Films About The Multiverse also include films about parallel worlds, parallel dimensions, alternate universes and alternate realities. The Multiverse theory posits that there are a hypothetical group of multiple universes the are comprised of everything that exists in space, time, physical laws and more. The Multiverse could include an infinite number of similar worlds to our own where a different version of you exists but you and the world are different based on past decisions you made in that world vs. our own. Similarly, The Multiverse could include vastly different worlds than our own based on a variety of factors. One example would be an alternate Earth where a meteor never wiped out the Dinosaurs, they evolved over millions of years and Humans don’t exist (because they never evolved in this scenario).
In film, The Multiverse has become an increasingly popular Sci-Fi subgenre over the years. Multiverse films typically deal with themes of “What If’s” and access to a parallel world or universe. While earlier subgenre films dealt with a single parallel universe or alternate reality, more recent films have started to embrace the notion of an infinite number of universes as part of the Multiverse. Some of these subgenre films even deal with Alternate History within a Multiverse theme.
Alternate History Films and Multiverse Films are very similar, and most films will appear in both subgenres. However, we typically do not include Alternate History Films within the Multiverse Films subgenre unless the narrative of the film specifically mentions components of the Multiverse. An example of this would be Fatherland (1994). In the film, Hitler won World War II and the film takes place in an alternate version of 1960. However, the film’s Alternate History is isolated to the film and makes no mention of our current history (where Germany lost World War II) nor does it have any mention of Multiverse components. Conversely, a film such as Happy Death Day 2U (2019) is in both subgenres as it features the main character Tree who winds up in an alternative universe where history has changed but she is also aware of her original timeline and universe.
Though Multiverse Films are primarily in the Sci-Fi genre, they are often combined with other genres and subgenres including Contemporary & Urban Fantasy Films, Alien Invasion Films, Biotech Films, Hard Sci-Fi Films, Time Travel Films, Techno Thrillers, Quirky Comedies, Romantic Comedies, Romantic Dramas and Films About Fate & Destiny.
The 1970’s and 1980’s were not popular decades for Multiverse films as there were only a few subgenre films and they mostly focused on a single alternate dimension or reality within their film’s narrative. These films included The Phantom Tollbooth (1970), Quest for Love (1971), The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984), Blind Chance (1987) and Wicked City (1987).
The 1990’s saw an increase in Multiverse Films with various emerging themes. Traveling between different universes or dimensions was a theme in Doorways (1993), Crossworlds (1996) and The Lake (1998). Multiverse films that also incorporated themes of Fate & Destiny included Run Lola Run (1998), Tempting Fate (1998) and Sliding Doors (1998). And family films where characters entered an alternate world (often animated) included Cool World (1992), Super Mario Bros. (1993) and The Pagemaster (1994).
The 2000’s included an increase of Fantasy-themed films that incorporated elements of The Multiverse. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), The Golden Compass (2007), The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008) and Coraline (2009) were all films featuring characters traveling to an alternate universe with Fantasy-based settings. Popular Multiverse concepts involving different versions of yourself in other universes or timelines became more prominent during this decade with films including Possible Worlds (2000), The One (2001), The Chasing World (2008), Star Trek (2009) and Mr. Nobody (2009).
The Golden Age of Multiverse Films started in the 2010’s. This decade saw more Multiverse films released than all previous decades combined. Part of this popularity was driven by the embrace of The Multiverse by Superhero & Comic Books Films including Ant-Man (2015), Doctor Strange (2016), Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse (2018) and Avengers: Endgame (2019). Other highlights of this decade include Romantic-themed Multiverse Films in Upside Down (2012), Frequencies (2013), Another Version of You (2018), Isn’t It Romantic (2019), Love at Second Sight (2019) and Yesterday (2019).
The most popular Multiverse theme of the 2010’s featured travel between parallel worlds in a Sci-Fi and/or Horror setting. Sci-Fi films featuring Multiverse travel included Another Earth (2011), Coherence (2013), +1 (2013), The Incident (2014), Parallels (2015), Counter Clockwise (2016), Alone (2017), Kill Switch (2017), Reset (2017), Destined (2017), The Gateway (2018), The Wrong Todd (2018) and Seven in Heaven (2018). Horror films with similar themes of travel or interaction between alternate universes included Gantz (2010), Gantz: Perfect Answer (2011), John Dies at the End (2012), V/H/S: Viral (2014), Tag (2015), The Cloverfield Paradox (2018), You Die (2018) and Happy Death Day 2U (2019).
Only three years into the 2020’s and Multiverse Films continue to grow into one of the most popular Sci-Fi subgenres. This decade has already produced classic films of the subgenre with Parallel (2020), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022).
Our complete list of Films About The Multiverse features over 87+ films from 1970 – 2023. As we mentioned earlier, there’s a significant overlap between Alternate History Films and Films About The Multiverse, so if you don’t see a favorite film of yours in this collection, it’s likely in our Films About Alternate History collection. We’re also planning some additional articles about Multiverse and Alternate History films so subscribe to our newsletter to get updated as we release future articles.
