Leapt Through Time deserves mention here. It’s a beautiful story that interlaces the complexity of time leaping with the intensity of teenage emotion and the thorny process of growing up where the opportunity to redo things leads, over time, to growth — a less shitty Groundhog Day , in a way.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is available to rent on Amazon .

14. Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

She may not be the most famous, decorated, or emulated actress of her generation, but Aubrey Plaza is someone whose personality spoke to the irony-soaked 2010s in a way that simply could not be denied. Her character on Parks and Recreation , April Ludgate, was, by all accounts, created specifically to channel Plaza’s real-life personality to the screen, and she plays essentially the same character in Safety Not Guaranteed . Here, she’s a sarcastic intern at a magazine working on a story about a would-be time traveler and using her feminine wiles to slowly gain his trust. The chemistry between Plaza and Mark Duplass is probably the film’s high point; the subplot about the FBI feels like it was clipped out of a bad X-Files episode.

Safety Not Guaranteed is streaming on Tubi .

13. La Jetée (1962)

At only a 28-minute run time, La Jetée is arguably too short to merit inclusion on this list. However, what it lacks in content (and in, well, moving images; it’s almost exclusively a collection of static black-and-white shots set to voice-over), it more than makes up for in inventiveness and influence, and it would be a travesty to leave it out in favor of more recent by-the-book fare. Tracing the tale of a man held prisoner in post-WWIII Paris being used in time-travel experiments as his captors seek to remedy the postapocalyptic state of the world, he’s sent into both the future and the past and ends up unraveling a lifelong personal mystery while he’s at it.

La Jetée is streaming on the Criterion Channel .

12. Planet of the Apes (1968)

Unlike the worse but more straightforwardly time-traveling Tim Burton remake, the relationship between the original Planet of the Apes and time travel is inexact — technically, the astronaut crew that lands on the titular planet does travel forward 2,000 years, but it’s not done via a time machine. The travel isn’t instantaneous: It literally does take them 2,000 years to get there; they’re just unconscious and on life support. Still, the way the film’s ending handles the iconic reveal is exactly in line with the best of the time-travel canon, the telescoping, mise en abyme feeling of the world shifting in front of your very eyes without your moving an inch.

Planet of the Apes is available to rent on Amazon .

11. Groundhog Day (1993)

The famous Bill Murray vehicle essentially invented the infinite-time-loop genre (and it’s hardly a movie that succeeds on the strength of its concept alone), but the idea at its core is so steeped in the casual misogyny of late-’80s and early-’90s cinema that it’s hard to watch today without cringing. Murray’s character employing what amounts to PUA-style techniques over and over and over in a desperate bid to fuck his hapless co-worker just doesn’t hit the way it did back then. If the story arc didn’t present a guy detoxifying himself of the worst aspects of masculinity in order to be worthy of a woman’s love as the primary way for a 20th-century white man to achieve full personhood, this would be much higher on the list.

Groundhog Day is streaming on Starz .

10. Predestination (2014)

This is probably the most complicated film on the list. Following a “temporal agent” (played by Ethan Hawke) who’s trying to prevent a bombing in 1970s New York, it’s based on a Robert A. Heinlein short story and features Shiv Roy herself, Sarah Snook, in a star-making turn as someone with a complicated backstory and a secret. Like the best sci-fi, the film’s premise raises all kinds of fascinating questions about the titular concept and throws in some interesting musings on sex, gender, and the self in the process.

Predestination is streaming on Tubi .

9. Looper (2012)

Wes Anderson gets a lot of flak for his overwrought twee visuals, but Rian Johnson has a knack for making movies that feel and function like dioramas even if they don’t look it. Narratively speaking, everything here is constructed just so — and there’s a certain beauty in that — but who ever had a profound experience of art by looking at a diorama? Looper was probably Johnson’s least precious pre– Star Wars film, which is nice because the temptation to drastically overmaneuver the mechanics of a time-travel story can lead to disaster. The tech used to Bruce Willis–ify Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s face is distracting, and the third act’s retreat from the postapocalyptic city of the future to the postapocalyptic corn farm of the future is a brave choice that the film struggles to land. Still, Johnson’s vision of a future in which organized crime runs time travel is compelling and well worth a watch.

Looper is streaming on Netflix .

8. Donnie Darko (2001)

Donnie Darko is a bit of a genre mash-up. Part high-school movie, part sci-fi flick, part bleak meditation on the soullessness of late-’80s America, it’s nevertheless a weirdly successful piece of filmmaking that makes fantastic use of a young Jake Gyllenhaal, a great supporting cast (Maggie Gyllenhaal, Drew Barrymore, Jena Malone, and Patrick Swayze among others), and an absolutely iconic haunting cover of Tears for Fears’ “Mad World.” Watching high schoolers navigate parallel universes, wormholes, and time travel is a dicey proposition, but director Richard Kelly makes it work, somehow.

Donnie Darko is streaming on HBO Max .

7. Back to the Future (1984)

While it’s clearly superior to the sequel (and leagues ahead of the final film in the trilogy), the original Back to the Future is a bit of a mess (John Mulaney was right , to be honest). Its racial and gender politics are cringey, and the incest subplot is weird (“It’s your cousin Marvin. Marvin Pornhub . You know that new plot element you’ve been looking for?”), but there’s a clear interest in time travel beyond its shimmering surface: the very real addressing of the “grandfather problem” in time travel via the slow disappearance of Marty from his family photo, the accidental invention of rock music, and a genuine curiosity about the nuts-and-bolts mechanics of time machines. Ahh, what the hell. It’s a romp.

Back to the Future is available to rent on Amazon .

6. Palm Springs (2020)

No offense to Gen-Xers and boomers, but the best time-loop movie of all time is Palm Springs . The film isn’t without its missteps, but it’s much more curious about life than Groundhog Day was through the eyes of Murray’s misanthrope. Cristin Milioti and Andy Samberg‘s characters, stuck in the loop together, are a perfect comedic match, and their shared humanity makes for a beautiful arc. The film raises questions about what’s worth doing in life when nothing lasts and how to stay sane when every day is the same. Of course, as a sort of polar opposite of Tenet , it benefited from coming out during the pandemic by speaking, as it does, to the experience of lockdown.

Palm Springs is streaming on Hulu .

5. Tenet (2020)

Interstellar wasn’t enough for Chris Nolan, apparently. Tenet ’s legacy may end up being little more than that of the COVID action movie no one saw — a bloated thriller that Nolan fought to get into theaters and bar from home viewing reportedly to swell the size of his own pockets. It really did suffer from bad timing, though, because this is genuinely a quintessential big-screen popcorn movie whose absurdity is all the more palatable when it’s given the audiovisual bombast it deserves. Ambitious in scope as it traces a war on the past by the future (yes, you read that right), Tenet is as enamored of action tropes as it is in bucking them, and its investment in rendering visible the brain-bendingly knotty mechanics of moving through time is laudable, even when the movie itself remains opaque — as impenetrable as the future, as hazy as the past.

Tenet is streaming on HBO Max .

4. The Terminator (1984)

A partner to Blade Runner in the mid-’80s invention of sci-fi noir, The Terminator is a stunning film in many ways, despite the third act’s now-iffy visual effects. While it’s not James Cameron’s debut, and it would go on to be bested by its sequel , it functions as an incredible showcase for an emerging young director who would exclusively make big stories for the rest of his career. Arnold Schwarzenegger is perfectly cast as the relentless, unemotional killer cyborg sent back from the future to terminate the mother of the eventual resistance leader, and the film’s romantic subplot has just the perfect amount of time-travel-induced cheesiness for it to work.

The Terminator is streaming on Amazon Prime Video .

3. Interstellar (2014)

It’s not inaccurate to say Christopher Nolan is a director who’s more interested in scale and scope than in expressing the minutiae of the human experience in its purest form. But in Interstellar, a Nolan movie in its titular ambitions, there’s a core element of time travel wrought not as sci-fi fireworks but as a paean to the sheer force and will of the power of love. It both does and doesn’t work, depending on your capacity for cheese in space, but even besides that, Nolan’s use of time as story arc — the way Miller’s planet functions, in particular — is conceptually masterful in the best kind of time-travel-movie way.

Interstellar is streaming on Paramount+ .

2. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Whereas the franchise’s first movie spends more time on the question of time travel, in the second it takes a bit of a back seat to the action itself. It’s hard to fault director James Cameron for this decision; T2 remains one of the best action movies of the ’90s and — along with Jurassic Park and The Matrix — one of the decade’s best when for special effects. The groundbreaking T-1000 would honestly be enough to get this movie on the list; a tween John Connor grappling with questions of predestination and the fact that he is vicariously responsible for his own conception feel almost like icing on the time-travel cake. Much as in 12 Monkeys , time travel here is mistaken for delusion, as valiant Sarah Connor, in a Cassandra-esque nightmare, has to battle against the future only she knows is coming. Of course, Cassandra never had access to any firepower stored in underground desert arsenals.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is streaming on Netflix .

1. Arrival (2016)

It’s fair to wonder whether Arrival really is, in fact, a time-travel movie. The Ted Chiang short story it’s based on isn’t about time travel per se; rather, it’s an exploration of alternate forms of temporal understanding. The linguist protagonist, played by Amy Adams, doesn’t travel through time so much as come to experience it differently. Still, the plot ends up hinging on foreknowledge that she is granted not via visions but by actually experiencing her future simultaneously with her present and past. For our purposes, though, that’s time fuckery enough to merit inclusion, and boy howdy does the film deliver in overall quality. Partly, that’s simply a question of the source material. Chiang is arguably the most talented (and possibly the most decorated) American sci-fi writer of his generation. But the source story is not especially Hollywood friendly, and director Denis Villeneuve has adopted it lovingly, borrowing a plot device from another of Chiang’s stories, the more straightforwardly time-travel-based “The Merchant and the Alchemist’s Gate,” in order to add some third-act blockbuster flavor. The result is a beautiful meditation on love, choice, and courage that packs art-film ethos into a genuine sci-fi blockbuster.

Arrival is streaming on Hulu and Paramount+ .

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The 25 Best Time Travel Movies to Whisk You Away from Reality

Who wouldn't love a time machine right about now?

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Meet Cute (2022)

Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson co-star in Peacock's Meet Cute , a delightful and often dark rom-com based around time travel. Feeling suicidal, Sheila (Cuoco) finds a time machine in a nail salon and decides to go back in time 24 hours. While re-living her first date with Gary (Davidson) again and again, Sheila loses touch with reality and might have destroyed any chance she had with him.

A Wrinkle in Time (2018)

High schooler Meg Murry travels through time and space in search of her missing astrophysicist father (Chris Pine). On her journey, Meg meets Mrs. Which (Oprah Winfrey), Mrs. Whatsit (Reese Witherspoon), and Mrs. Who (Mindy Kaling), as well as a whole host of dangerous beings.

The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)

Based on Audrey Niffenegger's 2003 novel of the same name, The Time Traveler's Wife tells the story of Henry (Eric Bana), a librarian who is able to randomly travel through time. After meeting Clare (Rachel McAdams) as a child, Henry later develops a romantic relationship with her. HBO's recent adaptation starring Theo James and Rose Leslie has reignited the debate regarding whether or not the story promotes grooming , or if it's a timeless romance.

Back to the Future (1985)

'80s classic Back to the Future has stood the test of time, and spawned two equally entertaining sequels. In the first film, Marty McFly is sent to the 1950s in his friend Doc Brown's time machine, a super cool DeLorean. Marty meets his parents as teenagers, and his presence risks changing history forever.

See You Yesterday (2019)

Netflix's See You Yesterday follows science prodigy C.J. (Eden Duncan-Smith), who invents time traveling backpacks. Along with her best friend Sebastian, C.J. uses her invention to go back in time to stop her brother from being murdered by a racist police officer. However, she's also forced to face up to the limitations and consequences of time travel.

About Time (2013)

Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) inherits the ability to time travel from his father, and decides to use the gift to find love. After a failed attempt at romance, Tim meets Mary (Rachel McAdams), but due to several time travel-related mishaps, romance isn't instantaneous for the pair. Written and directed by rom-com aficionado Richard Curtis.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

James Cameron's follow-up to 1984's The Terminator was a smash-hit that cemented the franchise's popularity. In the sequel, a killer T-1000 Terminator is sent back in time by Skynet to kill the future leader of the resistance, the son of Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), John (Edward Furlong). At the same time, the resistance sends a reprogrammed T-800 Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) back to protect Connor.

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

Four miserable friends reunite after one of them nearly dies. To cheer themselves up, they decide to spend some time together at a ski resort. Unfortunately, the resort's hot tub isn't what it seems, and they accidentally end up traveling back to 1986. The four friends scramble to find a way back to present day. Starring John Cusack and Craig Robinson.

12 Monkeys (1995)

After a deadly virus destroys humanity in 1996, survivors are forced underground. Decades later, prisoner James (Bruce Willis) agrees to go back in time to find the original virus, so that scientists can work on a cure. However, he arrives too early in 1990, and is promptly institutionalized, where he meets Jeffrey (Brad Pitt), an anti-corporate environmentalist. From there, the mystery only gets more intriguing.

Looper (2012)

In the future, time travel is used by the mob to assassinate people, who are sent back in time and killed by assassins known as "loopers." Joe's (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) older self (Bruce Willis) is sent back to be eliminated, but manages to escape before he is killed. Thus begins a twisty time travel epic, that also stars Emily Blunt.

Tenet (2020)

The Protagonist ( John David Washington ), a former CIA agent, is tasked with stopping World War III. Learning to bend time, he attempts to prevent the destruction of the world. Robert Pattinson and Elizabeth Debicki co-star.

Last Night in Soho (2021)

Aspiring fashion designer Eloise (Thomasin McKenzie) manages to travel back to the 1960s, where she meets singer "Sandie" ( Anya Taylor-Joy ). What starts as a glamorous encounter with the past soon becomings a horrifying nightmare. Co-starring Matt Smith.

Déjà Vu (2006)

A top secret organization has developed the ability to see four days into the past, in order to catch criminals. While hunting a terrorist, ATF agent Doug (Denzel Washington) realizes that this new technology might allow him to stop crimes from happening altogether.

Source Code (2011)

An unusual riff on the time travel movie, Source Code stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Army Captain Colter, who is trying to identify the person responsible for bombing a commuter train. Re-living an eight minute re-creation of the moments leading up to the explosion, Colter is stuck in a terrifying loop, until he can solve the mystery.

Mirai (2018)

A young boy called Kun runs away from home, as he feels neglected by his family after the arrival of his little sister, Mirai. Kun accidentally discovers a time travel portal in a magic garden, and is transported into the past, where he meets his mother as a child. Later, he travels to the future, where he finds his sister as an adult, and completely changes his outlook in the process.

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

Aubrey Plaza stars as an aspiring journalist whose latest assignment involves a mysterious classified ad about time travel. "You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. I have only done this once before. SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED," the ad reads. Mark Duplass co-stars.

Groundhog Day (1993)

Although Groundhog Day is technically a "time loop" movie, it wouldn't feel right to leave it off the list. Phil (Bill Murray) is a disgruntled weatherman sent to cover the annual Groundhog Day event in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. When he wakes up the next day, he realizes that he's re-living February 2, which happens again and again, until he figures out how to stop it.

Needle in a Timestack (2021)

The wonderful Cynthia Erivo stars alongside Orlando Bloom, Leslie Odom Jr., and Freida Pinto in this romantic sci-fi flick. In the future, the wealthy are able to partake in "time jaunting," but the ripples from these changes often cause timelines to warp and change. Needle in a Timestack focuses on a happily married couple whose relationship is jeopardized by an ex intent on changing history.

The Lake House (2006)

Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves star in this completely cheesy but endlessly loveable rom-com that defies time. Architect Alex (Reeves) and doctor Kate (Bullock) write letters to one another via a mailbox at a lake house where they both live at separate times. Despite the time difference, they're able to communicate with one another and forge a relationship via this magical postal system that transcends time.

Predestination (2015)

Ethan Hawke stars as an agent tasked with stopping a deadly attack before it happens, via time travel. Traveling back to 1975, he attempts to find and stop a bomber in New York, but his mission is far from simple. When he returns to the future, his life only gets more complicated.

Amy Mackelden is a freelance writer, editor, and disability activist. Her bylines include Harper's BAZAAR, Nicki Swift, Cosmopolitan, Marie Claire, ELLE, The Independent, Bustle, Healthline, and HelloGiggles. She co-edited The Emma Press Anthology of Illness , and previously spent all of her money on Kylie Cosmetics.

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The 20 best time-travel movies – ranked!

As Adam Driver accidentally winds up 65m years ago , facing not just dinosaurs but an asteroid, we count down the best films about going backwards, or forwards, through the ages

20. Timecop (1994)

Regardless of what anyone says, I believe in my heart that Timecop was greenlit because someone showed a studio executive a picture of Jean-Claude Van Damme and said the word “Timecop” out loud, at which point they had to throw a script together as quickly as possible. Nothing about Timecop makes sense. It is the most 90s film ever made.

