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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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19 of the best sci-fi movies about time travel: 'Back to the Future,' 'The Terminator'

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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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The 15 Best Time Travel Movies of All...Time

Terminators, teens, and every time-hopper in-between..

Science fiction offers up so many realms to explore. So many ideas. And one of the most probing and prevalent themes, usually always rich with creativity and concern, is time travel. It's a topic we can only theorize about but it's one that has ushered in some of the best sci-fi movies of all time. Ones that expand the boundaries of imagination and, often, chase us down some very cool rabbit holes.

Whether it's the story of a killer cyborg sent back in time to wipe out the future leader of a rebellion, the tale of some poor soul forced to relive the same day over and over in a time loop, or the fable of an investigator playing with time in order to solve a mystery, this particular sci-fi terrain is always fruitful. Here are the top 15 time travel films ever!

15. Palm Springs (2020)

Where to Watch: Hulu

We kick things off with a joyous, playful "time loop" flick from 2020 starring Andy Samberg and Cristin Milioti. Palm Springs features the headlining duo as strangers who attend a wedding out in the California desert and get stuck in a day they can't escape. It's a funky and fresh spin on the format featuring two characters who run the gamut of emotions and experiences involved with being able to live forever, but never being able to move forward in time. J. K. Simmons co-stars.

Check out IGN's review of Palm Springs .

14. Predestination (2014)

Where to Watch: Roku Channel (w/ ads), or rentable on most platforms

Ethan Hawke joins Succession’s Sarah Snook and Preacher's Noah Taylor in this mind-bending thriller movie from The Spierig Brothers (Daybreakers, Jigsaw. It's about a temporal agent (Hawke) who embarks on a final time-traveling assignment to prevent an elusive criminal from launching an attack that kills thousands of people. Predestination is a twisty, turny timecop treat that keeps you guessing until the very end.

Check out IGN's review of Predestination .

13. Looper (2012)

Where to Watch: Hulu, Peacock, Fubo, or rentable on most platforms

Rian Johnson's Looper stars Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Bruce Willis as the same character from different times. As the young Joe, Gordon-Levitt is a mob assassin who kills victims that get sent back in time for him to dispose of while Willis' Joe is old Joe, who, fulfilling a "Looper" contract, is supposed to be sent back and killed by his younger self. But old Joe, upon his arrival in the past, has other things in mind - namely stopping the future from being destroyed by an entity known only as The Rainmaker. Looper is a thrilling, fascinating ride. Emily Blunt, Jeff Daniels, and Paul Dano also star.

Check out IGN's review of Looper .

12. Happy Death Day (2017)

Where to Watch: Rentable on most platforms

Happy Death Day takes the "time loop" concept and wickedly infuses into slasher-horror as Jessica Rothe's Tree finds herself being killed over and over again by the same masked maniac. Once realizing she only has a few "deaths" left in her, she takes matters into her own hands and tries to figure out who's behind the mask. Happy Death Day is bleak and hilarious...and also happens to have a sequel, Happy Death Day 2U , that plunges wildly into sci-fi!

Check out IGN's review of Happy Death Day .

11. The Time Machine (1960)

The classic 1960 film adaptation of H. G. Wells' landmark 1865 novella tells the time-honored tale of a Victorian-era inventor, here actually named H. George Wells (and played by Rod Taylor), who uses a machine of his own design to travel to the far-off future, discovering that humanity is now become two new species - the enlightened Eloi and the monstrous, underground-dwelling Morlocks. The Time Machine is a dazzling, family-friendly slice of pioneering imagination.

10. Source Code (2011)

Sleeper hit Source Code, from Moon's Duncan Jones, unspools a unique spin on "time loop," following a U.S. Army Captain, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, who's sent, over and over, into the digital recreation of a real-life train explosion, his mission being to find out who the terrorist culprit is. It's a clever, devious mystery that also stars Michelle Monaghan, Vera Farmiga, and Jeffrey Wright.

Check out IGN's review of Source Code .

9. Time After Time (1979)

Time After Time 's bonkers hook -- that being Malcolm McDowell's H.G. Wells using his time machine to track a fleeing Jack the Ripper (the late David Warner) to 1979 San Fransisco -- actually makes for an entertaining, oft emotional film. This playfulness with both sci-fi and real history forms a fun, irresistible yarn that has to be seen to be believed. Wrath of Khan's Nicholas Meyer directs while Mary Steenburgen co-stars.

