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Screen Rant

The best time travel movies & tv shows of 2022 (so far).

2022 is seemingly the year of time travel when it comes to movies and TV shows, but which has been the best so far?

Stories that surround time travel and time loops are a popular convention in media, and seemingly even more so in 2022, as seen with the just-released Paper Girls on Amazon Prime and also The Adam Project on Netflix .

Unlike the (un)lucky protagonists of these stories, viewers have only so many available hours in the day, and it can feel like a waste of time to sit through a story that doesn't work towards something interesting. Whether it analyses the angles in time travel mechanics or uses it as a moment for existential ideas, 2022 contains a lot of great movies and TV shows that deserve to be watched, so those looking for something specific can jump straight into what they are looking for.

Paper Girls (2022 - )

Paper Girls is Stand By Me on a time travel road trip and with the tiniest dose of Pacific Rim . Directed by Stephany Folsom and based on the comic book by Brian K. Vaughan, the Amazon Prime series follows four young girls — Erin Tieng (Riley Lai Nelet), Tiffany Quilkin (Camryn Jones), Mac Coyle (Sofia Rosinsky), and KJ Brandman (Fina Strazza) — delivering newspapers in 1988 before they are suddenly involved in a time-traveling conflict in 2019.

Related: The Best Ali Wong Movies & TV Shows According To IMDb

Time is a method in which the characters face existentialism in the meaning of their future, and rectify the damage held by past selves. In one of the best subplots early in the series, Mac meets the older version of her brother and slowly comes to terms with not only her future but the fact that she hasn't matured enough to realize the abuse she's going through. The time-twisting adventure is a vehicle for action to occur too of course, but it's those elements of Stand By Me — the relationship between four growing girls sharing their conflicts together — that are the true core of the show.

The Adam Project (2022)

Directed by Shawn Levy, it follows an Adam from 2050 (Ryan Reynolds) with his younger self (Walker Scobell) on an adventure to save the future from the disaster it already is.

The Adam Project is to time-traveling sci-fi what Real Steel is for boxing movies  -- it has some fun ideas, a decent execution, a wise-cracking child and doesn't try to wow with anything new. It's a fun action flick pretending to be sci-fi, with Reynolds doing his Deadpool act without the fourth-wall humor. There's sincerity to the bond between the two Adams and their father (Mark Ruffalo), with whom they haven't had enough time to bond, but little else. It has no concerns with doing anything more than having fun and will please anyone trying to fill 90 minutes.

Karmalink (2021)

Karmalink is a uniquely Buddhist take on the metaphysical concepts surrounding time for a spiritual spectacle directed by Jake Watchel and co-written with Christopher Larsen. The directorial debut gained its limited theatre release this year after being loved at 2021 film festivals and focuses on a 13-year-old orphan from a near-futuristic version of Phom Penh, Cambodia, searching for a golden Buddha statue.

It shows the beautiful lives of its poor citizens, as well as the divide between it and the rich population, exploring gentrification, technological alienation, neo-colonialism, and its terrible effects on a warm little community. Its story is grounded, with a touch of The Goonies , and surrounded by colorful cinematography that compliments Cambodian culture and beauty. It greatly deals with typically associated sci-fi themes, but it's the celebration of its environment and the seemingly uncontrollable forces changing it that truly makes it a great addition to its genre.

Undone: Season 2 (2019 - )

Made by the minds of BoJack Horseman, the Amazon Prime series continues its psychedelic time trip from the first season with Alma (Rosa Salazar), Becca (Angelique Cabral), and Jacob (Bob Odenkirk).

Related: The Main Characters Of Amazon's Undone Ranked By Likeability

Fan theories speculate on the legitimacy of its time travel, but regardless, the method is used to examine the damage dealt by war, racism, mental health, and inherited pain after trauma. Season two goes further than season one in examining the histories of Alma's parents and grandparents, and what eventually leads to the negative characteristics of the protagonists. It's less so a time travel mystery, as much as it is using it as a method to brilliantly dissect the problems that can occur while immigrating and the ripple effects it causes.

The Lazarus Project (2022 - )

The Sky-exclusive British action drama was directed by Marco Kreuzpaintner, Laura Scrivano, and Akaash Meeda, and stars Paapa Essiedu as George, who's awakened his ability to see time loops and is invited into an organization formed to use the loops to prevent world-ending disasters. It's nowhere close to the comedy of Groundhog Day or Palm Springs , instead looking closer into the damage it inflicts more than those films do.

It explores the ethics and emotional damage within its specific systems and grounds them in the stories of each of its cast members, posing scenarios that prompt audiences to consider which is the more moral choice. Watching characters deal with the erasing existence of a child, the stress and pain of reliving childbirth over and over and over again, or watching characters make sacrifices for the most saved lives possible — it's a level of empathy felt from the other side of the screen. It's an underrated little gem that demands the attention of any sci-fi fan.

Archive 81 (2022)

Based on a podcast by Daniel Powell and Marc Sollinger, the found-footage horror show switches perspectives between film archivist Dan Turner (Momoudou Athie) and documentarian Melody Pendras (Dina Shihabi) as they both discover the bizarre cult within the Visser building in Lower Manhattan.

Related: The Archive 81 Main Characters Ranked By Likability

Creator Rebecca Sonnenshine weaves a uniquely unsettling version of time travel. The perspectives between Dan and Melody initially seem separate from each other, but the mystery of its time travel through found footage latches onto the viewer as its steadily revealed. It's a slow binge that's more 'creepy' than outright shocking, but it's a great watch for anyone interested in a series happy to pace itself, and separates itself from other found-footage horrors by the time-distorting connection between Melody and Dan.

The Umbrella Academy: Season 3 (2019 - )

The superhero show, created by Steve Blackman and based on the comic book by Gerard Way and Gabriel Bá, gained some good faith for its great LGBTQ+ arc with Viktor Hargreeves (Elliot Page) and continues the story from its well-received second season of a dysfunctional family trying to get their lives back.