19. Tenet (2020)

I have to be careful here, because Tenet might not be a time-travel movie. Certainly time passes in it and some of the people are going backwards in time in it. But I’ve seen this movie twice now, and it mainly just seems to be about people mumbling everything, except for Kenneth Branagh, who gets to shout very loudly three times. Anyway, here it is.

18. Cavegirl (1985)

Finally, a film that uses time-travel for the correct reason; to allow a horny 1980s high school student to go back to prehistory so that he can convince a smoking hot, bikini-wearing cavegirl to have it off with him. You will note I’ve ranked this above Tenet .

17. Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me (1999)

Weird to think that Austin Powers was originally a fish-out-of-water comedy, in which the promiscuous titular character had to navigate the (then) uptight world of the 1990s. That all fell apart for the sequel, where Powers was sent back to the 60s to shout his catchphrases at people who actually appreciated them. That makes it a time-travel movie, right?

16. The Butterfly Effect (2004)

God, this film. In summary: Ashton Kutcher plays a man who experiences blackouts, only to learn some years later that he can travel back in time and inhabit his younger self’s mind during the blackouts. But in doing so, he unleashes a world of unintended consequences. He becomes a murderer and loses limbs. Seek out the director’s cut if you can, because it ends with Kutcher’s character deliberately strangling himself in the womb with his umbilical cord. No, really.

15. The Tomorrow War (2021)

Wherein Chris Pratt is drafted into a war that takes place 26 years later, because the invading aliens have already killed all the soldiers who were alive at the time. It’s a great premise for a film – we all pay the price for the actions of other generations – let down by a truly confusing ending. Admit it, you forgot this film even existed, even though it cost $200m to make and only came out 18 months ago.

14. The Time Travelers (1964)

A 1964 movie made on the cheap with genuinely terrible effects, The Time Travelers is about a group of scientists who travel to the future, fight some mutants and then return. What sets it apart, though, is its crazed ending. The film ends with the scientists venturing into the distant future, whereupon the film plays through again, faster and faster and faster until it cuts away to a still of the galaxy. Are they trapped in a loop? Is free will an illusion? Did the producers just run out of money? We may never know.

13. The Adam Project (2022)

In which a young boy’s life is turned upside down when he is visited by an older version of himself from the future. The good news? He grows up to be a fighter pilot. The bad news? He also grows up to have all the cadences and surface-level snarky patter of Ryan Reynolds. What follows is a buddy movie where the two buddies are the same person.

12. Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

So seminal that it was namechecked in Avengers: Endgame . A flat-out comedy that primarily exists to allow a bunch of middle-aged men to act like teenagers, Hot Tub Time Machine is a film about an enchanted Jacuzzi that sends people back to the mid-1980s. Possibly a bit too bawdy for its own good, there’s a hint of a message about the unreliability of nostalgia here.

11. Flight of the Navigator (1986)

This family film involves a young boy who goes missing in a Fort Lauderdale ravine, only to show up eight years later having not aged. There are UFOs and rubbery little creatures and whatnot, but there’s a real emotional wallop to the moment when the boy realises that the world has moved on without him, right down to the scene (that plays out like a horror movie) where the boy realises that his parents have become unrecognisably ancient, even though they are probably only in their early 40s.

10. Primer (2004)

Some see Shane Carruth’s Primer as the gold standard of what a time-travel film should be. It’s the sort of movie that seems unnervingly realistic, from the down-at-heel engineers to the unshowy nature of time travel itself, where people in effect just get in and out of some boxes. Almost entirely unwilling to explain itself, for years Primer fans have come to rely on a series of graphs and charts to figure out what the film actually is.

9. Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

A time-travel movie that may or may not have any actual time-travel in it, Colin Trevorrow’s Safety Not Guaranteed is a delicate wonder of a thing. A man places an ad in a magazine asking for a time-travel companion – “Must bring your own weapons. I have only done this once before” – and the respondents slowly come to realise that all is not quite as it seems.

8. Planet of the Apes (1968)

If you haven’t seen Planet of the Apes, then the fact that I’ve put it on a list of time-travel movies is probably quite a heavy spoiler, and for that I’m sorry. But what a reveal this is – what seems at first like a silly movie about Charlton Heston being persecuted by some monkeys quickly becomes something darker and much more sinister. That new Adam Driver movie probably could have achieved something similar, if it hadn’t blabbed its big secret in the trailer.

7. Avengers: Endgame (2019)

Endgame is a lot, so much so that it is effectively a time-travel movie bookended by two entirely separate movies. And, yes, it takes a lot of liberties with time-travel, from Tony Stark’s “Huh, I did it” invention to the lazy referencing of other time-travel movies as a shorthand for what the characters can do. Nevertheless, when they get to it, the film nails it. The Battle of New York is the obvious highlight, with Captain America fighting Captain America and the Hulk embarrassed by his unreconstructed former self, but the heart of the film really comes when Tony meets his father as a man and learns to let go of the past.

6. Interstellar (2014)

Interstellar is also a lot. But at its core is a simple ethical quandary: would you try to save the world if it meant missing your children’s entire lives? Matthew McConaughey has to touch down on a planet during a space trip. The problem is that every hour he spends there is equal to seven years on Earth. Is the trip important enough for him to miss seeing the wonder of his children grow into adults? Technically, if you want to be fussy about this, Interstellar is a time dilation movie rather than a time-travel movie. But it gets a pass, largely because McConaughey sells the agony of the moment so beautifully.

5. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

There are times when Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure feels like it was written by a toddler off his face on pop. But that’s a deliberate ploy, a way to camouflage all the careful rigour that underpins the script. The lead characters are initially reluctant to embark on their time-travel adventure, until they’re visited by versions of themselves from the near future who compel them to do it; a beautiful and hilarious example of predestination in action. Extra points are awarded thanks to the film’s total lack of interest in consequences. Swiping Abraham Lincoln and Napoleon from their respective eras has no bearing on world history whatsoever, which is probably quite lucky.

4. Looper (2012)

One problem with time-travel movies is that the rules always need to be explained upfront. In lesser hands, this can lead to all manner of clunky, stilted exposition. But when Rian Johnson dabbled in the genre with Looper , he gave us a masterclass in “show, don’t tell”. The sequence where poor Paul Dano’s character is tortured at two different points in time simultaneously, with the older version following instructions carved into the younger version’s arm, is arguably one of the most inventive uses of time-travel in the entire history of cinema. All that plus this is Bruce Willis’s last truly great performance.

3. The Terminator (1984)/Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

The lure of the first two Terminator movies were the killer robots running around murdering everyone. But they were very smartly built around a framework of pure time-travel. We only see the future in brief flashes, but what’s important is the present. It is very, very important that Kyle Reese (a guy from the future) has sex with Sarah Connor (a woman from the present), because only that will save humanity as we know it. It’s a hell of a pickup line, but the device also elevates what could have simply been a shonky B-movie into the realm of the classics.

2. Idiocracy (2006)

The smartest time-travel movies use the device as a mirror, telling us more about the times we live in now than the times the characters visit. Enter Idiocracy, Mike Judge’s stinging satire about modern times. An average person is cryogenically frozen and wakes up in the future, shocked to discover that the global IQ has fallen off a cliff in the intervening years. Surrounded by aggressive stupidity, he single-handedly saves the US from famine by suggesting that they use water – and not an electrolyte drink – to grow crops. We are conservatively 15 years from this happening in real life.

1. Back to the Future (1985)/Back to the Future Part II (1989)

The only conceivable first choice. The first two Back to the Future films (the third, which is basically just a western, is far less imaginative) have come to define time-travel as a genre. They deliver a complex set of hard sci-fi rules about what can and cannot happen during time-travel and – miraculously – manage to do it in a way that kids can understand. Good music, cool clothes, a million catchphrases and, in the case of the second film, an unnervingly prescient prediction of how Donald Trump would turn out. Just perfect.

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The 25 Best Time Travel Movies of All Time, Ranked

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Time travel movies have been done to death, and many time travel movies suck because they rehash the same old predictable tropes and cliches. But there's still a lot of potential left to be mined in the genre!

Despite the vast number of lackluster time travel movies, there have also been many notable films that came out in the past few decades—and that's on top of the sci-fi classics that still hold up.

At the end of the day, all movies are meant to deliver an entertaining experience for the viewer. With that in mind, here are what I consider to be the best time travel movies of all time.

Warning: I hate spoilers as much as anyone, so I've taken care to exclude spoilers from all movie descriptions in this article. However, knowing that a movie involves time travel could itself be a spoiler! Read on at your own risk.

25. Project Almanac (2015)

Directed by Dean Israelite

Starring Jonny Weston, Sofia Black-D'Elia, Virginia Gardner

Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi (1h 46m)

6.3 on IMDb — 38% on RT

Project Almanac is an underrated time travel movie that probably flew under your radar. Don't let the fact that it seems like a teen drama deter you from checking it out.

A group of high schoolers find something strange in an old home video, which spurs them to investigate—and uncover secrets plans for a time machine. They build it, of course, and that's when the trouble starts.

24. ARQ (2016)

Directed by Tony Elliott

Starring Robbie Amell, Rachael Taylor, Shaun Benson

Action, Sci-Fi, Thriller (1h 28m)

6.3 on IMDb — 43% on RT

A strange energy-providing device causes a couple to be stuck in a time loop while being forced to defend the device against a group intent on stealing it. The setup is strange, the ending is stranger.

This low-budget film is really nothing more than a popcorn flick, but it's a fun ride as long as you don't think too deeply about it. Compared to other thought experiment-type time travel movies, this one's pretty good.

23. Click (2006)

Directed by Frank Coraci

Starring Adam Sandler, Kate Beckinsale, Christopher Walken

Comedy, Drama, Fantasy (1h 47m)

6.4 on IMDb — 34% on RT

Using a magical universal remote, a workaholic finds himself able to skip ahead or rewind back to various points in his life. During those skipped times, his body continues to live on autopilot.

Don't be turned away by the fact that this is an Adam Sandler movie. In one of his best performances ever, Sandler effectively carries this funny-but-heart-wrenching story on his back.

22. Time Lapse (2014)

Directed by Bradley King

Starring Danielle Panabaker, Matt O'Leary, George Finn

Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi (1h 44m)

6.5 on IMDb — 74% on RT

When three friends discover a machine that can take photos 24 hours in the future, things take a dark turn as each photo reveals more than they could've anticipated.

Smart writing makes up for the mediocre performances in Time Lapse . If you go into this indie film without much in the way of expectations, you'll be pleasantly surprised.

21. The Endless (2017)

Directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead

Starring Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson, Callie Hernandez

Drama, Fantasy, Horror (1h 51m)

6.5 on IMDb — 92% on RT

Sci-fi horror done well tends to be pretty rare, but The Endless is a shining example of when it goes right.

The film centers on two brothers who used to belong to an alleged UFO death cult when they were young. Years later, after they'd escaped, they both have different memories of what the cult was like—so they agree to return for one day to set the record straight.

What they find is that the supposed UFO death cult is nothing like how either of them imagined, and they end up embroiled in all kinds of mysterious happenings, including a time loop.

20. The Adam Project (2022)

Directed by Shawn Levy

Starring Ryan Reynolds, Walker Scobell, Mark Ruffalo

Action, Adventure, Comedy (1h 46m)

6.7 on IMDb — 67% on RT

The Adam Project stars Ryan Reynolds as Adam Reed, a man from the future who goes back in time to save his wife. He's injured and takes refuge in his childhood home, but is accidentally discovered by his younger self. They work together to complete Adam's mission of saving his wife.

It's a simple story with Ryan Reynolds basically playing Ryan Reynolds—which is great, if you're into that—but what sets The Adam Project apart is the deeply moving emotional threads that undergird the characters and weave together into a surprisingly cathartic climax.

19. Primer (2004)

Directed by Shane Carruth

Starring Shane Carruth, David Sullivan, Casey Gooden

Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller (1h 17m)

6.8 on IMDb — 73% on RT

Four entrepreneurs accidentally invent a time travel machine, which ends up ruining their lives when they decide to give it a spin. Primer is the quintessential time travel film and a must-see movie for time travel fans who love poring over the tiniest details.

It's short (only 77-minute runtime) but insanely dense—the kind of movie you have to watch multiple times to really understand what actually happened, and even then you may not fully get it.

18. Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

Directed by Colin Trevorrow

Starring Aubrey Plaza, Mark Duplass, Jake Johnson

Adventure, Comedy, Drama (1h 26m)

6.9 on IMDb — 91% on RT

Safety Not Guaranteed is a comedy romance film centering on three magazine staffers who go out to interview a strange man who's looking for a partner for his upcoming time travel mission. They think it's all a joke, but the truth slowly shows itself to be something more.

While the actual act of time traveling doesn't play a huge role, Safety Not Guaranteed is a must-watch for anyone who's looking for a heartfelt drama that's well-written and infused with depth by a solid cast.

17. Triangle (2009)

Directed by Christopher Smith

Starring Melissa George, Joshua McIvor, Jack Taylor

Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi (1h 39m)

6.9 on IMDb — 80% on RT

In the wake of a yachting accident, a group of friends are rescued by what appears to be a mysteriously empty cruise ship. As they further explore the ship's interior, they encounter horrors unknown.

Again, well-done science fiction horror films are hard to come by, and Triangle stands out for its premise and execution, particularly in how time travel is revealed and incorporated. There's nothing groundbreaking here, but it's certainly interesting and memorable.

16. The Time Traveler's Wife (2009)

Directed by Robert Schwentke

Starring Eric Bana, Rachel McAdams, Ron Livingston

7.1 on IMDb — 39% on RT

In The Time Traveler's Wife , Henry is a man who has a genetic anomaly that causes him to time travel. The thing is, he can't control when or where he travels to, and thus struggles to keep his marriage alive.

Based on the novel by the same name, The Time Traveler's Wife may not be able to capture the full magic that made the book so great—there's just too much content to fit into one movie—but it's still a stirring romantic drama with several twists and moving moments.

15. Timecrimes (2007)

Directed by Nacho Vigalondo

Starring Karra Elejalde, Candela Fernández, Bárbara Goenaga

Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi (1h 32m)

7.1 on IMDb — 90% on RT

In the Spanish-language Timecrimes , an average man accidentally travels back in time one hour, unleashing a series of disastrous events. That's all you really want to know about this film before diving in.

More to the tune of mystery than action, Timecrimes is a flawless example of a "What actually happened?" narrative that asks you to puzzle things together as events unfold before you. The twists are plentiful here.

14. Palm Springs (2020)

Directed by Max Barbakow

Starring Andy Samberg, Cristin Milioti, J. K. Simmons

Comedy, Fantasy, Mystery (1h 30m)

7.4 on IMDb — 94% on RT

Palm Springs takes place at a wedding in Palm Springs, California. Two guests inadvertently get stuck in a time loop, reliving the same exact wedding day over and over, and try to find a way to escape.

The premise may not seem like anything special, but the performances by Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti elevate this film to new heights. Infused with comedy, drama, and romance, Palm Springs makes full use of its time loop situation to tell an impactful story.

13. Predestination (2014)

Directed by Michael Spierig and Peter Spierig

Starring Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook, Noah Taylor

Action, Drama, Sci-Fi (1h 37m)

7.4 on IMDb — 84% on RT

A time-traveling agent's final assignment is to track down the one criminal who he's never been able to capture. But the further down the rabbit hole he goes, the more mind-bending the truths become.

Predestination isn't just a time travel film. What sets this film apart from most sci-fi movies is how deftly it handles its deeper themes, how deep it's willing to go with its characters, and how expertly the narrative unfolds. It's truly one of the most complex time travel movies ever made.

12. The Butterfly Effect (2004)

Directed by Eric Bress and J. Mackye Gruber

Starring Ashton Kutcher, Amy Smart, Melora Walters

Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller (1h 53m)

7.6 on IMDb — 34% on RT

A man discovers he has the ability to change the present by traveling back into the mind of his younger self, but around every corner await unintended consequences.

You've heard of "the butterfly effect" before, and The Butterfly Effect effectively takes that concept and turns it into a dark thriller. Ashton Kutcher stars in this film against type and delivers a surprisingly great performance in this gripping film about regret and control.

11. About Time (2013)

Directed by Richard Curtis

Starring Domhnall Gleeson, Rachel McAdams, Bill Nighy

Comedy, Drama, Fantasy (2h 3m)

7.8 on IMDb — 70% on RT

A man who can travel through time decides to use his power to woo the girl of his dreams, but things aren't as easy as they seem—and the limits of his power cause him to make a tough and important decision.

With Domhnall Gleeson and Rachel McAdams taking the lead, About Time ends up being a romantic comedy that's far better than it has any right to be, complete with a superbly moving ending that's completely earned.

10. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)

Directed by Alfonso Cuarón

Starring Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint

Adventure, Family, Fantasy (2h 22m)

7.9 on IMDb — 90% on RT

It's Harry Potter's third year at Hogwarts and this time Lord Voldemort isn't his main concern. Instead, Sirius Black—the one who was suspected as betraying his parents—has escaped from Azkaban Prison and rumor has it that he's coming to finish Harry off.

Often praised as the best film in the Harry Potter franchise—thanks to impeccable direction by Alfonso Cuaron— The Prisoner of Azkaban isn't just a standout for its time travel subplot but also for its cohesive narrative that combines numerous themes with stellar cinematography.

9. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

Directed by Doug Liman

Starring Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Bill Paxton

Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi (1h 53m)

7.9 on IMDb — 91% on RT

In the face of an alien invasion, a soldier somehow ends up reliving the same day over and over every time he dies. He must somehow use this to his advantage and defeat the invading aliens while also finding a way to escape the endless loop in which he's trapped.

As far as time loop movies go, Edge of Tomorrow is one of the better executed ones. Not only is the tight story well-paced, but stars Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt put in excellent performances that carry the narrative forward from start to finish.

8. The Man From Earth (2007)

Directed by Richard Schenkman

Starring David Lee Smith, Tony Todd, John Billingsley

Drama, Fantasy, Mystery (1h 27m)

7.8 on IMDb — 100% on RT

During a retirement party, an aging professor reveals that he's been alive longer than his colleagues can imagine.

The Man From Earth is best described as a "play caught on camera," delivering an engaging mystery that's built on the foundation of an interesting thought experiment.

Not many dialogue-only films are this riveting, which is why you should definitely give this one a watch.

7. Arrival (2016)

Directed by Denis Villeneuve

Starring Amy Adams, Jeremy Renner, Forest Whitaker

Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi (1h 56m)

7.9 on IMDb — 94% on RT

When aliens arrive on Earth, a linguist is brought to the frontlines to decipher their language and establish communications.

Easily one of the most cerebral science fiction movies ever made, Arrival takes things to the next level by exploring deep themes and ideas that few other films have dared to touch. You won't ever forget this one.

6. 12 Monkeys (1995)

Directed by Terry Gilliam

Starring Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe, Brad Pitt

Mystery, Sci-Fi, Thriller (2h 9m)

8.0 on IMDb — 88% on RT

In the year 2035, a convict is sent back in time to 1996 with one mission: to investigate the cause of a man-made virus that decimated the world. But his mission is sidetracked when he's sent back to the wrong time period and ends up in a mental hospital.

Featuring one of Bruce Willis's best performances, 12 Monkeys starts off slow but ends with a bang. There's a lot to love about this mind-bending movie if you can get through the slow but necessary setup.

5. Donnie Darko (2001)

Directed by Richard Kelly

Starring Jake Gyllenhaal, Jena Malone, Mary McDonnell

Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi (1h 53m)

8.0 on IMDb — 87% on RT

A high schooler begins to see visions of a man in a deranged bunny suit who warns him that the world is going to end in a few days—and convinces him to commit all sorts of crimes and unsavory deeds to prevent the oncoming apocalypse.

Donnie Darko is a strange film with time travel elements that aren't as overt as in other time travel films. But if you're itching for a uniquely surreal film experience, it doesn't get much weirder than Donnie Darko .

4. Groundhog Day (1993)

Directed by Harold Ramis

Starring Bill Murray, Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott

Comedy, Drama, Fantasy (1h 41m)

8.0 on IMDb — 94% on RT

An insufferable weatherman finds himself caught in a time loop, reliving the same mundane day over and over again with seemingly no way out of it—and after thousands of repeats, it starts to take its toll on him.

Groundhog Day is a hilarious comedy that's also surprisingly deep if you're willing to unpack it, acting as a lesson in what really brings about happiness and self-improvement. If you're a fan of Bill Murray and haven't seen this yet, what have you been waiting for?!

3. Your Name (2016)

Directed by Makoto Shinkai

Starring Michael Sinterniklaas, Stephanie Sheh, Kyle Hebert

Animation, Drama, Fantasy (1h 46m)

8.4 on IMDb — 98% on RT

One day, a high school boy in Tokyo and a high school girl in the countryside start swapping bodies, seemingly at random but only when they go to sleep. But then the swapping stops. The boy is compelled to find the girl, but investigating leads to a heartbreaking answer.

Your Name isn't just one of the best animated movies of all time, nor simply one of the best Japanese movies of all time, but one of the best, period. It's incredibly heartfelt with a climax that'll hit you in the gut.

2. Back to the Future (1985)

Directed by Robert Zemeckis

Starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson

Adventure, Comedy, Sci-Fi (1h 56m)

8.5 on IMDb — 93% on RT

A teenage boy from 1985 accidentally goes back in time thirty years with his mad scientist friend. Not only does he need to find a way home, but he accidentally puts his own existence in danger and must make sure his future parents end up falling in love.

Back to the Future is a classic time travel movie and you owe it to yourself to make it the next movie you watch if you've never seen it. Look past the 1980s cheesiness and you'll see an engaging story beneath it all.

1. Interstellar (2014)

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Starring Matthew McConaughey, Anne Hathaway, Jessica Chastain

Adventure, Drama, Sci-Fi (2h 49m)

8.7 on IMDb — 73% on RT

With Earth on the brink of extinction, a team of astronauts must travel through a wormhole to find a new planet for humans to colonize. But journeying through outer space comes with all kinds of complications, and finding a habitable planet isn't going to be so easy.

For all its flaws, Interstellar packs a thrilling story on top of dazzling visuals and one of the most moving soundtracks of any film, period. This is the kind of film that'll have you thinking long after the credits roll, and for many reasons beyond just time travel.

25 of the Best Time Travel Movies Ever Made

These films will have you flying through the years, decades and dimensions—and ready to do it over and over again.

Every item on this page was chosen by a Town & Country editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

From star-crossed lovers to harrowing action sequences, the plots to these films didn't stay in one dimension.

Back to the Future

What is a list of time travel classics a without a nod to Marty McFly and his friend Doc Brown from the 1980's classic, Back to the Future ? Although the second and third movie are equally as entertaining– it's hard to beat the original.

Somewhere in Time

Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour play the ultimate time-crossed lovers in this romantic drama that will have you rooting for time to be by their side.

The Lake House

Settle in for a mystifying romance and watch the relationship between the characters of Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves unfold — all while they are communicating with each other separated by two years of time.

The Time Traveler's Wife

Every marriage requires work, but when your husband has a condition that causes him to involuntarily time travel– your issues are outside the normal scope of relationship stressors. The romantic drama starring Rachel McAdams and Eric Bana follows a newlywed couple through the trials and tribulations of their unusual relationship.

Palm Springs

When carefree Nyles (Andy Samberg) and reluctant maid of honor Sarah (Cristin Milioti) have a chance encounter at a Palm Springs wedding, the two get stuck in a time loop that they can't escape.

Kate & Leopold

A 19th-century bachelor (Hugh Jackman) falls through time and meets a 21st-century woman (Meg Ryan). What more could you want in a time travel movie, honestly?!

Time After Time

No, not the Cyndi Lauper song: this is a time travel movie where H.G. Wells (Malcom McDowell) chases Jack the Ripper (David Warner) through time, and they end up in... 1979 San Francisco! When there, Wells falls for a bank clerk named Amy (Mary Steenburgen). There's a bit of everything: Romance, action, adventure, and obviously, time travel.

Source Code

When Jake Gyllenhaal finds himself inside the body of a man he doesn't know, he quickly figures out there's an important reason for why he's been sent back in time. The film's plot twists as well as the climax of his pressure-filled mission makes for incredible action and drama.

Donnie Darko

A cult classic ever since it's release in 2001, Donnie Darko takes a dark twist on teenage time travel.

Interstellar

Interstellar left audiences perplexed, bewildered, and all around baffled as it's characters journey through a wormhole in space.

Groundhog Day

Ever used the term groundhog day to describe a never-ending day? Well you can thank the 1993 film for that! Comedian Bill Murray stars as a weatherman who finds himself trapped reliving the same day over and over again.

In Loop , actors Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Bruce Willis, and Emily Blunt star in the marvelous film that combines the the best traits of a mob drama with the intrigue of the space-time continuum.

13 Going on 30

As a thirteen-year old in the 1980's, all Jenna Rink wants is to skip over her teenage years and live as a sophisticated and self-assured 30 year old (who didn't want that?). But when she gets exactly what she's dreamed of, she realizes it's not everything she though it'd be. In a film which imbues the message "enjoy the journey not the destination" cliche, Jennifer Garner does an amazing job of keeping the role refreshing and sweet.

Predestination

The intertemporal plots of the film Predestination along with actor Ethan Hawke's marvelous performance will leave you wanting to view it over and over again.

The Family Man

Although the film Family Man is more about an alternate universe than actual time travel, watching Nicolas Cage portray an investment banking bachelor who gets thrust into the life of a suburban dad to teach him what really matters in life is just too good not to recommend it.

Doctor Strange

Marvel dips its toe into the world of time travel with the release of Doctor Strange, the story of a neurosurgeon who introduces the audiences to an entire world of alternate dimensions.

Edge of Tomorrow

Edge of Tomorrow takes the winning concept behind Groundhog Day and combines it with an action-fueled adventure starring Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt.

The film was met with mixed reviews from critics, however the plot's time travel complexities are extremely well done and will satisfy any sci-fi lover.

What would you do if you could go back in time and re-do any moment? We're sure you'd change a few corny pick-up lines, awkward conversations, and coulda-woulda-shoulda moments and that's exactly what you'll find in this romantic comedy meets fantasy drama.

The Adjustment Bureau

Matt Damon and Emily Blunt will captivate you as they protect their love from a mysterious group that is aiming to tear them apart.

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The 35 Best Time Travel Movies

Ready for 1.21 gigawatts of sci-fi greatness?

These are the 35 best sci-fi films that explore the fluidity of time.

🤯 You love mind-bending science. So do we. Let’s nerd out over it together.

35. Timecop

Jean-Claude Van Damme is a cop who polices time. Don’t need to say more, but I guess I will. In 1994, time travel becomes a favorite pastime of criminals, and timecops like Van Damme must catch any chronal abusers and bring them to justice. As is often the case, Van Damme’s own time-muckery with the past creates different and divergent timelines that not even Doc Brown’s chalkboard could work out. But Timecop isn’t exactly a film that’s going for narrative clarity here.

34. The Final Countdown / The Philadelphia Experiment

Although most people would file this film under “flop,” The Final Countdown contains such an amazing premise it has to be recognized. The crew of the U.S.S. Nimitz enters a storm vortex and is transported to Pearl Harbor in 1941, turning a favorite imaginary war-game scenario into real life. Although the actual film elements aren’t necessarily memorable, it does give us an incredibly good look at the Nimitz (the film was shot on the actual carrier).

We tossed in The Philadelphia Experiment at the same spot, since it’s essentially the reverse of The Final Countdown .

33. Men in Black 3

By the time director Barry Sonnenfeld directed Men in Black 3 in 2012, the franchise was 15 years removed from its fun and campy original, and Men in Black 2 had sucked out much of the charm. That’s why MiB 3 , despite its faults, is still a surprising underdog of a film.

Agent J (Will Smith) goes back in time to stop an alien from mucking up the past and killing Agent K (Tommy Lee Jones/Josh Brolin). The film recaptures much of the original’s fun, and Josh Brolin’s portrayal of a young Tommy Lee Jones playing Agent K is simply awe-inspiring. Honestly, that acting work alone earns this spot for MiB 3.

32. Flight of the Navigator

Sort of like E.T. , but with time travel. What Flight of the Navigator lacks in a substantial plot, it more than makes up for in charm.

David Scott Freeman falls into a ravine and is knocked unconscious—for eight years. Although he doesn’t age, everyone he knows does, and he soon finds he’s part of something much larger. It’s a fun film that will never outshine any Spielberg classics, but its campiness is too genuine to ignore.

31. Time After Time

H.G. Wells, Jack the Ripper, and time travel ... that’s it . Just click the arrow.

30. Timecrimes

A film with perhaps the lowest budget on this list, Timecrimes is a Spanish-language movie that follows a typical time travel trope (many copies of one person causing major problems) but creates 92 minutes of truly enjoyable cinema. The fun moments of Timecrimes are the reveal after reveal after reveal, which snowballs into a fascinating plot.

29. Source Code

Source Code is like Groundhog Day and Edge of Tomorrow with a twist. Instead of going back in time as himself, Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal) enters the body of someone else as he tries to stop a mass murder attempt. What the film lacks in depth, it more than makes up for in pulse-pumping action, and the premise itself is a refreshing take on the usual time travel idea.

It will likely never be considered an example of high science fiction, but as far as time travel goes, it gets good grades.

28. Donnie Darko

Perfect amounts creepy and perplexing, Donnie Darko is another strange example of time travel, which is why it belongs on this list all the more. Darko (Gyllenhaal again) is a high school kid with a less-than-sunny disposition. But when he begins seeing frightening hallucinations of a deranged and grotesque rabbit, things slowly begin to unravel, going from bad to weird pretty quickly.

For such a small-budget film (that was almost released straight to home video!) it’s made an outsized impact on science fiction and indie filmmaking. It’s a great movie, but also a polarizing one.

27. Safety Not Guaranteed

Director Colin Trevorrow’s debut film Safety Not Guaranteed follows three journalists—well, one journalist and two interns—on a road trip to meet the eccentric Kenneth (Mark Duplass), who placed an ad in a local newspaper looking for a time-travel companion. Although at its heart a romantic comedy, the film explores human perception of time and the indelible regrets, traumas, and even fantasies that fill our memories. Although the idea of actual time travel plays a significant role in the film, it’s used mostly as a symbol to analyze the importance of being present and always looking with hope toward the future.

26. X-Men: Days of Future Past

Smashing together the old X-Men guard with the new is what makes X-Men: Days of Future Past one of the more successful cinematic outings for the mutant team.

In the film, Kitty Pryde sends Wolverine back through time to stop apocalyptic events from unfolding. Maybe that’s not the most original plot, but it’s one that’s too fun to resist (if only for the Quicksilver scene alone ).

25. Predestination

Based on Robert Heinlein’s sci-fi short story “All You Zombies,” Predestination is a head trip, like any proper time travel film should be. With a strong performance from Ethan Hawke and a script that will keep you guessing, the film is one of the more solid time travel entries in recent years and is a film that garners a rewatch so you can catch every detail.

24. Star Trek: First Contact

The Next Generation ’s big screen outings are a mixed bag, to put it nicely, but the best film by far is the time-bending Star Trek: First Contact . Jean-Luc Picard and the crew of the USS Enterprise-E travel to the past to prevent the cybernetic Borg from mucking with Earth’s history. It’s a good film all by itself, but even more excellent if you’re an invested Star Trek fan. We get to see huge, never-before-seen moments in the Star Trek universe, like humanity’s first encounter with the Vulcans, and the Borg are just an excellent adversary.

23. Army of Darkness

“Shop Smart. Shop, S-Mart.”

Depending on who you ask, Sam Raimi’s Army of Darkness is either the best sequel to any film ever, or the worst—there isn’t much room in between. The chainsaw-toting Ashley “Ash” Williams is tossed back to medieval times where he must fight off a horde of undead monstrosities with only his ingenuity and his “boom stick.”

Even though it’s slapstick comedy with wonderfully B-movie action sequences, it remains an absolute joy to watch.

22. Doctor Strange

In this Marvel sleeper hit , Stephen Strange (played by Benedict Cumberbatch) becomes the Sorcerer Supreme, and in typical Marvel fashion, is tasked with saving the world. Although the visuals alone are worthing giving this movie a shot, its manipulation of time as a superpower rather than a world-altering plot device is what sets it apart from the rest.

21. Sleeper

Although not technically time travel (long stretches of cryo-sleep instead), Sleeper is Woody Allen’s sci-fi comedy that’s absurd, hilarious, and strangely poignant. Miles Monroe is a jazz musician and health-food-store owner who wakes up in the 22nd century after a botched gall bladder operation. The world is, as you’d expect, quite different, and Monroe is a hilarious character to explore it with.

Tenet is an “A for effort” addition to this list. The film has all the trappings of a Christopher Nolan flick—stunning cinematography, a star-studded cast, head-scratching plot points, etc., etc. And Tenet does take time travel movies one step further with the introduction of time inversion, the idea that objects and people can travel into the past at the same temporal pace that they can travel into the future. Although a fascinating concept, it’s also a confusing one, which is why Nolan spends much of the film’s 150-minute runtime explaining what’s going on. Tenet is a fascinating time travel story though ultimately one a bit lost in its own exposition.

19. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time

This 2006 award-winning anime is a coming-of-age time travel story that even rivals Back to the Future . After schoolgirl Mokoto Konno discovers a time travel device that gives her the power to leap through time, she uses her new gifts for mundane high school stuff, passing tests, avoiding awkward conversations, and to address her chronic lateness.