8. The Terminator (1984)

Where to Watch: Prime Video, Fubo, Showtime, AMC+, or rentable on most platforms

This entry is a bit of a cheat since we're also lumping T2: Judgment Day into the mix. Hey, same continuing story, same director! That being said, James Cameron's gritty, great sci-fi bloodbath, The Terminator largely popularized the idea of going back in time and killing someone to change the present (along with larger, dystopian concepts of a world-ending A.I. uprising). Arnold Schwarzenegger's T-800 and Michael Biehn's frazzled future freedom fighter use our present era (okay, 1984) like a battleground in this sci-fi firestorm.

Check out our guide on how to watch the Terminator movies in order .

7. About Time (2013)

Where to Watch: Starz add-ons, or rentable on most platforms.

Domhnall Gleeson and Rachel McAdams star in this delightful time-tinkering rom-com from Love, Actually's Richard Curtis, as Gleeson plays a young man with the ability to time travel who tries to change his past over and over in order to improve his life, and also win the girl of his dreams. Bill Nighy co-stars in this beautifully sincere film featuring phenomenal chemistry and an intriguing take on hereditary time-hopping abilities that make About Time worth watching.

6. Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

The "time loop" concept went big with alien apocalypse flick Edge of Tomorrow (confused so much with the film's tagline "Live, Die Repeat" that Blu-ray box art waaaay emphasized the latter).  Mr. & Mrs. Smith's Doug Liman directs this terrific Tom Cruise vehicle, about humanity losing war against an invading alien army that always seems to be several steps ahead. Once Cruise's over-his-head army public affairs officer gets a taste of their cosmic precognitive power, he finds himself dying over and over in battle, unable to escape the day. Emily Blunt and Bill Paxton co-star in this keenly-crafted, funny alien actioner. 

Check out IGN's review of Edge of Tomorrrow .

5. Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

Where to Watch: Prime Video, Cinemax Go, Fubo, Roku Channel (w/ ads), Pluto TV (w/ ads), Tubi (w/ ads) or rentable on most platforms

Two teenage metalheads from San Dimas, California recklessly, and hilariously, mosh through time, collecting (okay, mostly kidnapping) famous historical figures from in order to ace a crucial test in one of the most entertaining movies from the '80s, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure . Smart and dumb collide in fabulous ways in this roller-coaster of sublime idiocy. Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter embodied these dense-but-sweet wannabe rockers to a "T," fast forming an iconic comedy duo.

Check out our guide to the best Keanu Reeves movies of all time for more.

4. Primer (2004)

Where to Watch: Rentable on Amazon, Apple, and YouTube

Shoestring budget indie film, Primer, which acts as a no-frills psychological thought experiment about the accidental discovery of time travel, is one of the most cerebral takes on temporal tampering ever. It's a stimulating, challenging chronicle of two engineers who dabble in time travel, testing its limits, only to discover the awful ramifications and consequences of fourth-dimensional meddling. It's twisty, math-y, and full tilt fascinating.

Check out IGN's review of Primer .

3. Groundhog Day (1993)

Where to Watch: Prime Video, Fubo, AMC+, or rentable on most platforms.

There were certainly "time loop" stories -- in film, TV, and literature -- before Harold Ramis' Groundhog Day , but this early '90s hit popularized the concept to the degree of being considered the "Grandaddy" of the subgenre. Mercilessly funny and surprisingly endearing, Groundghog Day pushed the format in new directions. All of this is accentuated by Bill Murray's exceptional performance as a shallow TV weatherman, Phil Connors, who gets stuck in a repeating February 2nd nightmare with no true explanation (other than perhaps the universe forcing him to become a better human). Andie MacDowell, Chris Elliott, and Scooter the Groundhog co-star.

2. 12 Monkeys (1995)

Where to Watch: Cinemax Go, or rentable on most platforms

Director Terry Gilliam's insane, lavish visuals stuck mainstream pay dirt with the inventive, star-studded 12 Monkeys (which also became a pretty great TV series 20 years later, by the way). Bruce Willis and Brad Pitt (who received an Oscar nomination) headlined this warped, serpentine tale of a future prisoner, from a wasteland world all but wiped out by a virus, sent back in time to track the plague's origins. "Science ain't an exact science" Willis' Cole is told as he clumsily, and harshly, arrives in both the right and wrong times, piecing together the puzzle, thinking the disease may have begun as the brainchild of a mental patient (Pitt) from a wealthy family. 12 Monkeys is freaky, funky, and full of surprises.