This season hardly delves into time travel compared to its previous seasons, but still uses it in a way to delve into the reparation and breaking of familial connections. Klaus (Robert Sheehan) has been great at every step of the series but is particularly strong here for using this alternate timeline as a second chance to grow closer with their father Reginald (Colm Feore). It's a story as heartbreaking as it is heartwarming, setting up for another season of reality-bending adventures to come.

Russian Doll: Season 2 (2019 - )

The humorous original season didn't seem like it was prime material for a second series, but regardless it abandons its time-looping narrative in favor of changing family history in the past. It stars the Orange Is The New Black favorite Natasha Lyonne, who co-created the show along with Leslye Headland and Amy Poehler of Parks And Recreation fame.

Just as with the first season, Lyonne can carry the entire show by herself through her great acting and character work, but it follows a great story as she dives into her family history. But unlike Undone , Lyonne's character of Nadia lives directly in the shoes of her Jewish Hungarian ancestors and faces the reality of the impossibility to change time and how she needs to live with it. It's a story of acceptance, but with the same humor, it carried its first season. And even if it won't be as charming a surprise as the original, it's still worth a watch.

NEXT: 1 0 Best Movies Of 2022 (So Far) According To Letterboxd

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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Details About Ryan Reynolds' Netflix Time Travel Movie The Adam Project Revealed

Deadpool star Ryan Reynolds is making a Netflix original, and it's all about time travel.

By Mason Downey on March 1, 2021 at 3:17PM PST

Ryan Reynolds will be starring in an upcoming Netflix original feature called The Adam Project and its all about time travel--but if you're expecting a Christopher Nolan-style puzzle box, you might be in for a surprise. Collider recently posted an interview with screenwriter Jonathan Tropper (Banshee), where he revealed new details about the movie's plot.

"To me, the time travel was just a device," Tropper said. "The movie is not a hardcore sci-fi time travel movie. It’s a movie about people. For me, it was more about the characters and the story of this boy who’s lost his father and is trying to come to terms with what that means, through a really interesting adventure. I’m never gonna write a Christopher Nolan-type movie about time travel. That wouldn’t interest me. For me, it’s more about finding that story that appeals to the little kid in all of us."

The movie centers around Reynolds, a time traveler, who returns to meet his 13-year-old self (Walker Scobell) to track down their father (Mark Ruffalo), in order to course correct the future.

Tropper has been working on The Adam Project for 8 years. He explained that he wrote the script 8 years ago and has "fought hard to keep it alive at the studio and to keep them looking for the right way to make it."

But Tropper isn't the only hand on the script. He also explained that Reynolds himself, who is a co-producer on the film along with director Shawn Levy, has spent time honing the script and his own character. "He's very sharp-witted and his wit is very specific," Trooper said. "It's not just his wit, his sense of character is very sharp. We spent a lot of time honing the script together once he came on board."

The Adam Project currently has no release date.

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Total Recall

15 must-see time travel movies, with mr. peabody & sherman hitting theaters, we run down some of the most memorable journeys across time and space..

Back to the Future

Great Scott! On one hand, Back to the Future is quintessentially 1980s — you’ve got Huey Lewis on the soundtrack, Michael J. Fox in the lead, and a DeLorean for a time machine — but on the other, it’s a charmingly old-fashioned comedy that sends its hero back in time as much to save his own father from growing up to be a schmuck as it does to laugh along with the audience at the many ways in which American pop culture changed between 1955 and 1985. The sequels had their moments, but it’s the original that still really hits the spot; as Adam Smith wrote for Empire Magazine, “To put it bluntly: if you don’t like Back to the Future , it’s difficult to believe that you like films at all.”

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure

Two teenage idiots, George Carlin, and a magic phone booth. They don’t sound like the most likely ingredients for cinematic glory, but then there’s Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure , starring Alex Winter and Keanu Reeves as our two non-intrepid heroes, a pair of high school buddies destined for greatness — but only if they can pass an upcoming history test. They get a little extra help courtesy of Rufus (Carlin), a citizen of the future utopian society inspired by the music Bill & Ted go on to record, who travels back in time to help them study by giving them some most excellent face time with historical figures like Napoleon, Socrates, Billy the Kid, and Abraham Lincoln. Not the most serious fare ever spun from the time-travel premise, but it works; as Larry Carroll wrote for Counting Down, “This is the rare kind of movie that you could watch along with your kids and actually feel like you’re teaching them something.”

Donnie Darko

Time travel, a falling jet engine, and a dude in a bunny suit: From these disparate ingredients, writer-director Richard Kelly wove the tale of Donnie Darko , a suburban teenager (played by Jake Gyllenhaal) charged with repairing a rift in the fabric of our dimension. Or something. To call Darko “open to interpretation” would be understating the case a bit — it’s been alternately confounding and delighting audiences since it was released in 2001 — but its dense, ambiguous plot found stronger purchase with critics, who cared less about what it all meant than about simply having the chance to see an American movie that took some substantial risks. Though a few reviewers were confused and/or unimpressed (Staci Lynne Wilson of Fantastica Daily called it “derivative,” and Joe Leydon dismissed it as “a discombobulating muddle” in his write-up for the San Francisco Examiner), overall critical opinion proved a harbinger of the cult status the film would eventually enjoy on the home video market; as Thomas Delapa wrote for the Boulder Weekly, “If the sum total of Donnie Darko is hard to figure, there’s no questioning that its separate scenes add up to breathtaking filmmaking.” Despite a paltry $4.1 million gross during its original limited run, Darko returned to theaters in 2004 with a director’s cut — one whose 91 percent Tomatometer actually improved upon the original’s.