When she learns what her time traveling does to others around her, and as the seriousness of her time jumping becomes more apparent, the film blossoms into an important story about loss and friendship.

Crime noir meets science fiction in Rian Johnson’s Looper , and the match is magical. In a future where time travel is invented and immediately made illegal, crime syndicates use the technology for time-hopping assassinations. But to tie off some temporal inconsistencies, the assassin must eventually become the target—and that’s where things get interesting. This isn’t flawless sci-fi, but it’s certainly inventive.

17. Run Lola Run

On its surface, the German film Run Lola Run is about a blazingly red-headed woman running through the streets of Berlin in an attempt to save her boyfriend’s life. However, the twist is that once Lola reaches a dead-end (sometimes literally) in one of her runs, the film starts over from the beginning and Lola runs through Berlin once again, only this time small changes in her path create largely divergent outcomes by the film’s end. Although time is more of a thematic device than a strictly plot-driven one in Run Lola Run, its ruminations on time and the exploration of the Butterfly Effect , the idea that small incidents can have lasting repercussions, makes Run Lola Run one of the most unique films on this list.

16. Avengers: Endgame

What happens when the big purple monster man annihilates half the population? Time travel, baby. Tony Stark and gang concoct a convoluted plan that’ll save the universe from being cleaved in two, including some very inventive scenes that play with time travel. Like most time travel plots, Endgame creates more questions than it answers, but it’s best to just sit back and enjoy.

Darren lives in Portland, has a cat, and writes/edits about sci-fi and how our world works. You can find his previous stuff at Gizmodo and Paste if you look hard enough. 

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• 11 Time-Travel Movies to Watch After Netflix’s <i>The Adam Project</i>

11 Time-Travel Movies to Watch After Netflix’s The Adam Project

I n Netflix’s The Adam Project , Ryan Reynolds plays Adam Reed, a fighter pilot from 2050 who heads back in time to stop the development of time travel. His mission only gets harder after he crash-lands in his childhood backyard in the year 2022 and is forced to team up with his video game-loving 12-year-old self (portrayed by Walker Scobell).

This isn’t Back to the Future : There are no DeLoreans or high-flux capacitors in sight. (Though Mark Ruffalo , as Adam’s inventor dad, does make for a worthy Doc Brown surrogate.) Instead, Adam hops into a wormhole and traverses the space-time continuum to let his preteen self know that the ability to time-hop is a privilege, not a right. It’s a rather heady concept for a family film, but most time-travel movies are about more than just joyriding through history. Whether it’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing a time-jumping hitman in Looper or Jennifer Garner aging 17 years with help from magic fairy dust in 13 Going on 30 , movies featuring transtemporal travel often show why we should err on the side of caution when spanning time and space.

If you’re craving more time travel, here’s a list of 11 movies to watch after The Adam Project . A couple quick notes: Since Back to the Future is undeniably the greatest time-travel movie of all time , it’s omitted from this list to make room for lesser-known choices. The prototypical time-loop film Groundhog’s Day was also passed over in lieu of a more recent selection.

You won’t need a science degree to enjoy any of the movies included here. But you might walk away from your viewing experience feeling as if the future is coming sooner than you think.

13 Going on 30 (2004)

Jennifer Garner gives Tom Hanks a run for his money in this Big -esque coming-of-age dramedy about a girl who wakes up from her traumatic 13th birthday party to find she’s 30, flirty, and thriving. She quickly learns growing up is hard to do, especially when you do it overnight.

Rent it on Amazon Prime Video

Donnie Darko (2001)

After Jake Gyllenhaal ’s titular sad boy narrowly survives a freak accident, he’s left with disturbing visions of a 6-foot-tall rabbit named Frank, who tells him the world is going to end in 28 days. If you don’t totally understand this time-bending film, don’t worry: its stars don’t either . Donnie Darko ’s perplexing final moments are part of its charm.

Watch it on HBO Max

Looper (2012)

Rian Johnson ’s sci-fi action thriller takes place in a not-so-distant future where mobsters punish those they don’t like by sending them back in time to be killed by a futuristic assassin known as a “looper.” When one of those hired guns (a prosthetic nose-wearing Joseph Gordon-Levitt) comes face-to-face with his older self ( Bruce Willis ), he ends up on a wild goose chase to save his future without unraveling his past.

Watch it on Netflix

About Time (2013)

When Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) learns he has the power to travel back in time, he can’t resist making a few tiny tweaks to his past. He soon discovers that even the smallest changes have big consequences in this weepy Brit rom-com directed by Love Actually helmer Richard Curtis .

Happy Death Day (2017)

In this slasher film, often described as “ Groundhog’s Day meets Scream ,” a college student, played by Jessica Rothe, must solve her own murder if she wants to live to see the next day.

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted ( Keanu Reeves ) hurtle through time and space in a cosmic phone booth, meeting historical dudes who can help them ace their high school history paper. The best part is that when you’re done with this one, you can keep the adventure going with its sequels: 1991’s Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey and 2020’s Bill & Ted Face the Music . Pretty excellent, right?

Run Lola Run (1998)

Lola (Franka Potente) —who stands out with fire engine-red hair—only has 20 minutes to secure enough money to save her boyfriend from a Berlin crime boss. This German experimental thriller isn’t your typical time-loop film, but Lola’s ability to learn from her past mistakes to save her love will make you happy that she’s running a marathon, not a sprint.

See You Yesterday (2019)

In this Spike Lee -produced film, high schooler C.J. Walker (Eden Duncan-Smith) uses a backpack time machine to save her brother from being killed by a police officer. But altering the events of the past have consequences that not even a science prodigy can anticipate.

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

This sweet sci-fi rom-com starts with a classified ad from Kenneth (Mark Duplass), a grocery-store worker looking for a partner to travel back in time with. “Safety not guaranteed,” he warns. While some write him off as crazy or paranoid, disillusioned college grad-turned-alt weekly intern Darius ( Aubrey Plaza ) might be willing to risk it all for a chance to roam the universe with him.

Arrival (2016)

Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi drama , which stars Amy Adams as a celebrated linguist trying to communicate with an intelligent alien race, plays with time in ways we won’t dare spoil here. Suffice to say that the film’s twist ending will make you rethink the entire movie.

Watch it on Hulu

Palm Springs (2020)

Nyles (Andy Samberg) and Sarah (Cristin Milioti) found love in a hopeless place: a Palm Springs wedding that they’ve been forced to relive over and over again after getting stuck in a time loop. Both darkly hilarious and sweetly nihilistic, Palm Springs is a unique rom-com for those who don’t want to admit they like rom-coms.

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The Best Time Travel Movies of the Past, Present, and Future

Please, just don't create a paradox that unravels the space-time continuum.

Every product was carefully curated by an Esquire editor. We may earn a commission from these links.

Thanks to the time travel genre, “be kind, rewind” isn’t a movie night phrase that had to go obsolete along with the death of the VCR. However, as any good time travel movie will warn you: Be careful when you rewind, too. And when you fast-forward, for that matter.

Though our modern society still hasn’t accessed the technology it takes to, say, make a DeLorean that can travel through time, filmmakers have repeatedly dreamt up do-over machines to the point of irony. One might even begin to wonder if the movies themselves are the result of some vigilante vagabond from the future trying to deliver an urgent message to viewers. (Although, if that’s the case, Back to the Future ’s warnings about not going back in time and seducing your teen-aged mother seem to fall under the “common sense” category.)

Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars in this dystopian future thriller as a time-traveling hit man, otherwise known as a “looper.” His hit becomes complicated though, when the target sent back in time to be killed by him is his older self, played by Bruce Willis. - Emma Carey

Donnie Darko

A troubled young man, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, receives word from a giant rabbit that the world is ending in 28 days. Then, his teacher gifts him a book on The Philosophy of Time Travel. The rest is up to Donnie Darko. - Emma Carey

Watch Now: Amazon iTunes

Edge of Tomorrow

Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt star in this underrated near-future time travel, alien-invasion action film. If that sounds like too much in one movie—like the full title Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow—don't let that turn you off like it did some theatergoers. This film somehow pulls off a very difficult premise, turning an alien invasion film into a sci-fi war version of Groundhog Day . - Emma Carey

Denzel Washington stars as a government agent who is assigned to travel back in time as a way of retroactively investigating a domestic bomber in New Orleans. However, when he begins developing feelings for one of the future victims, he begins interfering with the course of time itself. - Emma Carey

It's a Wonderful Life

You don’t need to fast-forward to Christmas to enjoy this heartwarming classic. In a redemption arc reminiscent of A Christmas Carol , James Stewart stars as a cynical, detached father and businessman who finds on Christmas Eve replaying his life with the consequences of his grave wish to never have been born. - Emma Carey

The late Chris Marker's 1962 masterpiece clocks in at 28 minutes and is comprised of only black-and-white still photographs — and yet it remains the most haunting time travel story ever committed to film. Told in voiceover, and with only one scene in motion (Marker could only afford to rent a movie camera for a day), it recounts the saga of a man in a future post-WWIII Paris who's sent back in time to help find a way to mend the present. A romantic relationship ensues, but in its haunting final moments, Marker's film makes plain that there's no escaping one's fate — which is, always, death. - Nick Schager

Upfront about the debt it owes La Jetée , Terry Gilliam's 1995 sci-fi gem imagines the post-apocalyptic future as a filthy subterranean hell of steam, valves, and strange-faced overlords. Gilliam's film tracks Bruce Willis's test subject as he's sent back in time to discover the cause of the viral outbreak that destroyed society. There, he falls in love with Madeleine Stowe and encounters Brad Pitt's schizo would-be culprit, all while battling the psychological and emotional confusion wrought from jumping between decades. As in Marker's film, the only constants in this topsy-turvy universe are love, death, and the inevitable failure of trying to change one's destiny. - Nick Schager

Time Bandits

Terry Gilliam's original time-travel effort was 1981's Time Bandits , a jovial children's fantasy in which a young British boy named Kevin (Craig Warnock) teams up with six time-traveling dwarfs who are using a stolen map to steal loot from various centuries. This leads to an encounter with Napoleon (a hilariously insecure Ian Holm) and a trip on the Titanic, as well as constant attempts to evade both the Supreme Being from whom they stole the map, and Evil (David Warner), who wants to acquire it for his own nefarious purposes. Told with a wicked sense of humor — and featuring various members of Gilliam's Monty Python crew — it's a rollicking adventure that, in its final moments, reveals a wickedly nasty streak. - Nick Schager

Peggy Sue Got Married

Francis Ford Coppola's underrated 1986 work finds Kathleen Turner's unhappily married Peggy Sue fainting at her high school reunion and waking to find herself back in 1960, where she proceeds to do all the things she wished she'd done the first time around. That includes telling off bitchy classmates and sleeping with the guy she originally let get away, though Coppola's film is less about righting past wrongs than about gaining much-needed perspective on the present, which here most directly relates to her faltering marriage to adulterous Charlie (Nicolas Cage). It's a sweet and sentimental story about remembering why you got to where you are, replete with a strong Turner lead performance and a weirdo turn by Cage that foreshadowed his current, wack-a-doo career phase. - Nick Schager

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure

The greatest Cali-slacker time-travel adventure of all time, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure proved that not only geniuses get to alter human history. Using a centuries-spanning telephone booth to recruit past icons (Socrates, Napoleon, Genghis Khan) for their class presentation, dim-bulb San Dimas, California, best friends Bill S. Preston, Esq. (Alex Winter) and Ted "Theodore" Logan (Keanu Reeves) air-guitar their way through time in the hopes of getting a passing grade and finding wealth and glory with their band Wyld Stallyns. Ridiculous and riotous, it's a goofy '80s time capsule bolstered by the sarcastic wit of George Carlin as the duo's exasperated future mentor/guide Rufus. - Nick Schager

A man looks out a window and sees a naked woman in his backyard; when he investigates, he's stabbed and chased by a menacing figure whose head is wrapped in pink bandages. Fleeing, he finds a scientist who sticks him in a time machine and sends him hours backwards in time, where he quickly becomes the man with the bandaged head — merely one of the many ways in which Nacho Vigalondo's ingenious low-budget Spanish thriller exploits time-loop paradoxes for suspense. Although a David Cronenberg remake was once in the works, it remains a film about duplicates that's a true original. - Nick Schager

Time After Time

What if renowned sci-fi author H.G. Wells had actually created a time machine? And more amazing still, what if one of his friends was actually Jack the Ripper, and he stole said time machine and traveled forward 90 years to the "present day" of 1979? Such is the outlandish premise of Time After Time , in which Malcolm McDowell's Wells must play amateur detective in modern-day San Francisco, where the Ripper (David Warner) has resumed his female-slashing habits. Often dragged down by too much fish-out-of-water comedy (Wells is amazed by McDonald's French fries!), it's nonetheless energized by an undercurrent of despair over mankind's inability to transcend its most brutal impulses. - Nick Schager

Groundhog Day

While in actuality a non-time-travel film, Groundhog Day remains the pinnacle of the genre's comedic entries. Forced to endlessly relive the same day over and over again, grouchy weatherman Phil (Bill Murray) reports on famed groundhog Punxsutawney Phil, avoids former acquaintance Ned (Stephen Tobolowsky), and woos his coworker Rita (Andie MacDowell) — and, once his Sonny and Cher-playing alarm clock finally begins driving him mad, tries a variety of ways to commit suicide. It's a skipping-record nightmare that eventually becomes a vehicle for self-aware epiphanies, with Murray at his absolute funniest and most heartfelt. - Nick Schager

The Terminator

Arnold Schwarzenegger's most badass role was as the malevolent killer robot sent back in time to kill the mother (Linda Hamilton) of the future leader of the human resistance movement in James Cameron's seminal actioner. Founded on a romantic-parental paradox and enlivened by Cameron's muscular direction, it remains a signature entry in the genre both for its haunting vision of a dystopian machine-versus-man future and for its central Schwarzenegger performance as an unstoppable cyborg assassin, who — despite being transformed into something more heroic in the otherwise excellent 1991 follow-up Terminator 2: Judgment Day — remains one of science-fiction's preeminent villains.

Back to the Future

Forget the sequels, which were either elaborately garish ( Part II ) or just plain groan-worthy ( Part III ) — the original Back to the Future remains not only the best of the Michael J. Fox-Robert Zemeckis franchise, but also the finest time-travel movie ever made. With the help of mad-scientist Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) and his souped-up DeLorean, Marty McFly (Fox) inadvertently winds up back in the '50s, where he has to make sure that his parents meet-cute and fall in love, lest he cease to exist. It's a time-travel saga of both sharp humor and adrenalized action, and one that finishes with both an irresistible happily-ever-after fantasy about going back to change the here and now for the better, as well as one of the greatest sequel-establishing cliffhanger moments in movie history.

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16 Excellent Movie & TV Time-Travel Devices

For that, Hollywood has turned to a quirky variety of devices and charmed objects to facilitate time travel on television and in the movies — from straightforward DIY time machines to phone booths, DeLoreans, and even a hot tub. Here are some of the coolest, weirdest, most inventive, and sometimes highly unreliable devices used to wander through time.

Don’t see your favorite time-travel gadget below? Tell us in the comments.

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Best Time Travel Movies (Find Rare Gems Here)

If you’re looking to ensure that you’ve watched all of the best time travel movies ever made, you’re in the right place. Contrary to the usual “best time travel lists” all over the internet, this one is a continually evolving one, and films keep getting added. So do drop a comment with your favourite flick if you don’t see it here. So for time travel films, this is your one-stop-shop. I know some of the classics may not be in the list yet, but it’s just a matter of time. All the titles are ranked based on the BaTTR Score ( Barry’s Time Travel Review Score ), a rating mechanism created to particularly rate movies based on time travel. Let’s go through the best time travel movies ranked in reverse order by the BaTTR Score.

If you’re looking specifically for time-loop films where a character lives the same day over and over again, check this – Every Time Loop Movie .

• – Movies Ranked 83 to 81
• – Movies Ranked 80 to 71
• – Movies Ranked 70 to 61
• – Movies Ranked 60 to 51
• – Movies Ranked 50 to 41
• – Movies Ranked 40 to 31
• – Top 30 Movies
• – Top 20 Movies
• – Top 10 Movies

Best Time Travel Movies: 83 to 81

83. terminator 5: genisys (2015).

With a brand new Sarah Connor and Terminator model, this film tried it’s best to recover the series from the wreck that Terminator 4 was. Sadly, one does not simply mess around with timelines in a way that undoes T1 and T2 and get away with it. After over a decade, it was good to see Arnold reprising his role. I suspect this film might always stay at the bottom of this evolving best time travel films list. You can find a quick discussion about the film here – Terminator Genisys Explained .

BaTTR Score: 1.20 ⏱ Terminator 5 – Why this score?

82. Before I Fall (2017)

A high-school girl begins reliving one day of her life after dying in a car accident. Going through the many time-loops, she understands the impact she can make on the people in her life.