1. Back to the Future 

Where to Watch: Fubo, AMC+, or rentable on most platforms

Robert Zemeckis' Back to the Future is not only considered one of the best front-to-back movies of all time but it laid the groundwork for time travel in a way that's influenced just about every sci-fi property since. And yes, we're cheating here again, like we did with Terminator, and also including the film's two sequels in this entry too (same story, same director!). 

All the ingredients came together in all the right ways for this pivotal pop-culture milestone, tracking young Marty McFly's adventures through time as he tries to set things right for himself and his family (lest he and his siblings wind up erased or his own future kids wind up delinquents). Michael J. Fox and Christopher Lloyd create a time-hopping team for the ages (inspiring the gruesome guffaws of Rick & Morty) as Marty and local disgraced inventor (every town's got one, right?) Doc Brown. Back to the Future is the apex of witty, exciting sci-fi.

Matt Fowler is a writer for IGN, a member of the Television Critics Association, and co-host of  We Enjoy Wrestling . Follow him on Twitter at  @TheMattFowler  and Facebook at  Facebook.com/MattBFowler .

The Top 15 Time Travel Movies of All...Time

IGN Live - San Diego Comic Con 2017

12 Most Complex Time Travel Movies Executed Well

Hi, this is Barry, and welcome to my site. How a time travel movie is conceived and executed establishes how complicated it can become. Some filmmakers avoid the complexities, others attempt it and make a mess of the timeline(s), but a few embrace the convoluted nature of time travel and do a fantastic job with the execution. Before we go into the list, let me be clear on how I define a time travel movie. So long as there is one person experiencing time in a non-linear fashion, the film makes it into the category. Here is my list of the most complex time travel movies that are well-executed (in no particular order).

Hollywordle – Check out my new Hollywood Wordle game!

Where To Watch?

To find where to stream any movie or series based on your country, use This Is Barry’s Where To Watch .

Oh, and if this article doesn’t answer all of your questions, drop me a comment or an FB chat message, and I’ll get you the answer .  You can find other film explanations using the search option on top of the site.

For the complete list, do check the 50+ Best Time Travel Movies of all times.

Back To The Future: Part 2

I’m talking specifically about the second part. And why is that? Because a significant portion of the film’s events happens on the same date as the first movie. You see two of Martin and Doc Brown, and they have to make sure they achieve their objective without disturbing any of the events from the first film. This complexity does nothing to affect the film’s humour and quirky characters.

The timeline diagram that Doc Brown draws on the blackboard is iconic and is used by almost everyone to explain complicated time travel movies today. Watching many of the scenes from the first part in the backdrop of this sequel is what makes it extraordinary. Many other time travel movies have emulated this idea in their plots.

Oriol Paulo’s films are a pleasure to watch. He’s got a real talent for non-linear storytelling in the genre of murder mysteries. Mirage combines a crime-thriller with science fiction and time travel in one movie. This time travel movie follows a multi-timeline approach and keeps you on edge with multiple plot twists. A mysterious storm causes a TV to become a bridge across 25 years, enabling characters to communicate with the past. Information that is shared with the past results in different decisions and thereby creates an alternate timeline. Facts and events from each timeline are aggregated to solve the case of murder. It’s enjoyable to watch other subtle pieces of information getting unearthed due to the altered timeline and how they feed into the plot.

The ending of the film wraps up all the time-complications very well, leaving almost no plot holes. Placing a murder mystery within the container of time travel and the movie’s non-linear narrative really make Mirage quite unique.

You can find a detailed explanation with a timeline diagram here – Mirage Explained .

The Infinite Man

You have probably not heard of this low budget Australian film, but it’s a pretty wicked time travel movie. A man wants his girlfriend and himself to relive their anniversary of the previous year. When they do so, they end up encountering multiple versions of themselves travelling back various times into the past. You really need to not blink when you watch this film, as the same events are revisited time and over from different perspectives. The Infinite Man follows a single timeline model and handles the time-complexities superbly. Each character loops back a different number of times. The execution challenge then becomes how to let the who is who and what the reason was for travelling back in time. This complexity was handled excellently in the film.

Infinite Man really deserves more attention considering something this complicated was achieved in a tiny budget with three actors and no special effects. Oh, did I mention some scenes are damn funny too?

For a detailed breakdown of the film and a timeline diagram, read this – The Infinite Man Explained .

