List of films set on Mars

There is a body of films that are set on the planet Mars. In the late 19th century, people erroneously believed that there were canals on Mars. Into the early 20th century, additional observations of Mars fed people's interest in what was called "Mars fever".[1][2] One of the earliest films to be set on Mars was the short film A Trip to Mars (1910), which was produced by one of Thomas Edison's film companies.[3] In the 1920s through the 1960s, more films featured Mars or extraterrestrial Martians. In the 1960s and 1970s, the Mariner program and the Viking program revealed new scientific details about Mars that showed little prospect for life. The Guardian said, "These disappointing discoveries changed the place of Mars on humanity's mental map. Films began to reflect this." Films such as Total Recall (1990) and Red Planet (2000) focused more on the colonization of Mars by humans.[1]

The Guardian, reporting on the release of John Carter (2012), said, since 1995, six films featuring Mars performed poorly at the box office.[1] Wired, reporting on the release of The Martian (2015), said prior films set on Mars—Red Planet, Mission to Mars (2000), and The Last Days on Mars (2013)—were "notable flops" that were the most recent in a "dismal track record of Mars movies".[4] The Atlantic called The Martian "the subgenre's newest and best entry", citing the positive reviews and strong box office returns on opening weekend. It said, "Many films seek to dramatize the Red Planet’s harsh landscape as a romantic frontier, but The Martian is one that actually succeeds."[5]

List of films

The following films are listed alphabetically:

Film Year Description
Aelita 1924 In the silent film, a man travels to Mars and leads a popular uprising against the authorities and attracts the love of Queen Aelita.[1]
Angry Red Planet, TheThe Angry Red Planet 1959 Astronauts who return to Earth after a human flight to Mars recount encountering hostile creatures, with only two surviving the encounter.[6]
Christmas on Mars 2008 The film tells the story of experiences during the first Christmas on a newly colonized Mars.[7]
Conquest of Space 1955 A team of American astronauts leave their space station on the first mission to Mars.[8]
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie 2001 The feature film spin-off of the Japanese anime series is set on Mars.[9][10][11][12]
Doom 2005 Based on the video game series Doom, a group of Marines embark on a search-and-rescue mission after a research facility on Mars is attacked.[13]
Escape from Mars 1999 Five astronauts make the first human trip to Mars.[14]
Flight to Mars 1951 A human expedition team lands on Mars and discovers an underground civilization that is dying out.[1]
Ghosts of Mars 2001 On a mostly terraformed Mars, a team of police officers search for missing miners and discover that they have been possessed by spirits from an ancient Martian civilization.[6]
It! The Terror from Beyond Space 1958 At the beginning of the film, the sole survivor of a human mission to Mars is recovered by a second rocket ship, but a monster stows away on board for the trip back to Earth.[15]
John Carter 2012 Based on the 1912 novel A Princess of Mars, former American Civil War Confederate Army captain John Carter is transported to Mars and becomes involved in a conflict between its inhabitants.[6]
Just Imagine 1930 A young man is in love with a woman and must impress government officials to marry her. To do this, he travels to Mars with this best friend, and they are accompanied by a stowaway.[3]
Last Days on Mars, TheThe Last Days on Mars 2013 On the first human mission to Mars, a crew member discovers fossil evidence of bacterial life. When contact is lost with him, the rest of the crew investigates and learns that there is still life on the planet.[16]
Mars Needs Moms 2011 In the animated film, a boy's mother is abducted by Martians, and he pursues them back to Mars to rescue her.[6]
Martian, TheThe Martian 2015 A human mission to Mars goes awry, and an astronaut is presumed dead and left behind on the planet by his crew. He fights to survive in the harsh environment and to signal to others that he is still alive. Upon discovering his signal, NASA, scientists all around Earth, and his crew members collaborate to find a way to rescue him.[17]
Mission Mars 1968 Two astronauts travel to Mars on an expedition but encounter strange forces on the planet.[13]
Mission to Mars 2000 A rescue mission is sent to Mars to recover the sole survivor of a scientific expedition, and the astronauts learn that Mars is not a dead planet.[6]
Princess of Mars 2009 Based on the 1912 novel A Princess of Mars, the direct-to-DVD film features former American Civil War Confederate Army captain John Carter being transported to Mars and becoming involved in a conflict between its inhabitants.[18]
Red Planet 2000 When a terraforming project on Mars goes awry, a rescue mission is sent to fix the system but crash-lands on the planet.[6]
Robinson Crusoe on Mars 1964 The film, based on the survival story Robinson Crusoe, features an astronaut stranded on Mars.[13]
RocketMan 1997 In the comedy film, a substitute astronaut joins the first human mission to Mars with the goal of finding fossils.[13]
Rocketship X-M 1950 Rocketship Expedition-Moon is accidentally hurtled beyond Luna on a trajectory towards Mars. Ship and crew touch down briefly on the Red Planet, where they encounter the survivors of a nuclear war.[19]
Santa Claus Conquers the Martians 1965 In the comedy film, Martians kidnap Santa Claus and two children and bring them back to Mars.[6]
Species II 1998 In the science fiction horror film, the beginning shows a human mission to Mars in which alien ooze infects the first American man to walk on Mars. The astronaut unknowingly brings the infection back to Earth, where it spreads to others.[20]
Stranded (Spanish: Náufragos) 2001 A human mission to Mars crash-lands on the planet, stranding the crew.[14]
Total Recall 1990 Loosely based on the Philip K. Dick story "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale", a man recovers the memory of being a secret agent and travels to Mars to figure out his true identity.[6]
Trip to Mars, AA Trip to Mars 1910 The short film, 4 minutes in length, stars a professor who uses a magical powder to float to Mars, where he encounters aggressive trees and a giant creature.[3]
Trip to Mars, AA Trip to Mars 1918 An adventurer travels to Mars in a ship of his own construction, and finds the planet's inhabitants living harmoniously.
Watchmen 2009 In the superhero film mainly set on Earth, the superpowered being Dr. Manhattan exiles himself to Mars after being accused of causing cancer in those in his company.[21]
Wizard of Mars, TheThe Wizard of Mars 1965 A rocketship crew is stranded on Mars, and they travel through a ruined civilization before they find a yellow road that leads to a Martian city and a wizard who can help them.[3]
Special Report: Journey to Mars 1996 The first mission to Mars is accompanied by a reporter that does regular television reports. The commander of the mission is discovered to have been infected by a group against the mission. He survives and in the last scene he sees something on the surface of Mars that is not shown to the audience.[22]