BaTTR Score: 1.30 ⏱ Before I Fall – Why this score?

81. Terminator 6: Dark Fate (2019)

Dark Fate saw both Sarah Conor and T-101 coming back to settle an old score. The movie felt like an alternate-reality version of T2: Judgement Day. Though it was rinse-dry-repeat of the same concept, it still manages to keep you guessing. Some impressive CGI does transport you back to 1991 as you see some very familiar faces in events that never occurred before this film – I know this is cryptic, but I can’t say more without spoiling it. If you’re looking for a quick summary of the entire franchise – every Terminator movie summarized .

BaTTR Score: 1.30 ⏱ Terminator 6 – Why this score?

Best Time Travel Movies: 80 to 71

80. ritânâ / returner (2002).

Returner is a Japanese film that sees a girl travelling back in time, from a dystopian future, to try and stop an alien race from invading the planet. She arrives in the present time and forces a talented assassin to help her with her quest.

BaTTR Score: 1.35 ⏱ Returner – Why this rating?

79. See You Yesterday (2019)

See You Yesterday follows two wiz-kids who invent a time machine and go back in time by one day to save a sibling who was killed due to a mistaken police shooting. They soon realize it’s never easy to change the past without consequences.

BaTTR Score: 1.35 ⏱ See You Yesterday – Why this rating?

78. Synchronic (2019)

This film is about a synthetic drug that hits the legal market, making consumers travel through time. One man goes on a hunt for his friend’s daughter, who might be lost in time. Here’s a detailed breakdown –  Synchronic movie explained .

BaTTR Score: 1.40 ⏱ Synchronic –  Why this score?

77. Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines  (2003)

The third instalment came a decade after the superhit sequel – Judgement Day. The terminators are back from the future, and the filmmakers tried to put a new spin on the film by shifting the attention from Sarah and John Connor to another person by the name Katherine Brewster. It was good to see Arnold reprise his role after a long break. Honestly, this film even ended well, and part 4 should have taken it to the point leading up to Kyle and the very first Terminator. But clearly, an end was never intended for the Terminator Series .

BaTTR Score: 1.40 ⏱ Terminator 3 – Why this rating?

76. The Final Countdown (1980)

This 80s film sees a modern super-aircraft carrier that gets hit by an electric storm that transports the vessel to 1941- a day before the attack on Pearl Harbor. The crew are left the choice to alter history or not. The Final Countdown is an alternate-history film which delivers very well on this engaging tale.

BaTTR Score: 1.50 ⏱ Final Countdown –  Why this rating?

75. Time Bandits (1981)

Time Bandits is a fun fantasy film that sees a young boy joining a bunch of dwarfs on a journey through time as they run into epic fictional and real characters from history. It’s a pretty loaded cast and is a very entertaining movie.

BaTTR Score: 1.50 ⏱ Time Bandits –  Why this rating?

74. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2010: Live Action)

This live-action film is based on a novel by the same name. The storyline has no commonalities with the 2006 Anime other than the fact that they are both on this top time travel movies list. In fact, this film is a sequel to the 1983 flick also by the same name. The movie follows a girl who travels back in time to fulfill her seemingly dying mother’s wish.

BaTTR Score: 1.50 ⏱ The Girl Who Leapt Through Time – Why this score?

73. The Lift / El Ascensor (2021)

The Lift is a Spanish film centred on a couple arguing inside an elevator on their way out of the building. Soon as they hit the lowest floor, one of them ends up returning to the moment they entered the lift. The rest of the film takes us through the couple’s time in the elevator and their attempts to break free.

BaTTR Score: 1.55 ⏱ The Lift – Why this rating?

72. Repeaters (2010)

Three people in rehab suddenly find themselves waking up on the same day repeatedly. While one of them sees this as a blessing, the other two want to stop the phenomenon leading to a cat and mouse chase.

BaTTR Score: 1.55 ⏱ Repeaters – Why this rating?

71. Happy Death Day 2U (2019)

This is the second instalment of the film series. While the first movie was an unexpected surprise, the sequel as in most cases, doesn’t deliver as well. That said Happy Death Day 2U is a fun film with all the characters coming back to reprise their roles with a lovely little twist.

BaTTR Score: 1.55 ⏱ Happy Death Day 2 – Why this rating?

Best Time Travel Movies: 70 to 61

70. naked (2017) / naken (2000).

Naked is a funny time-loop film that sees Marlon Wayans’ character living a one hour loop endlessly, which begins with him waking up naked inside an elevator. It is a remake of the Swedish film, Naken.

BaTTR Score: 1.55 ⏱ Naked / Naken – Why this score?

69. Project Almanac (2015)

Project Almanac follows a bunch of teenagers who stumble upon a time machine in one of their home’s basement. While initially, they use the time machine carefully with many defined ethical rules, as expected, they break those rules. For all the details about this film, you can check this out –  Project Almanac Explained .

BaTTR Score: 1.65 ⏱ Project Almanac – Why this rating?

68. Men In Black 3 (2012)

In this third instalment of the film series, Agent J finds himself slipping into an alternate timeline where Agent K does not exist. J goes back in time to hunt down the alien Boris, who is responsible for the altered history. It was good to have Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones reprise their roles with the addition of Josh Brolin in the mix.

BaTTR Score: 1.65 ⏱ Men In Black 3 – Why this rating?

67. Midnight In Paris (2011)

This is a super-light romantic comedy where Owen Wilson’s character gets picked up by a bunch of people at midnight each night, taking him to the 20s. The film smartly weaves in a variety of characters from history and has a brilliant cast.

BaTTR Score: 1.75 ⏱ Midnight In Paris – Why this score?

66. Time Trap (2017)

This film is a pleasant surprise. The plot synopsis makes it appear like it’s going to be a big blunder but Time Trap manages to turn thing around. The plot is centred on a group of students looking for their professor who goes missing after entering a mysterious cave. They follow him in to realize the true nature of the cave. You can read all the details about the plot here – Time Trap Explained . 

BaTTR Score: 1.75 ⏱ Time Trap – Why this rating?

65. The Time Machine (2002)

The Time Machine is based on H.G Wells book and is the second feature film adaptation of the novel. This movie attempted to create a variation to the original story to make it more fantastical. The Time Machine is the story of a man who goes far into the future. While visually, the movie did well, it didn’t create too much of a stir amongst movie viewers. The 1960 movie is much further below in this best time travel movies list.

BaTTR Score: 1.80 ⏱ The Time Machine – Why this rating?

64. Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

A couple of magazine writers go over to investigate an ad in their magazine that requests someone interested in travelling back in time. On meeting the advertiser, it appears he might be a looney. Safety Not Guaranteed is a favourite of everyone who loves the time travel sub-genre and no time travel list is complete without it.

BaTTR Score: 1.80 ⏱ Safety Not  Guaranteed – Why this rating?

63. Mine Games (2012)

This one is an impressive looper film. A group of friends land up at an isolated cabin in the woods to celebrate their end of college. They find a mine nearby and enter it and unleash evil. It’s not a mindless slasher, so do give it a watch. For all details on the film check out – Mine Games explained .

BaTTR Score: 1.80 ⏱ Mine Games – Why this rating?

62. The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things (2021)

This one is a romantic film set inside infinite timeloops. I know you’re thinking Palm Springs (which is also there in this list of top time travel films), but The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things has an entirely different take on the subject. Here’s a detailed article – The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things explained .

BaTTR Score: 1.80 ⏱ The Map Of Tiny Perfect Things – Why this rating?

61. The Tomorrow War (2021)

In 2048, an alien species attacks Earth, and the future humans are unable to contain the battle. They travel back in time to the present, seeking help to fight in the tomorrow war. If you’d like to understand more here’s an article that goes into the timelines of The Tomorrow War .

BaTTR Score: 1.90 ⏱ The Tomorrow War – Why this score?

Best Time Travel Movies: 60 to 51

60. il mare (2000) / lake house (2006).

Lake House is a romantic film that narrates the story of two people who grow close and fall in love over a series of letters they exchange only to slowly realize that they may not be living in the same time. It’s a remake of a Korean film by the name Il Mare.

BaTTR Score: 1.95 ⏱ Il Mare / Lake House – Why this rating?

59. Time After Time (1979)

Time After Time is a hypothetical fantasy story of H.G. Wells (the Time Machine author), who creates a Time Machine, just like in the book. Soon enough, the plot takes a turn towards the pursuit of Jack The Ripper through time.

BaTTR Score: 2.00 ⏱ Time After Time – Why this rating?

58. The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009)

As the title of the movie suggests, the film revolves around a woman’s husband who has an abnormal condition where he uncontrollably travels to random points in time. Time Traveler’s Wife is not science fiction but more a romantic drama with Rachael McAdams and Eric Bana.

BaTTR Score: 2.00 ⏱ The Time Traveler’s Wife –  Why this rating?

57. The Adam Project (2022)

The Adam Project’s plot sees a man travel back in time to team up with his younger self to save the world. As corny as that sounds, that’s pretty much what the film is about. You can read all about it here –  The Adam Project explained .

BaTTR Score: 2.05 ⏱ The Adam Project – Why this rating?

56. Haunter (2013)

Haunter is a horror film that presents a story within loops of time. A girl wakes up repeatedly on the same day, the day before her birthday. As she begins finding out why, she is haunted by other spirits and a creepy old man. Here’s everything you need to know about the film –  Haunter explained .

BaTTR Score: 2.05 ⏱ Haunter – Why this rating?

55. Mega Time Squad (2018)

Mega Time Squad is a hilarious film that follows a small-time crook who picks up an ancient Chinese bracelet that allows him to travel back in time by a few minutes. Things get out of hands when he travels back too many times trying to escape death at the hands of a gangster.

BaTTR Score: 2.15 ⏱ Mega Time Squad – Why this score?

54. In The Shadow Of The Moon (2019)

In The Shadow Of The Moon is centred on a cop on the hunt for a serial killer who resurfaces mysteriously unaged every decade. He obsesses and waits for her to track her down and uncover her identity and origin. If you want to read about this film in detail, go here –  In The Shadow Of The Moon Explained  (it’s got a timeline diagram too).

BaTTR Score: 2.20 ⏱ In The Shadow Of The Moon – Why this rating?

53. About Time (2013)

About Time is a feel-good romantic-comedy film about a family whose male members can travel in time once they turn 21 years old. The lead character tries to utilize it to find love, but over the course of the film, we see him embracing life to the full and learns the true meaning of his gift. This is Rachael McAdams’ second film playing the wife of a time traveller.

BaTTR Score: 2.20 ⏱ About Time – Why this rating?

52. Boss Level (2021)

Boss Level is a timeloop film that combines insane amounts of action and comedy. The film has a great cast – Frank Grillo, Naomi Watts, Mel Gibson and Michelle Yeoh, to name a few. This one is really high on adrenaline.

BaTTR Score: 2.25 ⏱ Boss Level – Why this rating?

51. The Door Into Summer (2021)

The Door Into Summer is a Japanese adaptation of Robert A. Heinlein’s novel by the same name. The film is centred on a young robotics engineer tricked by his two partners and forced into cryosleep for 30 years. Check out the complete film details here – The Door Into Summer explained .

BaTTR Score: 2.25 ⏱ The Door Into Summer –  Why this score?

Best Time Travel Movies: 50 to 41

50. somewhere in time (1980).

Somewhere In Time is a beautiful love story starring Christopher Reeve, a play writer who obsesses on a photo of a beautiful yesteryear actress and ends up going back in time by 70 years to meet her.

BaTTR Score: 2.25 ⏱ Somewhere In Time – Why this rating?

49. 12:01 (1993)

This is a TV movie based on a book by the same name. The word is that Groundhog Day plagiarized the story. Though there was a court case, it was withdrawn. The story sees a man trapped in a timeloop repeatedly witnessing the death of a woman he has a crush on.

BaTTR Score: 2.25 ⏱ 12:01 – Why this rating?

48. Happy Death Day (2017)

This is a looper slasher film that finds a college girl reliving the day she gets killed by a mysterious masked murderer over and over again. Happy Death Day is a hilarious take on the classic time-loop film with an intriguing plot. For a loop by loop breakdown of this film, check this out – Happy Death Day Explained .

BaTTR Score: 2.25 ⏱ Happy Death Day – Why this rating?

47. Groundhog Day (1993)

Groundhog Day is among the first few films that saw massive success in the space of a person being caught in an endless time-loop. Bill Murray shines in this role, and the film’s commercial success set the pathway for many such films after, most of which are on this list of best time travel movies.

BaTTR Score: 2.25 ⏱ Groundhog Day – Why this score?

46. My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday / Boku Wa Asu, Kinō No Kimi To Dēto Suru (2016)

This is an adorable Japanese romantic film that follows the lives of two people over a month as they fall in love and begin a relationship. The catch is that both of them are experiencing the flow of time in opposite directions. This film would easily be one of the best romantic time travel movies.

BaTTR Score: 2.25 ⏱ My Tomorrow, Your Yesterday – Why this rating?

45. Time Lapse (2014)

Time Lapse is a film about three friends who discover a camera in their dead neighbour’s house that takes photographs of the next day. What initially starts off as fear slowly turns into crazy ideas for each one to fulfill their desires. Take a look at this article which takes you through the plot one picture at a time – Time Lapse Explained .

BaTTR Score: 2.25 ⏱ Time Lapse –  Why this rating?

44. Meet The Robinsons (2007)

This film is plain hilarious. A kid steals his father’s time machine to travel to the past but has it stolen. He teams up with a young scientist to help him trace a mysterious Bowler Hat Guy who has big plans for the time device.

BaTTR Score: 2.30 ⏱ Meet The Robinsons –  Why this rating?

43. X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014)

The X-Men series saw two different casts, the young and old counterparts. Days Of Future Past brought all of them together in one massive movie that saw Wolverine’s consciousness going back in time to stop the creation of sentinels that eventually hunt and kill every mutant on the planet. While the rest of the XCU had no time travel, DOFP secures its place on this best time travel movies list. Here’s a short explanation of the film and a timeline diagram – X-Men Days Of Future Past Explained .

BaTTR Score: 2.35 ⏱ X-Men DOFP –  Why this rating?

42. Palm Springs (2020)

Palm Springs is an endless time-loop film that starts off bang in the middle of one of many loops the lead character has been stuck in. Furthermore, he gets a companion who happens to get trapped too. The film delves into romance in the context of an endless time trap. Here’s everything you need to know about the movie and its dinosaurs – Palm Springs Explained .

BaTTR Score: 2.40 ⏱ Palm Springs – Why this score?

41. Synchronicity (2015)

Synchronicity is centred on a man trying to prove to his investor that his time machine works. When he realizes that he has been played and will lose his life’s work, he takes a leap of faith through time. For a detailed explanation, go here –  Synchronicity movie explained .

BaTTR Score: 2.40 ⏱ Synchronicity – Why this rating?

Best Time Travel Movies: 40 to 31

40. the jacket (2005).

The Jacket is a psychological thriller in which a war veteran is wrongfully accused of murder and committed to a mental asylum. One of the doctors employs illegal treatment methods on him that has an unexpected side effect. For the detailed analysis, check out – The Jacket explained .

BaTTR Score: 2.45 ⏱ The Jacket – Why this rating?

39. Retroactive (1997)

Retroactive is a classic 90s action-packed thriller that sports time-loops. The film follows a hostage negotiator who gets a lift from a couple. At once, you know the guy is toxic, and things are going to get crazy… and they do.

BaTTR Score: 2.45 ⏱ Retroactive – Why this rating?

38. The Call (2020)

This is an excellent Korean film that sees two women talking to each other 20 years apart. The information exchange causes cascading effects altering the future in unpredictable ways. The Call is gripping because an ally in one timeline may not remain an ally in another. The film’s plot is why it finds a solid spot in this best time travel movies list. Here’s a detailed explanation for the movie – The Call Explained .

BaTTR Score: 2.45 ⏱ The Call – Why this score?

37. Looper (2012)

Looper is a science-fiction action movie that deals with gangs in the future, sending people back to the past to have them executed. Each executor eventually retires when he kills his future self. The film follows the lead character (Gordon-Levitt) who fails to kill his older self (Bruce Willis) and the many consequences that follow. This article, with a detailed timeline diagram, will answer all the questions you have about the film – Looper Explained .

BaTTR Score: 2.45 ⏱ Looper – Why this rating?

36. Bill And Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

Honestly, we all know that Bill and Ted’s is more a comedy than a time travel flick. That said, the movie has not ignored the causal loop at any point throughout the storyline. A man from the future shows up to help two teenagers pass their history exam by providing them with a time machine. The characters are silly, funny, iconic and bodacious… all at the same time, dude. Some find them too corny, but that was by design and the film sits comfortably in the middle of this time travel list.

BaTTR Score: 2.50 ⏱ Bill And Ted – Why this rating?

