I've seen many sci-fi movies over the years that had tiny production budgets and I can completely understand why the acting, production values and script were not very good. This is not to say that there haven't been good sci-fi movies that were made on a small budget but they are relatively rare.

Having said that, I find it really absurd and sad that 70 million or more can be spent on a sci-fi movie and it STILL turns out to be a turd. Here are a few examples:


Battlefield Earth (2000) budget: 73 million
Valerian (2017) budget: 177 million
Jupiter Ascending (2015) budget: 176 million
Babylon AD (2008) budget: 70 million
Geostorm (2017) budget: 120 million
Battleship (2012) budget: 209 million
Independence Day: Resurgence (2016) budget: 165 million

Problem is, Hollywood has no idea of how to spend responsibly.

Example from an effects tech I knew a few years back..

Remember the stallone dredd movie? The uniforms for the judges? Well, the director saw these buckles on a pair of boots, that he wanted for the judges jackets.

So instead of them contacting the boot makers, going to the buckle manufacturers and getting them that way, they bought (for a 100 quid a pair) enough boots to strip the buckles for the judges uniforms.....

Going to the manufacturer would have cost them at most a pound a buckle. The boots had 4 buckles per pair.....

I see little evidence things have changed.....

The one objection that I have with that list is Valerian. The original comic books were of a sprawling, colorful popcorn universe, and I guess one could make the case that the film delivered exactly that. So this may have also something to do with what the audience's expectations may have been, given that this film actually ran against some of the established Hollowood sci-fi blockbuster tropes (which, when you happen to like it, is often called "genius" - but if it doesn't work for you it's a turd, and people wonder why Hollywood producers have become so risk-averse and movies so stereotypical... ).

You make some valid points. Really my major complaint with "Valerian" is that the two lead actors were just so horrible and dull. They cannot act.

I've only watched 2 on that list. Jupiter Ascending (what a turd that was) and Valerian (watch-able but won't make my repeat list).

Well, in my opinion, the first Independence Day was a turd, as was Avatar, but look how much money they made. I think it's hard to tell which ones will make money and which ones won't, so the studios just go with a formula that worked before, and something just doesn't click, and they lose money.

For the same reason that every Super Hero movie reboot has to explain to us how Clark got here and why Bruce is angry.

I'm still confused how Avatar made that much money. It's really nothing special. Was the novelty of 3d that compelling?

I really think that was it. Avatar came out at precisely the right time to capitalize on the height of the 3D craze.

It was ALL about the 3D visuals.


There was nothing special about the story, the characters, the script, etc.

Enough to justify Avatar 2, 3, 4! The funny thing about really good 3D is that it loses the "wow" after a few minutes because it looks natural. Then it's no big deal. Now, I think it's a turn off due to the added cost. Early on, we could reuse our glasses and save a few bucks, but now they charge you anyway and want you to hand them back to "recycle".

Avatar was the first movie to get 3D right. No film before, and most films since, failed at that. Sure, pretty much every movie is now shot in 3D, but I'm having a hard time seeing the benefit for the audience, really. But of course, if you want a major film on a big screen, you're not given much of a choice. Either you don the 3D glasses, or you don't get to see it (at least not on the big screen). I wish Hollywood would finally stop using "3D" as a justification for higher prices. Raise the prices generally already if you must, and rid us of this gimmick that rarely contributes more than a cheap thrill.

Avatar was the best 3D film so far, and by a wide margin.
Tron 2 was the sceond best - I rarely noticed that it was 3D, so at least they avoided the cheap rollercoaster shot. But then again, if it's so subtle that I'm "not seeing it", why should I pay for it, and wear silly glasses on top of my other pair of glasses?
The rest vaccillates between passable, cheap, and super-cheap. Bleargh.

You know what you will get with a James Cameron movie:
1 dimensional characters
Simplistic story
Simplistic motivations
Bleeding edge special effects
Loooooong movie - you get your money's worth.

That said, IMO Avatar remains the gold standard for 3D movies (whether you like them or not). Cameron knows how to shoot 3D, I never saw any 3D mountains or planets (anything further away than say 200m is essentially flat 2D). I will say that for him.

*edit*
Didn't see Ssnake's post other worthy mentions are Life Of Pi and Gravity IMO.

IMHO "Aliens" and both Terminator films don't suffer from those aspects in your list.

...nor does "The Abyss".

Not sure if the characters in Titanic are one-dimensional either. Not that I want to defend Titanic much.

I agree with Panzer Meyer and DM

Avatar was the best 3D film so far Special effects were a knock out. U do get a bang for your Buck otherwise nothing great in character development or story .

Aliens: ~$18,500,000 budget

Still badass, still perfect, still flawless and amazing to watch. James Cameron reached his peak with Aliens, surpassing even Terminator 2, both in effects, directing, and especially writing. Somehow, some way, he made you actually care about almost every single character in the film, including an android! And he did it with a pittance of money...

My absolute top 3 Cameron films: Aliens, Terminator 2, Terminator.

Avatar, The Abyss and Titanic were ok.


True Lies was just stupid.

It's all in the eye of the beholder. I thought Aliens, Terminator 2 and Terminator were good, the Abyss was OK, Titanic wasn't a disaster (no pun intended) and Avatar was just stupid. I thought True Lies was pretty entertaining, kind of like a Bond movie, but with more comedy.

I LOVE "True Lies".

It's not supposed to be taken seriously PM!

The Abyss was cool, but it felt like playing a grand RPG but just playing out a side mission and ignoring the main questline. Good movie, but the most interesting event was the ending. It demanded a sequel it never got. Like if LOTR had ended after Fellowship.