Groundhog Day

Under the right circumstances, time travel sounds like quite a bit of fun. Finding yourself trapped in a time loop in Punxsutawney, PA, on the other hand, is a living nightmare — at least for Phil Connors (Bill Murray), the obnoxious newscaster at the heart of director Harold Ramis’ classic 1993 comedy Groundhog Day . But for the audience, Connors’ torment is an invitation to cinematic bliss — first courtesy of Murray’s perfectly deadpan depiction of the callous Connors, then through his progressively more unhinged reaction to the discovery that he’s doomed to repeat the same 24 hours of his life seemingly forever, and then finally in his expected (but no less sweet) moments of self-discovery in the final act. “ Groundhog Day may not be the funniest collaboration between Bill Murray and director Harold Ramis,” admitted the Los Angeles Times’ Kenneth Turan. “Yet this gentle, small-scale effort is easily the most endearing film of both men’s careers, a sweet and amusing surprise package.”

Hot Tub Time Machine

The 1980s got kind of a bum rap at the time, but that hasn’t stopped those of us who grew up during the decade from giving in to nostalgia during the 21st century, or from fetishizing the era’s best films — which is why it was such a winkingly self-referential treat to see 1980s hero John Cusack lead an ensemble cast through Hot Tub Time Machine , director Steve Pink’s ribald comedy about a group of schlubby friends given a surprise chance (via magic hot tub, natch) to revisit the best years of their lives. It’s an unabashedly goofy premise, but screenwriter Josh Heald manages to leave the whimsy with a few dashes of surprising poignancy; as Laremy Legel wrote for Film.com, “Well played, Hot Tub Time Machine , well played. You defied expectations, in a good way, and managed to evolve from ‘potentially silly concept’ to ‘fairly funny film.'”

Plenty of people would love to take the opportunity to travel back in time and see our younger selves, but Rian Johnson’s Looper takes this premise and adds a nasty twist. When a hit man (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) realizes his latest quarry is his older self (Bruce Willis) — an event known among his peers as “closing the loop” — he muffs the job, allowing him(self) to escape and setting in motion a high-stakes pursuit that puts a widening circle of people in danger. Tense, funny, and surprisingly heartfelt, Looper may suffer from some of the same scientific story flaws as other time travel movies, but it also manages to turn its by-now-familiar basic ingredients into an uncommonly affecting and thought-provoking sci-fi drama. “ Looper imagines a world just near enough to look familiar,” mused Entertainment Weekly’s Lisa Schwarzbaum, “and just futuristic enough to be chillingly askew.”

Like any genre, science fiction has its share of clichés — and anything relating to time travel probably belongs on that list. But few films have ever dealt with time travel — or the many personal and ethical questions that could arise from ownership of the technology — with the level of intelligence that Shane Carruth’s ultra low-budget Primer brought to the table. The story of two garage scientists who accidentally build a time machine, Primer eschews whiz-bang special effects for a nuts-and-bolts look at the science behind the device, and a cold, hard look at how quickly and easily a friendship can be torn asunder by unchecked power and bottomless greed. It certainly isn’t for everyone — the reams of technical dialogue prompted critics such as the BBC’s Matthew Leyland to dismiss it as “one of the most willfully obscure sci-fi movies ever made” — but if you can absorb the material, it’s uncommonly gripping. Time Out’s Jessica Winter was appreciative, saying “this film imagines its viewers to be smart, possessed of a decent attention span and game for a challenge. It doesn’t happen all that often.”

Somewhere in Time

Time travel has been used as a plot device to set up all kinds of stories, but rarely has it been employed with the sort of three-handkerchief weepie abandon brought to bear on 1980’s Somewhere in Time . Starring Christopher Reeve as a starry-eyed playwright accosted by a mysterious older woman who pleads with him to “come back to me” before pressing a locket into his hand and disappearing, Time slowly morphs into a fantastical tale about coming unmoored in time via self-hypnosis in order to be with the one you love — even if that love is inspired by a portrait of someone you don’t remember ever knowing. A divisive cult classic, Time has always been dismissed by less patient or romantically inclined viewers, but for others, it’s well worth watching. “Above all,” argued Apollo Guide’s Ryan Cracknell, “this film captures a romantic part of the imagination that is often left unexplored.”

Star Trek IV – The Voyage Home

Having explored the outer limits of space, Star Trek spent much of its fourth cinematic installment in decidedly more familiar environs — namely, the America (specifically the San Francisco bay area) of 1986, thanks to a storyline, conceived by returning director Nimoy, that had the crew of the Enterprise traveling 600 years back in time to retrieve a humpback whale in order to… Well, it isn’t important, really; what mattered — at least to the folks who helped Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home to a $133 million worldwide gross — was that it lived up to Nimoy’s goal of showing audiences “a great time” with a feature that played up the lighter side of a franchise whose humor was often overshadowed by its big ideas. Weathering a number of pre-production storms — including William Shatner’s refusal to come back without a raise and the chance to direct the next sequel — Voyage triumphantly emerged as what Roger Ebert referred to as “easily the most absurd of the Star Trek stories — and yet, oddly enough… also the best, the funniest and the most enjoyable in simple human terms.”

The Terminator

It was made with a fraction of the mega-budget gloss that enveloped its sequels, but for many, 1984’s The Terminator remains the pinnacle of the franchise — not to mention one of the most purely enjoyable movies of the last 30 years. Subsequent entries would get a little hard to follow, but the original’s premise was simple enough: A scary-looking cyborg (Schwarzenegger) travels back in time to kill a woman (Linda Hamilton) before she can give birth to the child who will grow up to lead the human resistance against an evil network of sentient machines. Tech noir at its most accessible, Terminator earned universal praise from critics such as Sean Axmaker of Turner Classic Movies, who wrote, “Gritty, clever, breathlessly paced, and dynamic despite the dark shadow of doom cast over the story, this sci-fi thriller remains one of the defining American films of the 1980s.”

Time After Time

What if H.G. Wells really built a time machine — and what if Jack the Ripper used it to flee into the future? That’s the intriguing premise behind Nicholas Meyer’s Time After Time , starring Malcolm McDowell as Wells and David Warner as the killer. After Jack travels to 1979, Wells pursues him, setting in motion a cat-and-mouse thriller, culture-clash comedy, and love story all in one, with a dash of sharp social commentary thrown in for good measure. “ Time After Time is still a fun fish-out-of-water flick that deserves more attention than it has received in the thirty years following its release,” wrote Simon Miraudo for Quickflix. “But there’s still plenty of time for that.”