35. The Terminator (1984) & 34. Terminator 2: Judgement Day (1991)

How on earth do iconic blockbusters like T1 and T2 be positioned as low as this, right? Before you judge this list, let’s just ask this question – Were the first two Terminator films primarily time travel movies or where they futuristic action films with a little bit of time travel concepts sprinkled in? Time Travel is not the primary focus of the movies. Both films take place in one time with humans and machines appearing mysteriously from the future, after that it’s full-blown action all the way. Personally, T2 is one of my all-time favourite films that gave Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton a cult status, but comparing with the others on this list, it’s barely a time travel movie. However, a list featuring the best time travel movies would be incomplete without mentioning these two films. Here is the summary of all Terminator films .

BaTTR Score: 2.50 ⏱ Terminator 1 And 2 – Why this rating?

33. ARQ (2016)

ARQ is an infinite time-loop film that has a couple waking up in their house to realize that they have a break-in. The assailants are revealed to be from a corporation from whom the lead character has stolen data. The lead soon realizes that he resets back to the point he woke up each time he dies. Over the various loops that follow, the plot unfolds, and we understand the complex nature of the time cycles. Here is a loop-wise explanation of this film – ARQ Explained .

BaTTR Score: 2.60 ⏱ ARQ – Why this score?

32. Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (2009)

Yeah, Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel is the actual name of the film. And no, it’s not a documentary. The movie is about three socially awkward dudes who go out to grab a drink at the local bar. Unfortunately, the restroom ends up being a coordinate for a time leak sending the guys unexpectedly through erratic points in time.

BaTTR Score: 2.60 ⏱ Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel – Why this rating?

31. 41 (2012)

41 is a hidden gem. It’s an independent film made on a shoestring budget. The plot follows a student who stumbles upon a motel room with a hole in the floor that takes a person back in time by 12 hours. You can watch the full film and read the explanation here – Watch 41 with a detailed analysis . 

BaTTR Score: 2.60 ⏱ 41 – Why this rating?

Best Time Travel Movies: 30 to 21

30. arrival (2016).

People who went to the halls expecting an alien invasion film were most disappointed. Arrival is a science-fiction drama which delves deep into languages and how it affects our thought processes. The story sees a linguist who tries to decode the language used by heptapods who have mysteriously appeared and positioned 12 ships over the world’s major cities. This article analyses the plot in a simplified manner – Arrival Explained .

BaTTR Score: 2.65 ⏱ Arrival – Why this rating?

29. The House At The End Of Time (2013) / House Of The Disappeared (2017)

The original is the Venezuelan film  La casa del fin de los tiempos  that released in 2017. It was beautifully remade in Korean in 2017 as  Si-gan-wi-ui jib . These are the original titles, and you can look up the films by their English titles too. The plot revolves around a woman who’s jailed for the murder of her husband and child. She returns after many years to uncover what actually happened. They’re both fantastic films, and you can read the detailed analysis here –  House Of The Disappeared explained .

BaTTR Score: 2.70 ⏱ House Of The Disappeared – Why this rating?

28. La Jetée (1962)

La Jetée is a French science fiction film that presents a convoluted story via a narration over still images. This film inspired the movie 12 Monkeys which took the concept and really did magic with the plot. La Jetée is unique and deserves to be on this list of best time travel movies even though it is a short film.

BaTTR Score: 2.75 ⏱ La Jetée – Why this score?

27. Harry Potter And The Prisoner Of Azkaban (2004)

This is the third film in the Harry Potter series and the only one to feature a little time travel. The story is based around Sirius Black who is the escaped prisoner from Azkaban on his way to the school to kill Harry. While all the other parts of this film-series are completely in the fantasy genre, part 3 played it differently mixing it up with some science fiction and hence finds its way to this best time travel movies list.

BaTTR Score: 2.75 ⏱ Harry Potter – Why this rating?

26. Maanaadu (2021)

Maanaadu is a  time-loop film  that sees a man heading for a wedding getting caught in a political terror attack. The film is predominantly a thriller with some outstanding elements of comedy in the mix.

BaTTR Score: 2.75 ⏱ Maanaadu – Why this rating?

25. A Day / Ha-roo (2017)

A Day is a Korean time-loop film that has a renowned surgeon getting trapped in a loop where he struggles to save his daughter from a repeating accident. As the story progresses, we are introduced more characters and complexity, and finally, the reason for the looping. This Asian film outdoes many of the western productions on this list of best time travel movies. You can read all the details about this film here – A Day Explained .

BaTTR Score: 2.75 ⏱ A Day – Why this rating?

24. The Time Machine (1960)

The Time Machine was the first mainstream film adaptation of the book by the same name by the amazing H.G. Wells. The story is about a scientist who narrates his experience of time travel to the future; to the year 802,701. The movie is an excellent adaptation of the book and also adds a good reason to why he lands up in a year so far into the future.

BaTTR Score: 2.75 ⏱ The Time Machine (1960) – Why this score?

23. Edge Of Tomorrow (2014)

Edge Of Tomorrow is a multiple-loop movie based on the Japanese book All You Need Is Kill . The film is centred on a soldier (Tom Cruise) fighting an alien race who resets to a day prior every time he is killed. He eventually runs into a Sergeant (Emily Blunt) who states that she too used to loop. Together they take the fight to the alien species. I must say this film is one of the coolest sci-fi flicks on this list of amazing time travel movies. This article here explains the film and its ending while comparing it to the book – Edge Of Tomorrow Explained .

BaTTR Score: 2.85 ⏱ Edge Of Tomorrow – Why this rating?

22. Frequency (2000)

Frequency sees a man fiddling around with an old radio, and thanks to the strange occurrence of an aurora borealis, he ends up connecting with his father 30 years in the past. 

BaTTR Score: 2.90 ⏱ Frequency – Why this rating?

21. Back To The Future: Part 3 (1990)

This is the third and final instalment of the trilogy by Robert Zemekis. Unlike the first two parts, the film takes place mostly in 1885 and has limited connection to the events back in good ol’ 1985. The story follows the lead characters trying to fight it out in the wild west and travelling back to the future one last time. In case you are wondering why is this iconic film scores so low on this best time travel moves list, don’t worry, this is part 3 we’re talking about.

BaTTR Score: 2.90 ⏱ Back To The Future 3 – Why this score?

Best Time Travel Movies: 20 to 11

20. blink (doctor who 2007 episode).

Blink is an exception, it’s not a film but one episode of the series Dr Who. It’s a standalone episode, and you can watch it even if you haven’t seen any part of the show, which is why it’s on this list of best time travel  movies.  It all begins with one person mysteriously disappearing from a house that has these strange statues called the Weeping Angels.

BaTTR Score: 3.00 ⏱ Blink –  Why this score?

19. Blood Punch (2015)

This is a splendid thriller which involves time-loops. Blood Punch is centred on three people who head to a lonely hunter’s villa in the woods to cook a ton of meth and get caught in perpetuity. It’s an excellent thriller garnished with just the right amount of humour. The filmmakers have really taken the effort to think the concept in the film through. The whole point about a giant time travel films list is to dig up movies like these. Here’s a detailed analysis of the plot and ending – Blood Punch Explained .

BaTTR Score: 3.00 ⏱ Blood Punch – Why this score?

18. Donnie Darko (2001)

Donnie Darko follows a troubled young boy who narrowly escapes an aircraft propeller that comes crashing on to his bed. He’s soon met by a man in a bunny suit who claims to be from the future and says the world is soon going to end. For a detailed breakdown of this film and its timeline diagram, go here –  Donnie Darko Explained . Jake Gyllenhaal is so young in this one!

BaTTR Score: 3.00 ⏱ Donnie Darko – Why this score?

17. Source Code (2011)

Source code is a multiple time-loop film where Jake Gyllenhaal’s character is trying to catch the bomber responsible for killing hundreds on a train. Before the terrorist strikes again, the government is trying to identify who he is through a cutting edge technology that allows a person to live multiple iterations of the 8 minutes leading up to the explosion on the train. If you would like to read a loopwise explanation and plot analysis, check this out – Source Code Explained .

BaTTR Score: 3.00 ⏱ Source Code – Why this score?

16. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006 Anime)

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a 2006 anime is a lovely romantic science-fiction that follows the life of a girl who suddenly gains the ability to jump back in time. While initially, she uses her newfound powers for some frivolous personal reasons, she later learns how she has affected the people around her.

BaTTR Score: 3.10 ⏱ The Girl Who Leapt Through Time – Why this score?

15. Deja Vu (2006)

Déjà Vu is a film centred on a cop who’s trying to locate a terrorist responsible for the bombing of a ferry. With the help of a sophisticated surveillance system that can reconstruct events from 4 days prior, the team follows the life of a woman who was onboard the ferry. The film combines the time travel sub-genre well with a crime thriller and keeps you on the edge of your seat.

BaTTR Score: 3.20 ⏱ Deja Vu – Why this score?

14. Avengers: Endgame (2019)

I’m pretty sure you’re thinking what a comic book movie is doing a list of the best time travel movies at a spot this high. Well, I can’t say this enough but Avengers: Endgame decided to execute a film based on time travel but had to keep in mind there were 20+ movies prior to it that couldn’t in any way be ruined. So not only did the film have to execute a great story based on time travel, it needed to preserve the prequels. Endgame follows the remaining Avengers trying to bring back all the lives that were lost through an elaborate time heist. For a simplified video of the timelines and the plot analysis, read this – Avengers: Endgame Time Travel Explained .  

BaTTR Score: 3.25 ⏱ Avengers: Endgame –  Why this score?

13. Interstellar (2014)

If you’re a Nolan fan [like me], you’re probably wondering why this film doesn’t feature in the top 5 of this top time travel films list. Well, think about it, would you really call Interstellar a time travel movie? Or is it more a grand space-travel science-fiction with elements of time travel? I’d say the latter. Interstellar is a brilliant film set in a post-apocalyptic world where humans are trying to save themselves by leaving Earth. You can read about the details of the plot and the possible plot-holes here – Interstellar Explained .

BaTTR Score: 3.25 ⏱ Interstellar – Why this score?

12. Butterfly Effect (2004)

Butterfly Effect is a concept which talks about how a small insignificant event, like the flap of a butterfly’s wings, can cascade and escalate into a giant storm as a result of causality. The film The Butterfly Effect deals specifically with this idea. The lead character experiences blackouts through his younger life and is somehow able to revisit those very moments and make a change to alter the course of reality.

BaTTR Score: 3.30 ⏱ Butterfly Effect – Why the score?

11. Mirage / Durante la tormenta (2018)

Mirage is a Spanish film which combines the sub-genres of a murder mystery and time travel most elegantly. A mysterious storm connects two people 25 years apart in time, and this leads to the unravelling of a murder. For a detailed explanation of the film and its timeline, you can check this out – Mirage Movie Explained .

BaTTR Score: 3.35 ⏱ Mirage – Why this score?

Best Time Travel Movies: Top 10

10. twelve monkeys (1995).

A lot of the mainstream time travel movies with big actors tend to focus on elements other than the timeline and eventually make a mess of the plot, but not 12 Monkeys. This Bruce Willis starrer is based on a dystopian future where a strain of a powerful mutating virus kills most of humanity. A small team of scientists figure that the only way to fight it is to send someone back in time to locate the original source and strain of the virus. You can read all about it here in good detail – 12 Monkeys Explained . This popular film also spawned a TV Series by the same name with events running parallel to the film.

BaTTR Score: 3.50 ⏱ 12 Monkeys –  Why this score?

9. The Infinite Man (2014)

Infinite Man is a hidden gem which is centred on a couple celebrating their anniversary and getting caught in a series of time jumps that takes them back by one year. Most lists talking about the awesome time travel movies tend to leave this film out. The tiny-budgeted movie has just three characters and packs quite the punch with both time complexities and humour. Here’s a detailed explanation with a timeline diagram – Infinite Man Explained .

BaTTR Score: 3.50 ⏱ The Infinite Man – Why this score?

8. Triangle (2008)

Triangle is a film based on multiple time-loops. A woman and her friends go on a sailing trip and get hit by a storm. Before they drown, they find a cruise ship passing by and get onboard and soon wish they never did. Unlike other time-loop films, Triangle’s loops have an extra dimension of complexity, and this makes it more exciting. Here’s everything you need to know about the movie – Triangle Movie Explained .

BaTTR Score: 3.50 ⏱ Triange – Why this score?

7. Tenet (2020)

Christopher Nolan is the father of Nolan-Time. Many of his films portray time in a non-linear format, either as a narrative ( Memento ) or a plot-element ( Inception ). Tenet is Nolan sitting down and thinking, “what can I do in the space of time travel which has never been done before” and delivering just that. In a nutshell, the film is about a group that is trying to protect the world from extremists of the far future, but you know that is an oversimplification. So, here’s a simplified explanation of the film with timeline diagrams – Tenet Explained .

BaTTR Score: 3.75 ⏱ Tenet – Why this score?

6. Timecrimes / Los Cronocrímenes (2007)

Timecrimes is a Spanish film that follows one man who accidentally stumbles upon a time machine and travels back in time by merely an hour. In this short time window, he makes life quite miserable for himself. It’s a hilarious flick that needs your focus and attention as the consequences of the time travel are quite messy despite the humour. Here’s is a detailed explanation of the film – Timecrimes Explained .

BaTTR Score: 3.75 ⏱ Timecrimes – Why this score?

5. Primer (2004)

Made within a shoestring budget of just $7000, Primer gives many mainstream time travel productions a run for their money. Shane Carruth wore multiple hats in this film like actor, producer, director, and music producer. Not only is the film super-complicated, but it also sports one of the most believable time travel mechanics in the sub-genre. Check out the detailed timeline-wise analysis of the film- Primer Movie Explained .

BaTTR Score: 3.80 ⏱ Primer – Why this score?

4. Predestination (2014)

Anyone who has just finished watching Predestination has the same look as that of a pigeon with massive digestion issues. Based on the short story All You Zombies by Robert A. Heinlein, Predestination presents a plot focused on packing as many impossible scenarios as a human mind can take within one film. Here’s the timeline diagram and detailed explanation – Predestination Movie Explained . This film is easily the most bizarre film on this list of the great time travel films.

BaTTR Score: 4.00 ⏱ Predestination – Why this score?

3. Back To The Future – Part 1 (1985)

This film really raised the bar for all time travel movies. Everything from the characters to the concept of a time machine in a DeLorean makes this film unique to date. The film is a giant bundle of awesomeness and has put a smile on my face each time I’ve watched it since 1985 (yeah, you have to read that in Doc’s voice). We love you Marty McFly, we love you Michael J Fox.

BaTTR Score: 4.30 ⏱ Back To The Future 1 – Why this score?

2. Back To The Future – Part 2 (1989)

Not only did the film create a fresh storyline, but it also beautifully layered itself on top of the complexities of the first part. Marty McFly and Doc Brown are forced to go back to the same date in the past (as they did in the first movie) to undo something terrible. For me, this film really took it to the next level for a sequel. Even Avengers: Endgame mentions this film because of how they revisit some of the older MCU movies. It’s iconic and soars up high in this list of the best time travel movies.

BaTTR Score: 4.50 ⏱ Back To The Future 2 – Why this score?

1. Kimi No Na Wa / Your Name (2016)

Okay, if you haven’t already watched this film, stop reading now. Knowing even the slightest details about this film can potentially spoil it for you. Please return once you’ve watched this phenomenal film.

Kimi No Na Wa is a Japanese anime directed by Makoto Shinkai. It has one of the most captivating visuals and characters. This film takes creativity in the sub-genre of time travel to the next level. It all begins with some mysterious yet harmless body-switching between two people but a while into the film, it all becomes crazy. If you’re looking for the full explanation with a timeline diagram, go here – Your Name Explained .

BaTTR Score: 4.75 ⏱ Your Name – Why this score?

Barry is a technologist who helps start-ups build successful products. His love for movies and production has led him to write his well-received film explanation and analysis articles to help everyone appreciate the films better. He’s regularly available for a chat conversation on his website and consults on storyboarding from time to time. Click to browse all his film articles

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10 best time travel movies of all time, ranked

Time travel movies may all share a core premise, but there’s a surprising variety of films that explore different ideas within the genre. Characters being transported through time can be caught in action-packed adventures, romantic entanglements, and even philosophical loops that can change the trajectories of their lives.

10. About Time (2013)

9. idiocracy (2006), 8. looper (2012), 7. your name (2016), 6. edge of tomorrow (2014).

• 5. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

4. 12 Monkeys (1995)

3. terminator 2: judgment day (1991), 2. groundhog day (1993), 1. back to the future (1985).

From the underrated sci-fi romance flick About Time , to the beloved ’80s classic Back to the Future , the best time travel movies explore the countless possibilities that arise when characters are flung through the past, present, and future. The greatest entries in the genre range from silly mindless comedies to hard-hitting emotional movies, ensuring that there’s a perfect time travel film for every type of viewer.