Classic, must-see Films About The Multiverse: Run Lola Run (1988), Sliding Doors (1998), The One (2001), The Mist (2007), Coraline (2009), Star Trek (2009), Mr. Nobody (2009), Gantz (2010), Coherence (2013), Doctor Strange (2016), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse (2018), Happy Death Day 2U (2019), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Yesterday (2019), Parallel (2020), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (2022).
Films About The Multiverse for Kids & Families: The Phantom Tollbooth (1970), The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai Across the 8th Dimension (1984), Cool World (1992), The Pagemaster (1994), The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (2005), The Golden Compass (2007), Coraline (2009), Wizards of Waverly Place: The Movie (2009), Ant-Man (2015), Doctor Strange (2016), Spider-Man: Into the Spider-verse (2018), Avengers: Endgame (2019), Spider-Man: No Way Home (2021), Teen Titans Go! & DC Super Hero Girls: Mayhem in the Multiverse (2022).
Lesser-known and Rare Films About The Multiverse that didn’t make our list: Quest for Love (1971), Blind Chance (1987), Wicked City (1987), Accumulator 1 (1994), The Pagemaster (1994), Crossworlds (1996), The Lake (1998), Possible Worlds (2000), Another Earth (2011), Upside Down (2012), Singularity Principle (2013), The Incident (2014), V/H/S: Viral (2014), Destined (2017), Kill Switch (2017), Another Version of You (2018), A Rough Draft (2018), The Gateway (2018), The Wrong Todd (2018), Seven in Heaven (2018) and Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (2023).
We have embedded a compilation video of our Top Films About The Multiverse You Haven’t Seen and more details on these films can be found in the list below. Note: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.
Plot: A teenager is transported to a parallel world where everyone who shares his family name is being hunted down by the dictatorial government.
KBZ’s Take: This Japanese film has one of the more interesting premises of the subgenre. In the film, people can travel between parallel worlds where things are quite different in the parallel dystopian universe. While the film does rely on common Multiverse tropes (i.e. friends of the protagonist don’t know him in the alternate world and have much different personalities), the film has some great action sequences involving the “Demons” hunting down the “Satos”.
If you like films like Battle Royale (2000), you’ll likely enjoy this film. The Chasing World isn’t yet available on streaming services, and we’ll update this article once it’s released.
Where to Stream / Buy: N/A
Plot: Grieving doctor Ben Creed is transported into a parallel world in the hope of reuniting with Melody, the woman he loved and lost; when he discovers that this world has different rules, he finds himself unable to leave.
KBZ’s Take: Tempting Fate is a forgotten TV movie from the late 90’s. Though it is a lower budget B-movie it has a very interesting premise and some great concepts involving parallel worlds.
The film doesn’t waste time on the scientific reality of traveling to the parallel world and focuses much more on the differences in the alternate world. While most of these changes seem benign at first (i.e. everybody is nice and there are no overweight people), there’s a surprising ‘twist’ halfway through the film showing the dark side to this alternate world.
Tempting Fate is one of the better ‘small’ Multiverse films and shouldn’t be missed by fans and completists of the subgenre.
Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/40wb8XM
#8
+1
Plot: Three college friends go to the biggest party of the year, each looking for something different: love, sex and a simple human connection. When a supernatural phenomenon disrupts the party, it lights a fuse on what will become the strangest night anyone has ever seen. As the three friends struggle to find what they’re looking for, the party quickly descends into a chaos that challenges if they can stay friends or if they can even stay alive.
KBZ’s Take: This film initially comes off as a Time Loop or Time Travel film, but it delves much more into the darker side of a parallel world entering our own. Though it’s also not a horror film, it does use themes of “Body Snatchers” and what we would do when encountering an alternate version of ourselves that might not have the best intentions.
The film does take awhile to get going but once you get to the third act, mayhem breaks loose as the partygoers slowly start encountering these new additions to their world.
Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3L0K7pL
Plot: A man tries to make his wife fall in love with him again, after waking up in an alternate reality where she never knew him.
KBZ’s Take: One of the more popular themes of Multiverse Films involves a person crossing into a parallel world to find a love they lost in their current world. Though Another Version of You (2018) uses the multiverse concept in greater detail within the love lost theme, we went with Love at Second Sight here as it’s a much better film.
What makes this film one of the best films of the subgenre are the two leads – François Civil and Joséphine Japy. They have great chemistry together and are a joy to watch throughout the film. Civil has the easier role as the same person in both worlds who slowly adapts to the new version of the love of his life and Japy is outstanding as the alternate version of herself who doesn’t know this man but senses something special about him.
Highly recommended film for fans of the subgenre and fans of Films About Fate & Destiny.
Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3H6kNNQ
#6
Parallels
Plot: Two siblings (Mark Hapka, Jessica Rothe) and their neighbor (Eric Jungmann) pass through a doorway that leads to an infinite number of alternate versions of Earth.
KBZ’s Take: We’ll start off by saying Parallels was a pilot and the show (unfortunately) didn’t get picked up. So, the film seems a bit unfinished without a clear ending or resolution.
With that said, it’s still an interesting film that explores the best themes of the subgenre – the differences in alternate worlds. We especially liked the world where technology has developed differently than our own. Recommended for fans of the subgenre and the Sliders TV series.
Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/43QEqDk
Plot: Hitoshi Nagano, who works at an electronics store, picks up a cellphone left behind by a customer and goes about a scam. He calls the person’s mother and pretends to be her son. He then gets the mother to transfer money to his bank account. Soon, Hitoshi gets a lot more than he bargained for.
KBZ’s Take: We’ll be the first to admit we’re not entirely show how to classify this film. It deals with clones but where are these clones that are different versions of Hitoshi coming from? We felt it had enough similarities to Multiverse films to include it here.
The film is based on the well-known “It’s Me” scam in Japan and uses the scam as a foundation for some very original Sci-Fi and Comedy elements. As the film progresses, clones of Hitoshi (Kazuya Kamenashi) start to appear more frequently and in different variations. At first, the original Hitoshi sees the benefits to all these clones as they can work his day job for him. But as more and more clones start to appear, he slowly realizes that the world can’t support all these different versions of himself and some of them must be eliminated.
This is a really great film that shouldn’t be missed for Kamenashi’s performance as all the different variations of Hitoshi. Highly recommended for fans of the subgenre.
Where to Stream / Buy: https://youtu.be/UB_qfrTIQ8s
#4
Gantz
Plot: After trying to rescue a man on the subway tracks, two teens wake up in a room dominated by a mysterious black sphere that sends them to hunt down and kill aliens hiding on Earth.
KBZ’s Take: This is another film that is somewhat ambiguous as to what constitutes the alternate reality the characters find themselves in. But again, it has enough of the same themes of Multiverse films that we had to feature it on our list.
As for the film, it doesn’t explain many things and dives right into the action within the first 20 minutes. And the film is full of action, aliens and downright madness. Where the film plays with Alternate Reality concepts are when the ‘players’ are transported to a version of their reality but nobody else is present except for the players and an alien they must destroy (before it kills them).
Though fans of the Gantz magna and series feel the filmed version is somewhat lacking, we’ve only seen the film (and its sequels) and can say they have some of the best action and concepts of the subgenre.
Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3UU7gi7
#3
Reset
Plot: In 2025, a scientist on the verge of making a major discovery related to time travel is suddenly put in peril when a rival kidnaps her young son and demands a hefty ransom: her entire research.
KBZ’s Take: Reset is a film that meshes Time Travel with the Multiverse and does it in a rather unique way. The film has some of the most exciting Time Travel and action sequences in the entire subgenre.
Though Reset is also light in logic and has various plot holes, these can be forgiven for the way the film explores Time Travel to different universes to bring alternate versions of yourself back to your specific timeline.
Additional Lists: Top Time Travel Films You Haven’t Seen 2017 – 2022 #9
Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3GBcXL4
#2
Parallel
Plot: A group of friends stumble upon a portal to a multiverse.
KBZ’s Take: This is one of the better films about the Multiverse theory and parallel worlds. While it’s a low budget effort, the concept is solid and the story very engaging. It doesn’t have any high-profile actors, but you’ll recognize almost everybody in this film from some popular television series.
It’s a film you have to pay attention to, but if you get lost or have questions at the end, This Is Barry has a great explanation of the film.
Additional Lists: Top Alternate History Films You Haven’t Seen #6
Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3gQQkcL
#1
Coherence
Plot: Eight friends experience disturbing events during an astronomical anomaly.
KBZ’s Take: We initially had this film listed as #2 in our Top Time Loop Films You Haven’t Seen. While there’s some debate if the film features an actual Time Loop, there is no debate that this film features some very dark Multiverse concepts.
We also realize that fans of Multiverse films have likely seen this film as it’s often noted as one of the best films of the subgenre. However, we felt we still needed to list it here as different types of films like Spider-Man: No Way Home (2019) and Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) bring a variety of new fans into the subgenre.
What Coherence is not is a big budget film like the films mentioned above. It’s a lower budget film that does a great job of explaining some Multiverse concepts (and eventual outcomes) much in the way the low budget film Primer (2012) tackled Time Travel concepts. And like Primer, Coherence gets better with multiple viewings to fully understand and appreciate all the minute details in the film.
If you’re new to the subgenre, this is one of the first films you should check out as it’s one of the best.
Additional Lists: Top Time Loop Films You Haven’t Seen #2
Where to Stream / Buy: https://amzn.to/3XS3Bm3