Time Bandits

Terry Gilliam and time travel: A match made in cinematic heaven. Years before he proved it for a second time with the much darker 12 Monkeys , Gilliam directed a far sillier — and visually dazzling — venture into the genre with 1981’s Time Bandits , uniting a stellar cast (including Shelley Duvall, John Cleese, Katherine Helmond, Ian Holm, and Sean Connery) in service of a deceptively thought-provoking caper about an 11-year-old history buff (Craig Warnock) on a journey through time with a group of dwarves. A solid critical and commercial hit, Bandits proved a favorite for writers like Roger Ebert, who pronounced it “amazingly well-produced” and applauded, “The historic locations are jammed with character and detail. This is the only live-action movie I’ve seen that literally looks like pages out of Heavy Metal magazine.”

In a career dotted with cult classics, 1994’s Timecop manages to stand out as one of the cultiest. And okay, so it’s hard to call a movie that raked in more than $100 million worldwide a “cult” picture — but if you’ve seen the way Timecop takes a cool premise (time travel, natch) and renders it both impenetrably complicated and irrelevant to the action, you know it’s essentially the very definition of the term. (Also, it stars Ron Silver.) The plot is full of holes, but as the filmmakers knew, once you accept the notion of Jean-Claude Van Damme as an officer of the Time Enforcement Commission, you can buy into pretty much anything, and by the time you get to Timecop ‘s final act — in which past and future versions of Van Damme battle past and future versions of Silver — you’ve reached that wonderful place where the laws of logic no longer exist. The highest-grossing movie of Van Damme’s career, Timecop spun off a sequel, a short-lived television show, and even a series of books. Not bad for a movie that Roger Ebert described as “the kind of movie that is best not thought about at all, for that way madness lies.”

The Time Machine

This isn’t the only time Hollywood’s tried adapting H.G. Wells’ classic story, but it’s definitely the best. Starring Rod Taylor as the Victorian time-traveling scientist George and featuring Oscar-winning special effects from Gene Warren and Tim Baar, director George Pal’s version of The Time Machine might seem somewhat quaint by today’s standards; still, whatever it lacks in modern-day visual pizzazz, it more than makes up in the stuff that matters — right down to Wells’ vision of a distant post-human future populated by docile creatures and the monstrous Morlocks who use them for food. It’s “Somewhat dated, and not quite up to the source material,” admitted Luke Y. Thompson of New Times, “but still some good retro fun.”

Any time director Terry Gilliam manages to wrangle one of his films through the studio system, it’s a cause for celebration — and that goes double for a picture like 12 Monkeys , which almost seamlessly weds Gilliam’s signature flights of fancy with good old-fashioned commercialism to produce a knotty time travel story starring a pair of matinee idols (Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt) in an apocalyptic thriller that never stops asking questions — or forcing the audience to answer their own as they hustle to keep up with the unfolding drama. “There’s always overripe method to his madness,” observed Janet Maslin for the New York Times, “but in the new 12 Monkeys Mr. Gilliam’s methods are uncommonly wrenching and strong.”

Take a look through the rest of our Total Recall archives . And don’t forget to check out Mr. Peabody & Sherman .

Finally, here’s what happened when Peabody and Sherman met Ludwig Van Beethoven:

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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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Totally Killer Brings Time-Travel to the Slasher Horror Movie

Totally Killer will hail from a collaboration between Blumhouse and Amazon and bring the slasher movie to a new timeline to travel.

Totally Killer is an upcoming time-traveling slasher film directed by Nahnatchka Khan, who previously helmed Always Be My Maybe and Ali Wong: Don Wong . Kiernan Shipka ( Chilling Adventures of Sabrina , The Blackcoat's Daughter ), Julie Bowen ( An American Werewolf in Paris , Hubie Halloween ), and Olivia Holt ( Cruel Summer , Girl vs. Monster ) will star in the movie. Blumhouse and Amazon Studios will produce Totally Killer to continue a deal between the two studios in 2019.

"With Nahnatchka's vision and the exciting cast led by Kiernan Shipka and Olivia Holt, we are confident Totally Killer will resonate with our audience around the world. We could not be more thrilled to watch this story come to life and to continue our longstanding collaboration with the incredible team at Blumhouse," said Julie Rapaport, head of movies at Amazon Studios.

Here's a plot synopsis courtesy of Bloody Disgusting .

"The film follows Jamie (Shipka), whose mom, Pam (Bowen), is terrorized by the resurgence of the Sweet Sixteen Killer—a masked maniac that slaughtered a group of teenage girls in the '80s. With the help of her friend Amelia (Kelcey Mawema), she travels back in time to 1987 and teams up with the teen version of her mom (Holt) to try and stop the killer."

Other members of the cast include Randall Park ( Always Be My Maybe), Lochlyn Munro ( Scary Movie ), Charlie Gillespie ( I Am the Night) , Stephi Chin-Salvo ( Critters: A New Binge ), Anna Diaz ( Riverdale ), Jeremy Monn-Djasgnar ( Fire Country ), Troy Leigh-Anne Johnson ( Let's Scare Julie ), Ella Choi ( Dare Me ), Kelcey Mawema ( To All the Boys I've Loved ), Liana Liberato ( Scream VI ), Nathaniel Appiah ( American Gods ), and Jonathan Potts ( The Strain ).

RELATED: Best Movies About Time Travel

What Do We Know About Totally Killer?

"The idea of a horror-comedy time travel movie is, I'm gonna be honest, something I never thought of in my life. So when I was approached by the amazing creatives at Blumhouse and Amazon about Totally Killer, it was just so unique and exciting I had to be involved. And then add this incredible cast on top of that? Everybody get readyyyyyyy," said Khan.