About Time follows Tim Lake (Domhnall Gleeson), who, on his 21st birthday, learns a family secret from his father, James Lake ( Love Actually ‘s Bill Nighy). The men in the Lake family inherit the ability to time travel, which Tim immediately uses to improve his life in tiny, but crucial ways, particularly his romantic involvement with Mary (Rachel McAdams). He soon learns that time travel doesn’t make him immune to heartache and troubles, though.

Director Richard Curtis’ romantic sci-fi drama weaves a beautiful and surprisingly tearjerking tale that underscores the importance of the small details that make life worth living. The time travel element is used to highlight Tim’s evolving relationships with his partner, friends, and family, as well as what those connections teach him. About Time reminds viewers to embrace the fleeting and imperfect moments that often end up becoming the most cherished memories.

Director Mike Judge’s comedic sci-fi satire revolves around an average Joe serving as a U.S. Army librarian, who’s selected to participate in a top secret military experiment that goes wrong. Chosen for being the “most average individual” in the military, Joe Bauers (Luke Wilson) is put in hibernation alongside a woman, Rita (Maya Rudolph). They’re forgotten about and eventually wake up in the year 2505, where the intellectual bar has plummeted, making Joe the smartest person on earth.

Idiocracy is a hilarious, yet unsettling satire that shows the extreme consequences of consumerism and capitalism. The future it portrays is dominated by ads and low-brow pop culture consumed by an anti-intellectual population. Joe’s basic suggestions like not watering crops with a popular sports drink end up transforming the nation, making his unintentional trip through time a positive one. Although this film wasn’t received well when it first premiered, the box office bomb has become a cult classic with a dedicated fan base today.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars as a hired gun in director Rian Johnson’s Looper , which is set in a future world where time travel technology exists. Only the wealthy criminal organizations from the future have access to it, though, and they use it to eliminate their targets by sending them to the past, where “loopers” like Joe kill them. When Joe’s boss “closes the loop” by sending the protagonist’s future self (played by Bruce Willis) back in time, his present version can’t bring himself to shoot him.

Although its logic is shaky at times, Looper mostly achieves what it set out to do, which is be an engrossing action-thriller that also touches on the cyclical nature of time. The film is bolstered by fantastic performances and the obvious chemistry between its leads, Gordon-Levitt and Willis, who masterfully play the roles of two different versions of the same man.

In director Makoto Shinkai’s visually stunning anime Your Name , two high school students form a mysterious cosmic connection despite having never met. Mitsuha Miyamizu (Mone Kamishiraishi) and Taki Tachibana (Ryunosuke Kamiki) wake up one day to find themselves in each other’s rooms, with the sudden body swap initially leading to chaos and then unexpected joyful moments in their lives. They eventually learn the true reason for their unique situation.

A gorgeous and moving combination of fantasy and romance, Your Name chronicles the unlikely relationship that forms between the two main characters as they fall in love with each other with every new day of body swapping. It would be impossible to discuss the movie’s time-bending twist without spoiling its well-written plot, but audiences who are fans of anime films should definitely consider the modern classic essential viewing.

Edge of Tomorrow sees a future version of Earth that’s overrun by seemingly invincible aliens. Tom Cruise stars as Major William Cage, an inexperienced soldier who’s assigned to a suicide mission that almost immediately kills him. Instead of actually dying, Cage ends up in a time loop where he uses what he learns about the aliens to plot against them, even if that means dying over and over again.

Alongside Emily Blunt, who plays the role of the equally determined Sergeant Rita Vrataski, Cage embarks on a relentless quest to find the aliens’ weakness. It becomes impossible not to root for the determined Cage, who endures one brutal death after another alongside his team of brave soldiers, especially as the action sequences and accompanying special effects escalate and build toward an explosive conclusion.

5. Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

Before Keanu Reeves was an action star , he starred in the movie Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure , a wacky time travel comedy and adventure flick. The film follows the two titular high school friends, Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Reeves), whose desperation to pass their history class leads to their encounter with a time traveler, Rufus (George Carlin). The duo uses Rufus’s time machine to travel to different points in history and meet significant figures who can help them with their crucial presentation for the class.

Director Stephen Herek’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure is silly in the best way, with the film never taking itself too seriously and piling on one absurd plot point after another. Its protagonists’ meetings with historical figures like Napoleon Bonaparte, Billy the Kid, and even Joan of Arc are often gut-busting, as Bill and Ted end up involved in those individuals’ most important actions.

Director Terry Gilliam’s 12 Monkeys portrays a postapocalyptic future where a plague has wiped out most of the population. The surviving humans are confined in bunkers and scientists decide to send the criminal James Cole (Bruce Willis) back to the 1990s to learn more about how the disease started. After an excruciating trip, James lands in a mental health facility for claiming to be from the future. There, he meets the paranoid Jeffrey (Brad Pitt), who’s about to play an important role in releasing the virus.

12 Monkeys is a gritty and chaotic film in the best way possible, with James and Jeffrey’s frenetic interactions effectively building dread as they slowly reveal more about humanity’s fate. Bruce Willis gives an amazing performance as the confused, tortured, and terrified protagonist, whose limited perspective defines what audiences know and don’t know about the origin of the man-made virus.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day is often used as an example of a sequel that’s better than the original , and for good reason. The stakes are higher than ever before in director James Cameron’s legendary sci-fi action classic, which has the original Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) returning from the future, this time to protect Sarah Connor (Linda Hamilton), as well as her son, John (Edward Furlong). The trio are pursued by another Skynet Terminator, whose task to kill the future leader of the human resistance endangers humanity’s fate.

The incredible sequel is considered not just the best from the franchise, but one of the greatest sci-fi and action movies ever made. Its groundbreaking use of special effects has helped it age well, not to mention its flawlessly choreographed action sequences and endlessly quotable lines like “Come with me if you want to live!” and “Hasta la vista, baby.”

Director Harold Ramis’s Groundhog Day is the quintessential time loop movie that everyone should see at least once. The comedy-fantasy film stars Bill Murray as the cynical and self-centered weatherman Phil Connors, who’s assigned to cover the Groundhog Day events in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania. While there, Phil finds himself suddenly and inexplicably trapped in a time loop, forced to relive the same day over and over again.

Groundhog Day may be a comedy, but it won over audiences with its philosophical message, which reveals itself as Phil goes through various emotions in the process of repeating the same day. The ordinary is transformed into the extraordinary as the protagonist finally stops to notice the small things that make life beautiful. Murray is perfectly cast as the weatherman whose predicament soon teaches him more than a few valuable lessons, and his excellent performance also proved that the comedy star could take on more serious roles, too.

One of the best sci-fi movies of the ’80s , Back to the Future is a nostalgic classic that needs no introduction. Director Robert Zemeckis’ enduring time travel adventure is centered on California teen Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), who accidentally ends up in 1955 after testing out Doc Brown’s (Christopher Lloyd) time-traveling DeLorean. While there, he runs into young versions of his parents and mistakenly prevents them from falling for each other, which threatens Marty’s existence.

The influential flick is likely the first film many think of when considering the greatest time travel movies ever. It’s just an entertaining film with a well-executed story that relies heavily on the performances and chemistry of Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd, whose characters would become pop culture icons. The original Back to the Future would also go on to spawn a successful franchise that continues Marty and Doc Brown’s story in exciting ways.

Editors' Recommendations

• 10 best PG-rated movies streaming right now

What movies have arrived on Hulu this month? All five Die Hard movies, including Die Hard With a Vengeance, are now streaming on Hulu. Other noteworthy movies arriving in May include Where the Crawdads Sing, 13 Going on 30, Big Daddy, and a new Hulu original, Prom Dates.

Hulu's library is always expanding by the month, which could be daunting if you're unsure what to watch. Besides the homepage titles, you can find several under-the-radar movies worth your time. Watch these three underrated movies on Hulu, including the first film in the Planet of the Apes reboot trilogy, a delightful dramedy from a two-time Oscar winner, and an ominous thriller. Rise of the Planet of the Apes (2011)

There are always action movies on Amazon Prime Video, just not necessarily the ones you've been looking for. Because of films coming and going, the action lineup can be a little erratic on Prime Video, especially when even flicks like the latest James Bond movie, No To Time Die, don't stick around for long.

One new addition that won't be going anywhere else is Prime Video's remake of Road House. Action lovers will also enjoy Payback, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and The Covenant. Those are just a few of the titles on our list of the best action movies on Amazon Prime Video right now. To find the rest, just keep scrolling down.

With Borussia Dortmund carrying a slim 1-0 aggregate lead over Paris Saint-Germain in their Champions League semifinal, the action heads to Parc de Princes for the decisive second leg today. Niclas Füllkrug gave the the German outfit the important advantage last week, but when these teams met in Paris during the group stage, it was PSG rolling to the 2-0 victory. As such, we seemed destined for a thrilling conclusion to this showdown.

The match is about to start, at 3:00 p.m. ET, so sign up for one of the streaming options below quickly. If you live in the United States, the only way to watch the match in English is through Paramount+, but we've compiled several different ways you can watch a free live stream of Dortmund vs PSG--and tomorrow's Real Madrid vs Bayern match. Is There a Free Dortmund vs PSG Live Stream?

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Time Traveling in Movies: A Very Complicated Plot Device Explained

If you've ever wanted to make a film about time travel, you might want to brush up on how different filmmakers have made sense of it in their work..

Time travel movies are—awesome—we know this—but what makes them so interesting has less to do with the awesomeness of time travel as a narrative concept and more to do with the awesomeness of time travel as a plot device . (Did I mention that time travel is awesome and also has loads of awesomeness?)

There are so many films about time travel, from the silly ( Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure ) to the dramatic ( Looper ), and each one deals with the concept in different ways and for different purposes. In this video, Henry Reich of MinutePhysics , my second favorite science channel on YouTube, analyzes time travel in film and literature to determine how it functions in the hands of different writers and filmmakers. On its own, it's an incredibly fascinating video, but if you look at it through the lens of storytelling, you can learn how adding a wrinkle in time can not only open up new narrative passageways for your time traveling characters but for your audience as well.

Time travel is a complex concept, and I failed almost every science class I ever took, so I won't bore you with my so-bad-it's-sad explanations of it. But it's remarkable to see how different screenwriters and filmmakers have used time travel as a plot device. It immediately complicates the progression of the story by requiring the audience to be engaged enough to recall and track each jump through time and space, as well as understand and accept the unique physical rules set in place by the filmmaker. Are we dealing with wormholes, time dilation, or just a bunch of hocus-pocus? Does the time-traveling character affect the past? Does he have free will? 

Perhaps one of the most brilliantly complicated examples of time travel in film is 2004 indie sci-fi film  Primer.  Written and directed by Shane Carruth, the film has a complex, experimental plot structure that, as you can see from Reich's illustration above, is challenging for even the savviest movie-goer to follow. In an interview , Carruth, who studied mathematics in college, explained what inspired the principles of time travel in his film:

Richard Feynman has some interesting ideas about time. When you look at Feynman diagrams [which map the interaction of elementary particles], there's really no difference between watching an interaction happen forward and backward in time.

And just in case you want your head to explode, here's a video that illustrates  Primer's  timeline.

What is your favorite time travel movie? Are movies like  Memento  and  Inception  time travel movies? Kind of? Let us know down in the comments below.

Source: MinutePhysics

• Plot Device Definition and Examples ›

Perfectly Recreate Nicole Kidman’s Viral AMC Ad With This Breakdown

A look into how director of photography indeana underhill and her team were able to precisely recreate nicole kidman’s amc ad for her afi lifetime achievement award..

For those who’ve been lucky enough to watch a movie at an AMC theater in the past year, you’ve most likely gotten a chance to experience Nicole Kidman’s heartfelt “ We Make Movies Better ” short which serves both as a cinema intro as well as a television spot advertising why movies are magical.

The ad, which features Kidman braving through a rainy, puddly parking lot to watch a movie alone in an AMC theater found viral life of its own on Twitter and with fans online who found a mix of humor and inspiration from the short.

And, to honor Kidman with her AFI Lifetime Achievement Award, director of photography Indeana Underhill was recruited to recreate the viral ad and has shared a very cool side-by-side breakdown as well as some interesting behind-the-scenes peeks into her process.

Recreating Nicole Kidman’s AMC Ad

As you can see in the side-by-side breakdown below, Underhill and her team were able to recreate the exact lensing, framing, movement, and lighting in a green screen world for the video with only a few hours of production time.

In particular, Underhill shares that the original ad (which was shot by Jeff Cronenworth) used Leitz Summilux-C lenses, which Underhill and her team were also able to use thanks to Keslow Camera as well as made use of new light modifiers like the DoP Choice AIRGLOW to recreate the softer sources in a smaller studio environment.

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Exploring Cinematography for Actors

If you followed No Film School’s coverage of NAB this year , you might recognize Underhill as one of our video hosts as she and Haeleigh Royall brought us full coverage from the conference floor in Vegas. Underhill and Royall are founders of Cinematography for Actors and are focused on teaching the technical side of performance.

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Man claims to have caught 'time traveler' using his shed in wild video, alleged 'time traveler' fl man sneaks into shed comes out way older day later.

One guy claims to have captured a real-life Marty McFly on camera at his Florida Airbnb -- posting a video that certainly seems to suggest time travel is real ... if you buy this, that is.

A dude named Alec Schaal posted a series of videos this week that has the internet equally mesmerized and stumped -- because it shows what appears to be a dude sneaking onto his property, going into a shed ... and coming out a day later looking way different.

By that, we mean the man purported to be a "time traveler" emerges several years older.

Take a look and you'll see what we mean. Alec says he's got a home in Florida that he rents out as an Airbnb -- and there's a security camera system that alerts him to activity when he's not there. He got pinged to some movement, and says he saw something incredible.

Check it out ... the video appears to show a random young dude wandering onto Alec's property off the street and he moseys around aimlessly before popping into a shed, seemingly for no reason. Alec calls the cops, who come to check it out -- but can't find the guy in there ... even though you never actually see him leave the space. A day later, a big update.

Alec posted footage that seems to show a totally different person exiting the shed out of nowhere -- only this man is elderly ... although, he looks awfully familiar, at least to Alec.

Long story short ... Alec thinks he's got a time traveler on his hands -- and he insists there's no trickery or pranks afoot on his end. Some believe it, others are a bit more incredulous.

Alec says there are no tunnels in his shed, and he's going to the house soon to inspect what could possibly explain this. On its face, however ... you could call it 'Back to the Future,'-ish.

For more viral news check out TMZ Verified , available on all podcast platforms.

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14 'Time Travelers' Caught On Camera

Posted: May 9, 2024 | Last updated: May 9, 2024

As every science fiction series touches on at some point, time travel is a tricky business. But what if it wasn't science fiction? These 14 photos might indicate that time travel isn't just real, but the travelers are in our midst . 

If you go to any kind of public sporting event now, you're sure to see a cellphone videotaping the affair. Before the age of camera phones, thousands of flashbulbs illuminated ever World Series pitch and every Super Bowl kickoff in the golden age of amateur sports photography. But what about the 90s? One photo of a Mike Tyson fight from 1995 appears to show a fan in the background with their cell phone out, and flashlight on. Only, as I'm sure you remember, camera cellphones didn't exist back then. Was the fan a time traveler, or is this some weird optical illusion?

I'll let you be the judge of that, and these 13 other photos that show alleged evidence of time travelers. 

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Sam Rockwell, Haley Lu Richardson, Michael Peña, Zazie Beetz, and Juno Temple will star in the film.

The Big Picture

• Gore Verbinski returns to directing after eight years with a new movie starring Sam Rockwell and Haley Lu Richardson.
• The time-travel adventure film features Rockwell as a man from the future recruiting a group to save the world.
• Verbinski's past successes include Pirates of the Caribbean, but recent films like The Lone Ranger disappointed at the box office.

Eight years after his last feature, Gore Verbinski is coming back to the director's chair. His new movie, Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die , will star Sam Rockwell , Haley Lu Richardson , Michael Peña , Zazie Beetz , and Juno Temple . Deadline reports that the time-travel adventure has begun production in South Africa.

The film will star Rockwell ( Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri ) as a man from the future who comes back in time to present-day Los Angeles. There, he visits a diner and recruits a seemingly-unconnected group of patrons ( The White Lotus ' Richardson, Ant-Man 's Peña, Joker 's Beetz, and Fargo 's Temple) to join him on a one-night adventure to save the world. The script is from Matthew Robinson , of The Invention of Lying , Monster Trucks , and Love and Monsters . It will be Verbinski's first feature since the 2016 horror film A Cure for Wellness , which grossed a disappointing $26 million USD on a $40 million budget.

Who is Gore Verbinski?