See also

Film and television

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Cox, David (March 12, 2012). "John Carter: don't mention Mars". The Guardian. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  2. ↑ Fergus, Charles (May 1, 2013). "Beyond Earth: Mars Fever". Penn State News. Pennsylvania State University. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Zorpette, Glenn (September 30, 2015). "At Last, the Great Martian Movie". IEEE Spectrum. Retrieved October 6, 2015.
  4. ↑ Staff (September 26, 2015). "Can The Martian Beat Hollywood's Mars Curse?". Wired. Retrieved September 30, 2015.
  5. ↑ Sims, David (October 2015). "Why the Mars Movie Is the Space-Age Western". The Atlantic. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 Staff. "10 Movie Missions to Mars". fandango.com. Fandango. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
  7. ↑ Hillis, Aaron (September 10, 2008). "Wayne Coyne's Christmas on Mars". Village Voice. Retrieved January 26, 2016.
  8. ↑ Handlen, Zack (December 15, 2009). "Conquest Of Space (1955)". The A.V. Club. Retrieved September 26, 2015.
  9. ↑ "COWBOY BEBOP- Knockin' on heaven's door". Archived from the original on 17 November 2002.
  10. ↑ "Cowboy Bebop: The Movie is at its Best When it Connects to the Series". kotaku. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  11. ↑ Beck, Jerry. The Animated Movie Guide. p. 60. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  12. ↑ "Cowboy Bebop: The Movie". cinema.cornell.edu. Retrieved 17 February 2016.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Staff. "Best Movies Set on Mars". amc.com. AMC Networks. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
  14. 1 2 Anders, Charlie Jane (March 11, 2008). "What Killed The Mars Movie Fad?". io9. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
  15. ↑ Staff (December 31, 1967). "Review: 'It! – The Terror from Beyond Space'". Variety. Archived from the original on January 12, 2015.
  16. ↑ Merry, Stephanie (December 12, 2013). "'The Last Days on Mars' movie review". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 8, 2015.
  17. ↑ Dave, Paresh (August 19, 2015). "Why NASA scientists are excited about Matt Damon film 'The Martian'". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 1, 2015.
  18. ↑ Staff (October 21, 2014). "Disney's Rights to John Carter Revert Back to Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc.". ComingSoon.net. Retrieved September 17, 2015. ...low-rent studio The Asylum made in 2009 with Princess of Mars, starring Antonio Sabato Jr. and Traci Lords.
  19. ↑ Staff. "Rocketship X-M Review". TV Guide. Retrieved September 22, 2015.
  20. ↑ Van Gelder, Lawrence (April 11, 1998). "Species II (1998): Film Review; Sex and the Single Hideous Monster". The New York Times. Retrieved October 8, 2015.
  21. ↑ Ebert, Roger (March 4, 2009). "Watchmen Movie Review & Film Summary". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved September 9, 2015.
  22. ↑ Slewinski, Christy (March 25, 1996). "So, Anything Else to Watch? Rival Nets Concede the Night to Oscars". New York Daily News. Retrieved February 17, 2016.
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