The 2010s were a blockbuster set of years for teen movies, following in the footsteps of the late 2000s with an overhaul of young adult novel adaptations. The science-fiction genre arranged its own success with several franchises and multiple stand-alone movies. From found-footage features to multi-movie series and prequel installments, the storylines and world-building behind these movies provided a little bit of everything for everyone.
The teen experience is complicated enough, but adding the sci-fi element amplified existing tropes that made these movies all the more captivating. Some series never got past the first feature film, while others solidified their legacy within pop culture and cinematic history. These movies gave many teen stars their big break, catapulting them into Hollywood to eventually become Oscar nominees and leading stars.
10 ‘I Am Number Four’ (2011)
What sci-fi readers were hoping to be the start of a big-screen franchise ended with only one installment of the Pittacus Lore novel series. I Am Number Four takes place in a small Ohio town where John (Alex Pettyfer) poses as a regular teenager, but he’s actually an alien being hunted by ruthless mercenaries. There are eight others like him out there, but John’s guardian, Henri (Timothy Olyphant) has done his best to protect John from being discovered.
It didn’t land well with critics, and audiences seemed divided that the movie would have been better aligned if subsequent films followed up. In a decade where fantasy films and shows were dominating the viewers’ attention, I Am Number Four was a welcomed break from vampires and werewolves.
9 ‘The Host ‘(2013)
For millennials, author Stephanie Meyer created some of the most iconic fantasy characters of all time. She transferred her fanbase to sci-fi with this page-to-screen adaptation. The Host takes place in a world where an alien invasion overtook Earth seeking to eradicate the human mind by inserting the alien race—the Souls—into the human body, using it as a host. Melanie (Saoirse Ronan) and a colony of humans have managed to survive in hiding. When Melanie is captured and a Soul named Wanderer is implanted in her, Melanie refuses to relinquish control, resulting in a new fight for survival.
Melodramatic in its attempt at romance, The Host targeted a specific audience: teen and tween girls. With any genre, there are films that pander to certain demographics, and this adaptation didn’t land with every viewer in the sci-fi genre. Critics gave it the thumbs down; however, this movie satisfied the readers who looked to see Meyer-created characters onscreen once again.
8 ‘The Darkest Minds’ (2018)
A divisive pick between critics and audiences, The Darkest Minds managed to solidify its place in the decade as an audience favorite. It’s a dystopian story about what happens to the surviving teens after 98% of the world’s children are wiped out by a mysterious disease. The survivors develop mysterious powers and are declared a threat and detained by the government. Amandla Stenberg stars as Ruby, a teen who escapes imprisonment and joins a camp of survivors.
The movie is based on a YA series of the same name written by Alexandra Bracken. While it earned positive scores from the teen sci-fi audience, The Darkest Minds struggled with critics to own its originality instead of getting lost in a sea of other popular YA page-to-screen adaptations.
7 ‘Project Almanac’ (2015)
A found-footage style feature, Project Almanac succeeded in bringing an engaging sci-fi story to the screen; however, the cinematic style was a dealbreaker for critics. After finding his late father’s plans for a time machine, David (Jonny Weston) and his friends begin to build the device. Once it starts working, they begin to manipulate time, but the thrill is short-lived as they begin to lose control of their lives.
As is the case with many movies of this genre, Project Almanac makes several references to the movies that came before it. During a decade filled with fantastical sci-fi adventures and dystopian societies, this movie managed to hold its own with time travel and manipulation.
6 ‘The Maze Runner’ (2014)
A dystopian sci-fi series written by James Dashner, three installments made their way to the big screen during the 2010s: The Maze Runner, The Scorch Trials, and The Death Cure. The Maze Runner introduces a colony of teen boys who have no memory of how they came to be trapped inside a treacherous maze. Each day they send a team of “runners” to study and map the maze in hopes of escaping. Dylan O’Brien stars as Thomas, the newest teen to be dropped into the colony, determined—despite no memory—to escape the maze.
The first of the series earned the highest praise from moviegoers, while the second and third progressive dropped in popularity. With the success of prequel stories today, fans of the series continue to hope that someday the remaining two titles in the original novels (prequel events) will one day find a place onscreen.
5 ‘The Hunger Games’ (2012)
This series became one of the most popular franchises of the YA genre in the 2010s. From the novel by Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games is the first installment in a four-movie series about a future society where 24 teens are called upon from the 12 districts of Panem to fight to the death once a year. Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) takes her younger sister’s place in the games and must survive an arena full of traps and the other tributes in order to make it home again.
Compared to other teen sci-fi of the decade, this focuses more on the emotional toll and identity crisis Katniss suffers as the series progresses, paired with the technological developments of the dystopian society as war wages on. Like the Twilight Saga before it, this franchise split the final book into two movies while also creating one of the most iconic love triangles for teens to ship.
4 ‘Enders Game’ (2013)
With a star-studded cast, Ender’s Game positioned itself as the formulaic sci-fi movie of the decade. As Earth continues to fend off the consistent onslaught of attacks from hostile aliens, recruit Ender Wiggin (Asa Butterfield) is selected for his unusual gifts to train under the Mazer program alongside the legendary Mazer Rackham (Ben Kingsley) to prepare for the upcoming war.
The movie is based on the novel by Orson Scott Card. Like many original sci-fi movies, Ender’s Game holds all the elements of an alien attack on Earth, a military response, and a web of complicated world-building to bring it all to life. The feature found success not only with its targeted teen audience, but with adults and critics alike.
3 ‘Super 8’ (2011)
An installation in the Cloverfield universe, Super 8 holds its own reputation for being a well-done sci-fi movie. Directed by sci-fi master J.J. Abrams, this teen movie takes place during the summer of 1979 when a group of tweens plan to film a movie of their own but accidentally witness a horrible train crash. When strange events start plaguing the town, the group of friends begins investigating the unexplainable happenings.
The release of the movie called back to the summer nostalgia of blockbuster movies even though it wasn’t advertised to be one. Super 8 featured the directorial star power and combination of sci-fi elements that allowed it to retain an elevated status of something special in a decade of dozens of novel adaptations.
2 ‘Ready Player One’ (2018)
This Stephen Spielberg feature was one of the best installments in the decade’s sci-fi canon. In 2045, society is ruled by a virtual reality platform called the OASIS. When its creator dies, and control of the OASIS is left to the winner of an Easter Egg hunt challenge, Wade (Tye Sheridan) is one of the many players attempting to beat the game.
Filled with pop culture references paired with stunning visual effects, Ready Player One was the perfect stand-alone film in the genre bogged down by multi-film adaptation franchises, despite having a secondary novel in its source series: Ready Player Two. The movie features the right combination of fantasy, sci-fi, and teen identity to earn praise from viewers of all ages.
1 ‘Chronicle’ (2012)
One of the highest-grossing movies of its found-footage style, Chronicle was an unexpected hit among critics and audiences. Michael B. Jordan, Dane DeHaan, and Alex Russell star as a group of high school boys who gain superpowers from a mysterious substance. As their abilities emerge and evolve, their situation turns from a mind-blowing experience to document on camera to a dangerous point of contention where their friendship begins to crumble.
This movie set the bar exponentially higher not only for the 2010s teen movies but also for the entire sci-fi genre. Chronicle proved that under the right direction with the right script, all the elements that could have made the movie a flop ultimately made it a hit.