A director of music videos and commercials (the most famous of the latter being the debut of the Budweiser Frogs), Verbinski made his feature film debut in 1997 with the Nathan Lane slapstick comedy Mouse Hunt . He followed that up with the modestly received Brad Pitt / Julia Roberts vehicle The Mexican , but then followed that up with The Ring , which grossed almost $250 million and kicked off a spate of American j-horror remakes. Off the success of The Ring , Verbinski was brought in to helm Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and its two increasingly-weird sequels , which collectively pillaged the global box office of over $2 billion. He also directed the animated film Rango , starring Pirates lead Johnny Depp . However, Verbinski's commercial touch seemed to falter afterward, as the much-hyped The Lone Ranger proved to be one of the most costly flops of all time, and A Cure for Wellness faltered as well. Verbinski has subsequently been attached to a number of projects that did not come to fruition, including the Sebastian Stan thriller Beat the Reaper , an adaptation of George R.R. Martin 's sci-fi novelette Sandkings , a movie version of the popular video game series BioShock , and Channing Tatum 's X-Men movie Gambit .

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don’t Die will be produced by Robert Kulzer , Erwin Stoff , and Oly Obst . Oliver Berben of Constantin Film, Michael Rothstein and Samuel Hall of north.five.six, George Parra , and Robinson will executive produce.

Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die is now in production; no release date has yet been set . Stay tuned to Collider for future updates.

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The 20 Best Time Travel K-Dramas, Ranked

Lee do-hyun & go min-si’s sweet home roles are a reminder to watch this historical k-drama from 2021, ju ji-hoon ponders the philosophical questions posed by disney+ k-drama blood free.

• Kim Go-eun's versatility shines through in her diverse roles, from bubbly Eun-tak in Goblin to the sinister In-joo in Little Women.
• Despite tonal inconsistencies in Monster, Kim Go-eun's portrayal of Bok-soon is both heart-warming and intense, showcasing her acting skills.
• In Yumi's Cells, Kim Go-eun's performance as Yu-mi balances humor and sincerity, making the K-drama a joy to watch with its relatable nature.

Since her on-screen debut in 2012, Kim Go-eun has continued to show her versatility as an actor through incredible and varied performances in both K-dramas and in movies. Born in South Korea in 1991, Kim Go-eun stumbled into the world of acting by chance, yet has not looked back since. Now over a decade into her career, Kim Go-eun has been involved in some of the best K-dramas and South Korean movies to date and does not show any signs of slowing down .

Kim Go-eun's commitment to her roles throughout the years has made her one of the hottest names in the South Korean entertainment industry as she continues to improve and challenge herself with every new project. From fan-favorite fantasy K-drama Goblin to the latest South Korean horror phenomenon Exhuma , Kim Go-eun's filmography is full of breathtaking performances that always seem to show a new side of the now veteran actress. Though with an impressive filmography to her name, here are just some of Kim Go-eun's best works to date that truly show Kim Go-eun's prowess as an actress.

Time travel is a common trope used in K-dramas to solve mysteries, add intrigue and propel love stories. Here are the best time travel K-dramas.

10 Monster (2014)

After stepping away from acting for some time to finish her studies, Kim Go-eun's second movie, Monster is a stark contrast from her first and proves just how versatile Kim Go-eun's acting skills really are. Monster sees Kim Go-eun toying the line between thriller and comedy as the quick-tempered Bok-soon, who will do anything for her younger sister, including killing the man who kidnapped her.

Despite tonal inconsistencies and the overuse of gore in Monster , Kim Go-eun anchors the film with her heart-warming yet violent portrayal of Bok-soon. Kim Go-eun makes Bok-soon a vibrant character by truly committing to each moment, and shows a deft mastery of both comic timing and intense emotion as the movie's leading character. Though still early in her career, Kim Go-eun's performance is an impressive shift from her debut while also showing the foundations of the acting skills she would soon build upon in the later works of her career.

Monster is currently not available on streaming services.

9 Cheese in the Trap (2016)

Following success on the big screen, Cheese in the Trap is Kim Go-eun's first K-drama, which would see her win her first Baeksang award for Best New Actress. Based on a webtoon of the same name, Cheese in the Trap follows university student Hong Seol (Kim Go-eun) and her relationship with senior Yoo Jung (Park Hae-jin), who is both wealthy and manipulative, yet has an interest in her. Kim Go-eun navigates Seol's difficult situations with ease to bring an iconic performance that helms this drama.

Cheese in the Trap is full of big characters and actors who would soon become big names in the K-drama world, such as Lee Sung-kyung and Nam Joo-hyuk, yet Kim Go-eun holds her own on screen. Hong Seol acts as a glue for the drama, and Kim Go-eun's performance of the university student is deeply relatable . However, compared to other works in her career, Cheese in the Trap showcases less of Kim Go-eun's outstanding abilities than other works do.

Cheese in the Trap is available to stream on Netflix.

8 Tune In For Love (2019)

Tune In For Love is a movie full of subtleties, and Kim Go-eun excels in expressing the smaller moments in Mi-soo's love affair with Jung Hae-in's Hyun-woo. Tune In For Love takes a slower pace than some of Kim Go-eun's other works, but this allows her to take her time and craft each of Mi-soo's emotions carefully, making each moment more impactful than the last . Her on-screen chemistry with co-star Jung Hae-in also flourishes in Tune In For Love , allowing the natural rise and fall of Mi-soo and Hyun-woo's relationship to soar.

Mi-soo's character progression in Tune In For Love is a further testament to Kim Go-eun's abilities as an actor, as Hyun-woo and Mi-soo continually cross paths throughout their lifetimes. The youthful energy Mi-soo once possessed slowly disappears as she yearns for more from life, with Kim Go-eun expressing the changes in Mi-soo's personality perfectly. Unlike some of Kim Go-eun's other works, there aren’t many significant events that occur in Tune In For Love . However, Kim Go-eun expresses the subtle progression of Mi-soo's life with ease .

Tune in For Love is available to stream on Netflix

Those looking for more of Lee Do-hyun and Go Min-si before Sweet Home season 3 premiers on Netflix have this period K-drama as the perfect option.

7 Coin Locker Girl (2015)

Kim Go-eun never tackles the same role twice, and her venture into the world of violent crime in 2015 thriller Coin Locker Girl is no exception. Kim Go-eun's Il-young is thrust into the world of gangs after being abandoned in a coin locker as a baby and carries out missions for her loan shark mother as she gets older. Much like many of her other roles, Coin Locker Girl sees Kim Go-eun balances many powerful emotions at the same time to concoct a performance that is a highlight of the movie.

Alongside Kim Hye-su, who plays Il-young's adoptive mother, Kim Go-eun keeps an impeccable poise that allows her to run shoulder-to-shoulder with the leading actress. The chemistry and performances by Kim Go-eun and Kim Hye-su are the best part of Coin Locker Girl , with Kim Go-eun flawlessly echoing the veteran actor in every movement. However, an overuse of violence and a lackluster second half dulls the otherwise outstanding performances in Coin Locker Girl , making it less of a standout hit than Kim Go-eun's other works .

Coin Locker Girl is currently not available on streaming services.

6 Eungyo (2011)

Han eun-gyo.

Kim Go-eun's debut performance in Jung Ji-woo's Eungyo (also known as A Muse ) saw her beat out 300 hundred actresses for the titular role of 17-year-old student Han Eun-gyo. Based on Park Bum-shin's novel of the same name, Eungyo follows the story of 70-year-old poet Lee Jeok-yo (Jung Hae-il) and the relationship he builds with the innocent yet spontaneous Eun-gyo, who becomes a muse for his latest novel before it is stolen by his assistant Seo Ji-woo (Kim Mu-yeol).

Despite a controversial premise that can be hard to watch, Kim Go-eun makes Eun-gyo bounce off the screen in a performance that depicts the carefree nature of youth, whilst delving into darker undertones that force Eun-gyo to mature and gain her own self-worth. To date, Kim Go-eun's performance in Eungyo remains her most awarded role with 8 awards and 3 nominations, with her even winning Best New Actress at the coveted Blue Dragon Awards in 2012.

Eun-gyo is currently not available on any streaming services.

5 The King: Eternal Monarch (2020)

Jeong tae-eul/luna.

2020 saw Kim Go-eun return to the small screen alongside K-drama veteran Lee Min-ho for one of the year's most highly anticipated K-dramas , The King: Eternal Monarch , written by Goblin and Descendants of the Sun writer, Kim Eun-sook. In The King: Eternal Monarch , Kim Go-eun plays a high-ranking police officer named Jeong Tae-eul and becomes embroiled with Lee Gon (Lee Min-ho), a King claiming to be from a parallel universe. Together, they navigate alternate realities.

One of the highlights of Kim Go-eun's performance in this fantasy K-drama is her ability to make Tae-eul's reactions to adverse situations seem natural. Multiple times throughout The King: Eternal Monarch Kim Go-eun showcases her superb crying skills, which ground Tae-eul's crazy circumstances firmly in reality as every tear is incredibly believable. However, despite a strong start, The King: Eternal Monarch cannot maintain its momentum, making Tae-eul's circumstances feel too repetitive and blunting Kim Go-eun's performance from shining further.

The King: Eternal Monarch is available to stream on Netflix

Blood Free star Ju Ji-hoon discusses stepping into the role of Chae-woon, working with Han Hyo-joo, and what he took away from Netflix's Kingdom.

4 Yumi’s Cells (2021-2022)

Kim Go-eun's performance in Yumi's Cells is a fresh comparison to some of her other works, but it is still just as impactful. Kim Go-eun takes the role of the titular Kim Yu-mi and returns back into the world of dating and love, hoping that her love cell will return. Yumi's Cells is a K-drama based on a webtoon of the same name that balances humor with sincerity as Yu-mi navigates the world of love and heartbreak. As the heart of the show, Kim Go-eun excels, making Yu-mi's cells' work pay off in her every expression .

Yumi's Cells isn't a complicated premise, but Kim Go-eun's performance is fraught with detail. Yumi's shy nature yet yearning for a life of love is deeply relatable and makes her forays into the world of love even more entertaining. Though Yumi's Cells mixes both live action and animation, the melodramatics of Yu-mi's cells' are never present in Kim Go-eun's performance, keeping the K-drama firmly rooted in reality and making it such a joy to watch.

Yumi's Cells is available to stream on Rakuten Viki.

3 Exhuma (2024)

Lee hwa-rim.

Once again, Kim Go-eun's character-driven performances have found her in the spotlight, as her performance as the shaman Lee Hwa-rim in South Korean horror Exhuma has gripped audiences globally, and become South Korea's biggest movie of the year so far. It has also seen Kim Go-eun win Best Actress at the Baeksang Arts Awards this year, with her fierce commitment to her role creating an incredible on-screen performance that echoes her years of experience in the acting world .

Kim Go-eun is at her best in Exhuma when Lee Hwa-rim is performing shamanic rituals. The first ritual in particular is an incredible highlight, as Kim Go-eun deftly dances around the screen with a commanding presence that is hard to look away from as the intensity builds to a final climax. However, although Exhuma is a great horror that allows Kim Go-eun to demonstrate a new side to her acting skills , as a movie led by narrative rather than character, Lee Hwa-rim's character feels more underexplored.

Exhuma is currently showing in selected cinemas.

2 Goblin (2016-2017)

Goblin (also known as Guardian: The Lonely and Great God ) is a K-drama classic that is not to be missed, and Kim Go-eun is a key reason why. Kim Go-eun's portrayal of the optimistic and bubbly Ji Eun-tak is infectious, making every moment she is on-screen a delight to watch, and her chemistry with her fellow co-stars Gong Yoo and Lee Dong-wook seem effortless. Kim Go-eun's comedic talents also shine throughout Goblin , as some of the most awkward moments between Eun-tak and Kim Shin (Gong Yoo) are easily the funniest thanks to Kim Go-eun's expressive performance.

Ji Eun-tak's darkest moments are just as vibrant as her brightest thanks to Kim Go-eun's detailed performances. Eun-tak's youthful energy never ceases, but peppered through tears, her unceasing optimism makes Goblin 's most emotional moments hit even harder. Kim Go-eun never shies away from any scene , and allows Ji Eun-tak's true nature to flourish under any circumstances, making Goblin such an incredible piece of work to watch.

Goblin is available to stream on Netflix.

1 Little Women (2022)

Throughout her career, Kim Go-eun has proven that she is a master at character acting, and can easily blend into any environment and excel. However, her performance in Little Women , South Korea’s twist on the Louisa May Alcott novel of the same name, showcases Kim Go-eun’s acting ability at its best and demonstrates how much her abilities have grown since her debut .

From Oh In-joo’s bumbling beginnings to her explosive downfall, Kim Go-eun’s portrayal of the oldest and most morally ambiguous Oh sister is breathtaking. One glance is all that is needed to read a multitude of emotions, and Kim Go-eun’s ability to switch between emotions feels so natural that Oh In-joo feels like an integral yet sinister part of the mystery that encapsulates Little Women . Even Oh In-joo’s smallest moments are incredibly captivating , and the build to In-joo’s biggest outbursts feels natural, solidifying Little Women as Kim Go-eun ’s best work to date.

Little Women is available to stream on Netflix.

42 Best Time Travel Movies

1. The Terminator

2. Donnie Darko

3. 12 Monkeys

4. About Time

5. La Jetée

6. Run Lola Run

7. It's a Wonderful Life

9. Safety Not Guaranteed

10. Interstellar

11. Dead Again

12. Terminator 2: Judgment Day

13. Planet of the Apes

14. My Science Project

15. X-Men: Days of Future Past

16. Doctor Who

The day of the doctor.

17. Waxwork

18. Time Bandits

19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban

20. Sound of My Voice

21. Army of Darkness

23. Back to the Future

24. Midnight in Paris

25. The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey

26. Time Lapse

27. Time After Time

28. Timecrimes

29. Brigadoon

30. Predestination

31. The Time Traveler's Wife

32. Edge of Tomorrow

33. Kate & Leopold

34. Star Trek

35. The Time Machine

36. Meet the Robinsons

37. The Lake House

38. Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

39. Triangle

40. The Last Mimzy

41. Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel

42. Source Code

More to explore, recently viewed.

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Garland Theater, with the help of Jedi Alliance, to host ‘Star Wars’ celebration on Saturday

May the fourth be with you.

The historic Garland Theater will host a special event for “Star Wars” fans Saturday, serving themed food and beverages and hosting a showing of “Rogue One,” a 2016 prequel to the original “Star Wars” movie released in 1977.

People have been celebrating an unofficial Star Wars Day on May 4 for years, said Tyler Arnold, co-owner of the Garland Theater and the Jedi Alliance, an arcade and toy museum. All the original “Star Wars” films were released in May and the phrase “May the fourth be with you” is a play on the often-quoted “May the force be with you.”

“Since ‘Star Wars’ came out in 1977 it has become a cultural phenomenon,” he said. “It keeps growing more and more with each generation.”

Arnold has been hosting May 4 events at the Jedi Alliance for years. Last year, he put it on at the Garland in an effort to help the previous owner keep the theater afloat.

“Last year it sold out,” he said.

In addition to the “Star Wars” movies being fun to watch, they also changed the movie business. The original movie was the first to have a toy line tie-in and the invention of the VCR allowed people to buy a copy to keep and rewatch as often as they wanted.

“It really changed our society,” he said. “In 1977 they thought it was going to be a flop. Instead it was hugely popular.”

Those attending the Star Wars Day event are encouraged to come in costume and participate in a costume contest. The winner will be given reserved seating in the balcony for the movie of their choice, Arnold said.

Arnold made the decision to show “Rogue One” because lead actress Felicity Jones is in Spokane filming a movie. He’s made several attempts to reach out to her to invite her to the event.

“It’s a gamble,” he said. “Maybe we can get her to come in, maybe we can’t. How awesome would it be if we can get her to show up?”

Whether the actress comes or not, “Rogue One” is a great movie, Arnold said.

“It’s the best of the new movies,” he said.

The event will include a vintage poster display, photo opportunities with “Star Wars” characters and prizes. People can also silkscreen their own T-shirt.

“I’m trying to make a whole spectacle about it,” Arnold said.

Specialty food and beverages will be available for purchase. In honor of the event, Garland Brew Werks has created “Guava the Hopp,” a pink guava Hazy IPA. The drink is described as “a juicy, tropical Hazy IPA packed with more flavor than you can smuggle onto the Millennium Falcon.”

The menu also includes Bon Bon Lightsaber Bellinis, a mix of peaches and Prosecco. For a nonalcohol option, the Garland Brew Werks also created the “Blue Bantha” raspberry soda, dubbed the official drink of the Kessel run.

Also being served is Wampa Fur (fresh cotton candy), Salacious B. Crumbs (carrot cake cookie sandwich), Nien Num Nums (chocolate chip cooking sandwich) and scruffy looking nerf herders (hot dogs with a choice of toppings, including sauerkraut, relish and deli mustards).

Arnold said he expects to keep hosting Star Wars Day events at the Garland for the foreseeable future.

“We’re going to do this every year, as long as we’re involved,” he said.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. Saturday and the film begins at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 and available online at garlandtheater.com . Arnold said he expects the 500 seats for the event to sell out and said buying tickets in advance is recommended.

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