Jen D'Angelo ( Hocus Pocus 2 , Workaholics ) will pen the script for Totally Killer , based on an original screenplay by David Matalon and Sasha Perl-Raver. Adam Hendricks and Greg Gilreath will produce the film on behalf of Divide/Conqueror alongside Jason Blum for Blumhouse. Chris McCumber, president of Blumhouse Television, will serve as an executive producer alongside Jeremy Gold and Brian Parker.

"We thought this genre mash-up of slasher/comedy with a twist of time travel was just so fun, and Nahnatchka Khan is perfect to direct," said McCumber.

Though a trailer for the film hasn't even been released yet, we know the movie will be R-rated. The reasons for that are "Bloody violence, language, sexual material, and teen drug/alcohol use." The usual suspects when it comes to slasher movies. Interestingly, Totally Killer won't be the only time-traveling slasher coming out in the future. Time Cut , described as " Back to the Future meets Scream ," has a similar premise.

The Best Time Travel Movies for a Brief Escape from 2023

We don't have time machines yet, so these films are the next best thing.

Every item on this page was chosen by an ELLE editor. We may earn commission on some of the items you choose to buy.

Add these titles to your watch list to awaken the time traveler within you. From Japanese animations to over-the-top comedies to dramas saturated with social commentary, these films all have one thing in common: They'll boggle your mind and make you think, while keeping you entertained. But remember, no matter how cool it looks to fly in a time-traveling spaceship, the present moment is and always will be the most important time there is.

13 Going on 30 (2004)

Before anyone tries to suggest that 13 Going on 30 isn't a time travel movie, I'd like to point out that Jenna Rink seamlessly moves between the present and the future, navigating alternate timelines with ease. In this female-led riff on the Big story, Jenna Rink wishes to escape high school and become “thirty, flirty, and thriving.” With the help of a little magic wishing dust, Jenna gets her dream, waking up in the future as a successful magazine writer who looks just like Jennifer Garner. However, she's lost touch with her childhood bestie Matty (Mark Ruffalo), and she can't help but wonder what could have been.

Tenet (2020)

Christopher Nolan's epic sci-fi flick stars Denzel Washington's son, John David Washington, as The Protagonist, a former CIA agent enlisted with stopping World War III, which is no mean feat. In order to prevent the world's total destruction, The Protagonist learns to bend time, leading to some pretty trippy storylines. Robert Pattinson and The Crown 's Elizabeth Debicki co-star.

Watch Now on Prime Video

Meet Cute (2022)

Kaley Cuoco and Pete Davidson make a delightful couple in Peacock's deliciously dark romantic comedy Meet Cute . Cuoco plays Sheila, a woman having suicidal thoughts until she discovers a time machine in the back of a nail salon. Chronically unlucky in love, Sheila decides to go back in time 24 hours so that she can re-live her first date with Gary (Davidson), trying to create the perfect evening each time. However, the ability to time travel comes with some drawbacks, and the temptation to mess with history is pretty overbearing, especially in the search for true love.

Watch Now on Peacock

About Time (2013)

Richard Curtis' About Time employs time travel in an extremely inventive way to tell a (probably sweet) love story; though there's been much discourse around the story's portrayal of consent, or lack thereof. The movie follows Tim (Domhnall Gleeson), a man looking for love, who inherits the ability to travel through time from his father. Using his newfound gift, Tim courts Mary (Rachel McAdams), attempting to build a relationship in spite of any obstacles in the way.

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplass star in this intriguing indie film about the possibility of time travel. Plaza plays an aspiring journalist who takes on a very strange assignment involving a bizarre personal ad. “You'll get paid after we get back,” it reads. “Must bring your own weapons. I have only done this once before. SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED.” What starts as an unlikely hoax soon challenges everyone's beliefs about the ability to travel through time.

Watch Now on Amazon

Happy Death Day 2U (2019)

2017's Happy Death Day delighted fans with its innovative twist on the time loop comedy. 2019's Happy Death Day 2U takes the concept to another level, and will have time travel aficionados screaming. Having escaped from her original time loop, Tree (Jessica Rothe) finds herself being hunted by the Babyface killer once more. After one of Tree's classmates develops an experimental quantum reactor, Tree finds herself caught in a brand new loop, and she's forced to find even more inventive ways to escape.

Needle in a Timestack (2021)

Needle in a Timestack is a romantic drama presenting an alternate future in which the rich are able to time travel for fun. However, these “time jaunts” have very real consequences, and often send ripples through the lives of the less wealthy. The film focuses on a happily married couple whose relationship is threatened when a wealthy ex decides to tamper with the timeline. The all-star cast includes Cynthia Erivo, Orlando Bloom, Leslie Odom Jr., and Freida Pinto.

Watch Now on Apple TV

Kate & Leopold (2001)

Kate & Leopold stars Hugh Jackman as a 19th century duke who is accidentally transported to 21st century New York by one of his ancestors. Amateur physicist Stuart discovers that he can use gravitational time portals, bringing Leopold to the present day without meaning to. Stuart's ex-girlfriend Kate (Meg Ryan) hilariously hits it off with Leopold, despite the fact that he's set to travel back to his own time period the following week.

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

Before dedicating his life to the Avatar franchise , James Cameron was responsible for a plethora of fun blockbusters, including Terminator 2: Judgment Day . Expanding upon the first film, Sarah Connor, played by Linda Hamilton, finds herself targeted by Skynet once again. This time, a killer T-1000 Terminator is sent back in time to assassinate Sarah's teenage son, John (Edward Furlong), the future leader of the resistance. Meanwhile, a reprogrammed, and much funnier, T-800 Terminator (Arnold Schwarzenegger) is sent back to protect Connor. Easily the best installment in the franchise.

