8 great lonely space movies, definitively ranked

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Growing up, every guy wants to be an astronaut. But at some point, usually around the time we start recognising our own mortality, the appeal really wears off, and the vastness of the cosmos begins to excite less than it engenders a sense of existential terror. It can't get much lonelier than drifting among the stars, hence why loneliness and isolation have been go-to themes of space movies since time immemorial.

In space, no one can hear you scream, and that's probably because you're on your own. Released this past weekend, Project Hail Mary continues the theme of loneliness in cinematic space, with Ryan Gosling the latest megastar to be stuck alone — well, save for his cute alien pal Rocky — on a distant spaceship.

It got us thinking about some of our other favourite examples in this sci-fi subgenre of lonely space movies. There's The Martian, with Matt Damon farmer-maxxing on Mars; Brad Pitt in peak Sad Dad in Space mode in Ad Astra; plus, who could forget Gravity, aka Sandra Bullock versus space debris (in glorious 3-D)? Here, we've ranked the best.

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1. Gravity (2013)

2. The Martian (2015)

3. Ad Astra (2019(

4. Interstellar (2014)

5. Project Hail Mary (2026)

6. Spaceman (2024)

7. High Life (2018)

8. Event Horizon (1997)

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