Avengers: Endgame

The fate of 20+ films was riding on Avengers: Endgame. We had already witnessed X-Men: Days Of Future Past, which was otherwise a good film, mess up the timeline so badly it erased the events of the original movies and left the fate of future films in the dark. Endgame needed to revisit multiple films of the MCU to temporarily borrow Infinity Stones. To achieve this, the multiple timeline approach was strategically adopted. Meaning travelling to the past of the prime MCU timeline cannot alter it, and all past events occur in alternate timelines. This ensured that all of the prior 20+ movies were preserved. It also provided a clear direction for future MCU films which will be set in the prime MCU timeline. Using this setup, they took the liberty to mess around with the events of previous movies to introduce repercussions of time travel. Examples of this are when we see two Caps fighting and Loki disappearing with the Tesseract.

The best part of this is if future directors choose, they can explore tinkering with plots set in any of the five alternate timelines created in Endgame. Considering the time travel movie wrapped up revisits to older movies in a smart way, learning from the small mistakes in Back To The Future, Endgame definitely deserves mention in this list.

For an extensive analysis of the time travel, plot and characters with a timeline video, go here – Avengers: Endgame Explained .

Primer is centred on two guys who discover time travel accidentally while experimenting with gravitational effects on objects. While the first couple of trips to the past make the film look easy, it soon escalates into a web of timelines folding onto themselves in an extremely convoluted manner. Primer also sports one of the most creative mechanics of time travel using the simple logic that you cannot travel back to before the time machine was switched on or  primed . The movie smartly uses this limitation to show how the characters need to come up with ingenious ideas to travel back multiple times. The fascinating bit is that the reason for time-travel comes from pure scientific curiosity and not to achieve a grand purpose. While there might appear to be a few loose ends, the film wraps it up nice and tight. Do pay close attention to everything in this film, and yeah, you’ll need to watch it twice.

No time travel movies’ list is complete without the mention of Primer. The film was produced within a teeny tiny budget of $7000 and yet presents one of the most complicated sets of timelines one can imagine.

Here’s a detailed timeline-wise explanation of this movie – Primer Explained .

12 Monkeys is too close to the COVID-19 virus epidemic for comfort. This time travel movie sees a dystopian future trying to identify the original strain of a virus that took out most of the living beings on the planet. The scientists of the future rely on time travel to identify the source of the infection. The film sports a single faultless timeline with every event tying up beautifully at the end. Small pieces of apparently isolated incidents begin connecting and come together as a whole to reveal the planned solution for the epidemic.

Wading through the misdirections, and the way Cole slowly narrows down and locates the source and how his actions affect the timeline (or rather don’t) makes this film an excellent piece of time travel thriller.

Here’s a detailed plot analysis and explanation of the film – 12 Monkeys Explained .

Predestination

Predestination is the mother of all time complexities that one can witness in a time travel movie. When you try to mentally visualize this single timeline’s flow of events, you will have a couple of nosebleeds. Based on the short story All You Zombies, Predestination extrapolates the book brilliantly. The character development, their interaction and how their stories merge into a larger scheme of events is intriguing and surprises you continually. Every time you think you are getting a hold on what’s happening, the film takes it up a notch and in the end, brings it all together and leaves you talking to yourself. 

Predestination is perhaps the most flawless execution of an extremely complex time travel plot while establishing that everything about the movie is one giant paradox.

Here’s everything you need to understand and untangle this film’s plot (yes, there’s a timeline diagram) – Predestination Explained .

Déjà Vu is the classic tale of hunting down a bomber before he strikes again. The catch, however, is that the team uses a time device to follow the life of one of the victims to get the bomber. While the folks of science, who believe in paradoxes, believe that the victim’s fate is sealed, Agent Doug finds it impossible to ignore the obvious that apart from nabbing the bomber he can save the lives of many, but this requires messing with time and rewriting history as they know it.

Though the execution of the film does introduce mild plot holes, the timelines in the movie are wrapped up pretty convincingly at the end. The really innovative sequence is the car chase taking place between two vehicles in entirely different times.

Timecrimes is a fun Spanish time travel movie happening over the duration of one day and a single timeline. What’s unique about this film is that the lead character who travels through is an average Joe. Typically the person travelling through time intends it and is well versed with the science behind it. Not in Time Crimes though. Héctor fumbles his way through most of the plot, and it’s the nature of time that seems to iron things out automatically. The entire film is a giant series of accidents complicating matters for the central character as he gets through his extra-long day.

Multiple Hectors cluelessly running around and amplifying time complications provides for a good deal of humour. Timecrimes is well-executed, and the end of the film wraps up any loose ends and maintains the timeline integrity beautifully.

To read a detailed explanation of this movie, go here – Timecrimes Explained .