Watch Now on HBO Max

Mirai (2018)

The Japanese animated film Mirai is a dreamy adventure fantasy about a four-year-old boy named Kun, who starts feeling neglected when his little sister is born. Fleeing to the garden of his new house, Kun accidentally discovers a time travel portal. Throughout his wondrous journey, Kun encounters his mother as a child, and his little sister as an adult, learning so much about his family in the process.

Watch Now on Netflix

When We First Met (2018)

Noah (Adam DeVine) regrets missing his chance with Avery (Alexandra Daddario), especially when she meets her future fiancé, Ethan, the very next day. At Avery and Ethan's engagement party, an incredibly drunk Noah ends up in a photo booth, which transports him back in time. Hoping for a second chance, Noah uses the photo booth on multiple occasions, but he ends up altering the course of everyone's lives in the process, for better and worse.

Last Night in Soho (2021)

Edgar Wright's dazzling psychological thriller follows aspiring fashion designer Ellie (Thomasin McKenzie), who manages to time travel back to the 1960s. There, she meets Sandie, a striking woman trying to get her start as a singer. Ellie's fashion designs become infused with the glamour she witnesses in the '60s, as well as the darkness she finds there. Anya Taylor-Joy and Matt Smith co-star.

The Lake House (2006)

After demonstrating some intense chemistry in Speed , Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves reunited for 2006's The Lake House , a romantic drama with a time travel twist. Architect Alex (Reeves) and doctor Kate (Bullock) find themselves living in the same house, but years apart. By some magical turn of events, they're able to communicate by writing letters to one another via the Lake House's mailbox. Despite the distance between them, Alex and Kate strike up a romance thanks to their time traveling letters.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure (1989)

A list of the best time travel movies wouldn't be complete with at least one of the Bill & Ted movies on it. 1989's Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure is responsible for launching Keanu Reeves's career, and it remains one of the most enjoyable films from the era. In the first movie, Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted (Keanu Reeves) are failing history, until they magically discover a phone booth that just so happens to be a time machine. The academically-challenged pair meet some of history's most important figures, who they enlist to help with their dreaded school assignment.

Groundhog Day (1993)

Groundhog Day may belong in the "time loop" sub-genre of time travel movies, but it most definitely deserves a place on this list. Bill Murray's performance as disgruntled weatherman Phil is literally iconic, and the fun begins when he's set to Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania for the annual Groundhog Day event. Unfortunately for Phil, his worst nightmare is realized when he wakes up the next morning to find that he must relive February 2 again. The hilarious time loop is made even better by Murray's co-star, Andie MacDowell.

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Back To The Future (1985)

This classic sets the scene for all time-travel movies that came after it. When 17-year-old high school student Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) hops into in a time-traveling car invented by his scientist friend Doc (Christopher Lloyd), he is accidentally sent 30 years into the past. From the moment he lands in 1955, Marty just wants to get back to the future. So, he embarks on a hysterical adventure to ensure his teenage parents-to-be meet and fall in love so that he can get back to life as he knows it. There are two sequels to the film, Back to the Future Part II and Back to the Future Part III , all of which deserve their own plaque in the time travel movie hall of fame too.

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Avengers: End Game (2019)

The dramatic finale to The Infinity Saga (comprised of 23 movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe), Avengers: Endgame pulls out all the stops. This epic showdown between the Avengers and Thanos uses newly discovered time travel technology to give the Earth's Mightiest Heroes a chance to win another battle. When Ant-Man (Paul Rudd) devises a time-bending strategy to gather all the Infinity stones, he enlists the help of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) to build a special device to time-jump. But with his new priorities as a family man, Tony is wary of altering history in any major way. So, instead of going back in time, they decide to bring back their fallen friends into their current timeline, five years later. Once reunited, the Avengers assemble to restore balance to the universe.

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Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)

This surreal A24 sci-fi flick is a brilliant take on the multiverse. Teeming with enchanting visuals, the action film features a Chinese-American woman named Evelyn (Michelle Yeoh) who co-owns a little laundromat with her husband Waymond (Ke Huy Quan). She feels trapped in an unfulfilling marriage and is struggling to make ends meet. However, when she accidentally discovers the multiverse, she is granted an opportunity to reach her full potential. While a tale of time travel, EEAAO is ultimately a story of self discovery. Directors Daniel Scheinert and Daniel Kwan (collectively nicknamed “The Daniels”) are the minds behind this epic inter-dimensional adventure, which brings to light the powers hidden within every individual. You may want to consider the advice of one viewer who said, “Don’t do drugs, watch this instead.”

See You Yesterday (2019)

An amalgamation of time travel fantasy, political critique, and powerful family ties, See You Yesterday is a movie you don't want to miss. Produced by Spike Lee and directed by Stefon Bristol, who was taken under Professor Lee's wing while attending NYU's graduate film program, the story features two prestigious teenagers who spend all their spare time working on scientific inventions that eventually lead them to develop time travel technology. When her brother is caught in a fatal encounter with the police, Claudette “CJ” Walker (Eden Duncan-Smith) builds two time machines that can help her and her friend Sebastian (Danté Crichlow) change the series of events that lead to CJ’s brother getting killed. But their experience leads them to time travel's greatest truth: All actions have a ripple effect that can change the present moment in unseen ways. The film critically engages with police brutality and was made by a team of creators of predominantly African descent to bring you this time-travel adventure that will leave you entertained, engaged, and inspired.

Hot Tub Time Machine (2010)

Hot tubs have a good reputation for their steamy bubbles and even steamier memories. But what if they also doubled as time travel devices? This hilarious guilty-pleasure comedy features three pals who are caught in a rut in their adulthood, from being freshly dumped by a girlfriend, to being stuck in a dead-end job, to drinking away the sorrows of having accomplished absolutely nothing by the age of 40. Needless to say, these friends could all use a life upgrade. Luckily, when they venture into a magic hot tub at a winter resort, they accidentally travel back to 1986 and are given a second chance at life. Their tumultuous journey through the past leads them to be more conscious about the future. Plus, they have the opportunity to do a few things differently. When the hot tub teleports them back into the present day, each of them is better than they left off. Most hot tubs leave you feeling refreshed and rejuvenated, but this one took it to a whole other level.

