Best Time Travel Films

Throughout the last 5 decades in film, Time Travel Films have been some of the most popular films of the Sci-Fi subgenre. Traveling in time has been equally represented in film by going forward in time to a Utopian or Dystopian future or travelling back in time to visit ancient eras or to potentially alter history.

Various mechanisms have also been used for Time Travel from a Victorian era Time Travel machine in The Time Machine (1960) and Time After Time (1979) to the famous DeLorean of Back to the Future (1985) which could race back in time once it reached 88 MPH. There have even been some very unique mechanisms for Time Travel from hypnosis in Somewhere in Time (1980) to even just thinking about traveling back in time which was the mechanism used in About Time (2013). Regardless of the Time Travel mechanism, these films have often showed some of the best traits of the Sci-Fi subgenre by requiring viewers to think and debate if Time Travel itself would ultimately make things better or worse by changing the past or future.

What are the Best Time Travel Films? Read on was we look at some of the most popular Time Travel films from the last 70 years including a few rare and lesser-known films involving travel back to and forward in time you don’t want to miss!

This is our sixth “Best Of” subgenre list where we will rank the Top 20 films of the Time Travel Film subgenre. This subgenre intersects with other film subgenres such as Hard Sci-Fi Films, Time Loop Films, Alternate History Films, Contemporary and Urban Fantasy Films, Romantic Dramas, Utopian Future Films and Dystopian Future Films.

For our rankings, we had to use some simple criteria that defines a Time Travel film. First, the film will need to show actual travel forward or back in time. This will eliminate most Time Loop Films as that subset of Time Travel films usually involves a day or event repeating endlessly until the protagonist can break free from the time loop. We’ll be creating a Best Of list specifically for Time Loop films after this list so if you don’t see your favorite Time Loop film listed here, it will likely be on our upcoming list.

Second, the mechanism or device for how Time Travel occurs should be shown in the film. A time travel device can be anything from the phone booth from Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989) to the time tunnel in The Door (2009).

Third, an explanation of how time travel works should be explained or at least discussed within the film. Films that don’t explain how time travel works typically aren’t Sci-Fi in nature or are using Time Travel as a lazy plot or narrative device. Explanations of Time Travel can be as simple as an electrical storm (that’s discussed as a possible wormhole) that transports a U.S aircraft carrier back to WWII in The Final Countdown (1980) to the very Hard Sci-Fi theoretical elements of Time Travel discussed and shown in Interstellar (2014) and Tenet (2020).

Fourth, we’re going to include representation across various film subgenres that include Time Travel. This will include various films from the Romantic Comedy subgenre, Military Sci-Fi subgenre, Hard Sci-Fi subgenre and more. Ultimately though, all these films will have some element of Sci-Fi.

And fifth, we had to follow our rule for all of KBZ’s film listings where we only list films that have a 4.0/10 or higher rating. We’ll also be focusing on films from 1960 to the present.

Our complete list of Time Travel Films features over 191+ films from 1960 – 2023. You can find just about every Time Travel film in this collection and if you’re looking for some rare or lesser-known Time Travel Films, you can check out our past articles here:

The Best Time Travel Films

Honorable Mentions: La Jetée (1962), G.I. Samurai (1979), The Final Countdown (1980), Somewhere in Time (1980), Biggles (1986), Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Army of Darkness (1992), Timecop (1994), Happy Accidents (2000), The Time Machine (2002), Triangle (2009), Detention (2011), About Time (2013), Time Lapse (2014), Will You Be There (2016), Time Trap (2017), Reset (2017), The Endless (2018), It’s a Summer Film! (2021), Last Night in Soho (2021), Captain Nova (2021) and The Adam Project (2022).