Top Alien Encounters in the Movies
AMC Movie List

Top Alien Encounters in the Movies

Alien encounters can be good (Avatar) or bad (District 9). How would you rank these E.T. run-ins from most to least welcome?

rank title points votes your vote
1 Alien
Ridley Scott's aliens are so alarming that one of the film’s designers was held at the airport for carrying drawings of the creatures. 1047 1675
2 Close Encounters of the Third Kind
These benevolent aliens are so welcoming, an earthling (Richard Dreyfuss) decides to permanently join them aboard their mother ship. 591 1493
3 E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial
Some aliens eat humans, others eat Reese's Pieces. Steven Spielberg’s candy guzzler finds his way home, with help from Drew Barrymore. 581 1609
4 Men in Black
With Earth imperiled by aliens, top-secret wisecracking agents (Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones) come to the rescue. 521 1533
5 District 9
When a ship full of aliens gets stranded in South Africa, the government confines them to a slum. Apartheid parallels abound. 202 1506
6 War of the Worlds
As aliens stomp around Earth in giant tripods, harvesting humans for blood, Tom Cruise tries to whisk his family to safety. 183 1477
7 Signs
You barely get to glimpse the aliens in this M. Night Shyamalan thriller, but the little you see of them is chilling. 170 1498
8 Avatar
The lanky blue aliens are the good guys in James Cameron’s epic, which cost a hefty $280 million to make. 166 1594
9 Cocoon
A group of benevolent aliens creates a swimming pool with rejuvenating powers, thrilling the elderly folks who use it. 108 1344
10 Superman: The Movie
Though he’s known more as a hero than an alien, Superman is of another world. He’d win an alien beauty-contest any day, though. 81 1387