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12 Best Romance Movies That Incorporate Time Travel, Ranked

People will do anything for love.

Who would've thought that manipulating time would forge some of the great love stories? Whether it's found within the chivalry of the gentlemanly past or the future of civilization, cinema has shown that love has no bounds – even if it means traveling through time to get it. Where it may be a common trope for the sci-fi genre, romance flicks have also surprisingly used it to their advantage.

From classic rom-coms like 13 Going on 30 and The Lake House , to more hidden gems like If Only – these movies use the phenomenon of time travel to intertwine greater levels of fantasy and magic . Not only does this increase the overall cinematic experience, but these time travel romance movies also make the love stories incredibly epic.

12 '13 Going on 30' (2004)

Director: gary winick.

After being humiliated on her 13th birthday, Jenna Rink ( Christa B. Allen ) wishes to escape her life of pre-teen unpopularity and become a well-adjusted grownup in this time travel rom-com. She's shocked when she wakes up to find her wish has come true; somehow Jenna ( Jennifer Garner ) is now 30 and living in 2004. Soon she realizes how adulthood has its own set of struggles – one particularly being her love life.

As an iconic 2000s rom-com , 13 Going on 30 has warmed fans' hearts for decades. Largely driven by Garner's bubbly innocence, Jenna's connection with Matt (Mark Ruffalo) is undeniably pure and one of the great depictions of friends-to-lovers. This movie also uses time travel to put forth the message of how time is precious; by choosing to only look towards the future, one would never absorb the milestones of the present.

13 Going on 30

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11 'When We First Met' (2018)

Director: ari sandel.

Having been friend-zoned by the girl of his dreams after meeting her at a Halloween party, Noah ( Adam DeVine ) remains close to Avery ( Alexandra Daddario ). Three years later, she's now engaged to someone else. Suddenly, Noah stumbles on the opportunity to travel back in time to the moment they met, giving him the chance to alter his life, and get the girl.

In an almost Groundhog Day scenario (and it's worth noting that film is a benchmark for romantic time-travel movie), When We First Met is a humorous film that's filled with charm and charisma thanks to the talents of the cast , especially in the case of DeVine. Where the romantic connection is present between characters, it isn't with whom you'd naturally expect as this is a classic tale that teaches audiences that everything happens for a reason.

When We First Met

10 'kate & leopold' (2001), director: james mangold.

Kate ( Meg Ryan ) is a 21st-century woman who's determined to focus on her career. She thinks she doesn't need romance in her life at all, that is until she meets Leopold ( Hugh Jackman ), an English Duke from the 19th century who's accidentally brought to the future via a portal made by her ex-boyfriend, Stuart ( Liev Schreiber ).

Where Kate & Leopold may be cheesy at times with the classic fish-out-of-water tropes, this movie is an underrated feel-good romance that will easily keep one warm and cozy. Don't expect it to be anything groundbreaking, but it's perfect for a chill night that needs a film that's mildly entertaining. With the script's quick wit and fun character dynamics, this twisted modern-day fairytale shows how love doesn't always come to us in the most expected ways.

Rent on Apple TV

9 'The Lake House' (2006)

Director: alejandro agresti.

As lonely doctor, Kate Forster ( Sandra Bullock ), moves out of her beloved lake house, she begins to exchange letters with its newest resident, a frustrated architect named Alex Wyler ( Keanu Reeves ). The two instantly spark a connection and form a budding romance. The only problem – she's living in the year 2006, whereas he's in 2004.

An epic love story where two are separated by time, this romantic flick is special in the way that it portrays the simplicities of intimacy. With only the written word to connect, Kate and Alex's closeness is unlike any other in The Lake House . It's also refreshing to see Keanu Reeves in a non-action role , which he pulls off with ease. The two main characters need not rely on physical attraction or physical needs, they're brought together by a deeper connection – one built on stories, soul, and emotions.

The Lake House

8 'if only' (2004), director: gil junger.

Struck with grief after the sudden loss of his girlfriend Samantha ( Jennifer Love Hewitt ), Ian ( Paul Nicholls ) is given the opportunity to relive the day she died and rewrite his wrongdoings. The repetition of time allows him to become a better partner and fix things before the impending tragedy, but it also brings some unexpected pain as he relives the best and worst moments of his relationship.

Despite being an emotional and bittersweet tale, If Only is filled with hope and true love. It sends a message to viewers about how important it is to treasure every moment, every milestone, and to treat every day as if it were your last. It's not an innovative concept by any stretch, but with the palpable chemistry between Hewitt and Nicholls, fans will be moved by their devotion towards each other, even until the film's final bittersweet twist .

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7 'The Time Traveler's Wife' (2009)

Director: robert schwentke.

Henry Detamble ( Eric Bana ) is a librarian from Chicago who struggles with his rare genetic disorder that causes him to randomly travel through time, uncontrollably. His life becomes more complex when he meets and marries the love of his life, Claire ( Rachel McAdams ), as she must now learn to cope with her husband's condition.

An interesting spin on star-crossed lovers, The Time Traveler's Wife captures the struggles of fated love. Where Henry and Claire's story is romantic and tender, it's also incredibly bittersweet. With Henry's condition, fans (as well as Claire) are never sure of when he'll disappear. So when he does on occasions like their wedding, the heartbreak and tension are palpable. Their love story may be unconventional, but there's beauty to it.

The Time Traveler's Wife

6 'somewhere in time' (1980), director: jeannot szwarc.

Enamored and infatuated by a vintage portrait that hangs in a grand hotel, playwright Richard Collier ( Christopher Reeve ) finds a way to travel through time to 1912 to meet Elise McKenna ( Jane Seymour ), a stage actor. Where the two seem destined to be together, conflicts arise when Elise's obsessive manager, William ( Christopher Plummer ), tries to stop them.

A great movie that's severely slept on, Somewhere in Time tells the story of an unworldly and impossible love. With a brilliant concept and beautiful chemistry between Reeves and Seymour , this movie is one for the romantics and dreamers. It shows the sheer lengths someone is willing to go to find their soulmate – even if it means going through time itself.

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5 'Back to the Future Part III' (1990)

Director: robert zemeckis.

As the third and final chapter to their adventures, Marty McFly ( Michael J. Fox ) must travel back in time to 1885 to the Old West to save his friend, Doctor Emmett Brown ( Christopher Lloyd ), from his impending murder. Matters become more complicated when Marty realizes that Doc has fallen deeply in love with local school teacher, Clara Clayton ( Mary Steenburgen ).

Though not a typical romance movie, Back to the Future Part III , is a film spearheaded by the themes of love. Where there are romantic storylines in the previous installments, Doc and Clara's is a breath of fresh air – mostly because Doc is a character that's so determined to avoid the supposed banalities of love. And yet, here he is, willing to be stuck in a foreign time period for the sake of love, happiness, and true companionship.

4 'The Girl Who Leapt Through Time' (2006)

Director: mamoru hosoda.

A popular anime movie for beginners , The Girl Who Leapt Through Time tells the story of Makoto Konno (voiced by Riisa Naka ), who learns that she has the ability to time travel. She soon uses her newfound power to fix the small things in her daily life, from schoolwork to friendships. When she meets another person who can time travel, the two develop an unconventional bond.

Chiaki Mamiya (voiced by Takuya Ishida ) helps the protagonist realize and fix the consequences of messing with time, but soon reveals something heartbreaking to her. Their romance is complicated by the fact that Chiaki isn't from Makoto's present day, and eventually has to leave. The Girl Who Leapt Through Time will have fans rooting for the time-traveling duo's success until the tear-jerking end.

3 'Midnight in Paris' (2011)

Director: woody allen.

Whilst on a holiday in Paris with his fiancé and her family, Gil Pender ( Owen Wilson ) – a screenwriter and aspiring author – develops a habit of touring the city alone. One night he finds himself swept back in time to the 1920s where he meets his favorite cultural and artistic icons. By experiencing life in the past, he is forced to confront his dissatisfactions with the present.

As a romance movie, Midnight in Paris offers multiple romantic interests, each with its own qualities and individual purposes. From Inez's (McAdams) 21st-century realism, to Adriana's ( Marion Cotillard ) 1920s romanticized attitude to life, Gil is forced to reflect on what kind of love will give him true happiness. He'll even come to terms with the dangers of escapism. It's a severely underrated Owen Wilson movie , with the actor's performance being a delicate and moving one that anchors the entire story.

Midnight in Paris

While on a trip to Paris with his fiancée's family, a nostalgic screenwriter finds himself mysteriously going back to the 1920s every day at midnight.

2 'About Time' (2013)

Director: richard curtis.

Life changed forever when Tim Lake ( Domhnall Gleeson ) turned 21 as his father revealed an odd hereditary trait; all the men in their family have the ability to time travel. Though initially shocked, Tim decides to use his skill to alter his past to improve his future. His main goal – bolster his love life and win the heart of Mary (Rachel McAdams). He soon realizes that his power can have serious consequences if used incorrectly.

With a clever concept, a beautiful script, and a great cast, this poignant movie is one that masterfully tackles the topics of love, redemption, and loss. Where Gleeson and McAdams' chemistry is incredibly sweet, About Time is a movie about more than a simple romantic story . It uses time to talk about the importance of living in the moment and the consequences of one's choices. Viewers can expect its small-scale intimate story to move most to tears.

1 'Your Name' (2016)

Director: makoto shinkai.

Your Name is a massively popular and beloved anime film that blends fantasy, romance, and sci-fi together. It tells the story of two high school students – Taki Tachibana (voiced by Ryunosuke Kamiki ) and Mitsuha Miyamizu ( Mone Kamishiraishi ) – who inexplicably begin to swap bodies. The two characters have never met, but begin to improve each other's lives. Before they know it, they slowly fall in love in the process of learning about each other's realities.

It's impossible to talk about the time travel aspect of Your Name without completely spoiling the plot , but audiences who enjoy emotional animated films should consider this essential viewing for its notoriously tear-jerking twist. The gorgeous visuals and heartbreakingly romantic story easily make it the best film to show the potential of combining love and time travel in film.

Your Name (2016)

Watch on Criterion

NEXT: The Best Romantic Movies of All Time, Ranked

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

The April 8 total solar eclipse is near. Find out how fast an eclipse shadow travels

The 2024 solar eclipse, set for April 8, is a few days away, and with the next total solar eclipse taking place in 20 years, you won't want to miss it. Even if you're not in the path of totality, like most of Kentucky, you can still watch the rare phenomenon, and learn some interesting facts about it.

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According to a post from the National Weather Service of Indianapolis on X, formerly Twitter, an eclipse shadow travels at speeds between 1,100 and 5,000 m.p.h. Near the equator, it travels at around 1,100 m.p.h. and increases in speed as it approaches the poles.

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Back to Black

The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time. The life and music of Amy Winehouse, through the journey of adolescence to adulthood and the creation of one of the best-selling albums of our time.

• Sam Taylor-Johnson
• Matt Greenhalgh
• Marisa Abela
• Eddie Marsan
• Jack O'Connell
• 2 User reviews
• 19 Critic reviews
• 52 Metascore

• Amy Winehouse

• Mitch Winehouse

• Blake Fielder-Civil

• Cynthia Winehouse

• Janis Winehouse

• Raye Cosbert

• Nick Shymansky

• A & R Manager

• Aunt Melody

• Perfume Paul

• Island Records Senior Executive

• CID Officer

• Uncle Harold

• Chris Taylor
• All cast & crew
• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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• Trivia Marisa Abela did all the singing in this film herself. She trained extensively to mimic Amy Winehouse 's vocals.

Technical specs

• Runtime 2 hours 2 minutes

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