Butterfly Effect

Butterfly Effect toggles back and forth, repeatedly creating multiple futures based on small yet significant actions. The story is thought through well and lays out the prime timeline with strategically placed voids in the first half. The latter half revisits these pockets of missing memories, offering a choice to the protagonist to execute a different action.

The protagonist making a small change to a single event causes a cascading effect over years leading up to a drastic and unexpected change to the future. True to its name, Butterfly Effect plays off on Chaos Theory fantastically.

This is a low budget film showcasing an innovative angle to non-linear events via the means of a mystical camera that takes pictures of the future, of the next day. Time Lapse lacks quality characters but makes up for it by executing a single timeline well. At the beginning of the film, we are shown one picture weeks into the future, while the remaining photos are 24hrs into the future. The characters witnessing the pictures of their future creates a chain of events leading up to that final photograph. What’s more, is that the camera possibly takes photos as close as 12 hrs into the future. Regardless of the characters’ intentions and actions, they keep feeding into their fate which refuses to get altered. 

Despite a complicated chain of events, the film manages the timeline accurately. It leaves no room for flaws in the execution and hence Time Lapse finds its way into this list despite its poor character development.

Here’s a detailed plot analysis for the film with each of the pictures from the camera – Time Lapse Explained .

Triangle is not strictly a time travel movie. But as I mentioned before, as long as one character experiences time non-linearly, the film qualifies. The film contains time loops that have three versions of the lead at any given moment on a abandoned ship. The film is quite complicated and yet manages to deliver an airtight sequence of events looping on itself wonderfully.

Placed in the slasher genre, Triangle has brilliantly conceived time loops. The cherry on top really is the ending which discloses the reason why the loops have come into existence.

Here’s a complete numbered loop-wise detailed breakdown of the movie – Triangle Explained .

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

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10 Best Time Loop Movies

August 24, 2017 James Miller Sci-Film Reviews 2

Time travel is often used as a template for many science fiction films, and once the concept is introduced, it offers a unique and engaging opportunity for great storytelling. Time travel movies generally require a means of time travel , such as a time machine or portal, to take a traveler back or forward in time, with the traveler then able to return to their own time by the same means. These type of time travel movies usually throw up a number of problems for the main character, who then has to contend with the time paradoxes their actions create.

A time loop, on the other hand, is a movie plot device in which a person becomes mysteriously stuck in time, perhaps just a day or so, and usually without the aid of any time machine. The character is then fated to relive the same period of time over and over again, each time trying to find a way of breaking free of their never-ending cycle of repetition. Meanwhile, the time loop continues until a certain condition is met, such as a time being reached, or the death of the main character, after which the phenomenon resets and the process starts all over again.

While this interesting story device is not done nearly as often in time travel films , it is still used often enough that to this day time loop movie makers continue coming up with new storylines and putting their own spin on the genre whenever they can.

With all that said, here is my top 10 countdown of the very best movies involving time loops:

Repeaters (2010) Director: Carl Bessai IMDB: 5.8

Three young drug addicts at a rehabilitation facility are fated to endlessly repeat the ninth step in their recovery program after failing to apologize to those people harmed by their addiction. What ensues is a gritty and enjoyable indie movie which explores what a group of characters of dubious morals would do if they were fated to relive the same day over and over again with absolutely no consequences. This low-budget movie is quite unique, and while it is certainly not an epic, it does offer a much darker, more realistic, and overall intriguing exploration of the time loop premise.

12:01 (1993) Director: Jack Sholder IMDB: 6.9

A tardy office clerk called Barry Thomas finally talks to the crush of his dreams, Lisa Fredericks, who is a high-profile scientist working on a particle accelerator at the same company. After work, Barry then sees Lisa murdered, and while at home later that night gets a freak electrical shock from a lamp that zaps him back in time to repeat the same day. Now he’s got to figure out how to break the time loop, while keeping her from dying. Sort of a “Back to the Future” meets “Office Space,” this TV movie may not have had the money or cinematic flare of other big budget, silver screen movies, but it does have a decent cast, underplayed comedy, and a simple engaging enough plot to make for an entertaining little sci-fi gem.

Before I Fall (2017) Director: Ry Russo-Young IMDB: 6.4

Samantha Kingston, a spoiled teenage girl who has a seemingly ideal life, complete with cool high school friends and boyfriend, has the perfect day planned until a fateful accident traps her within an endless loop. She is subsequently forced to reevaluate her life, and particularly the casual cruelty in which she interacts with others, in order to try breaking the repeating cycle. Although this movie is primarily directed towards a teenage female audience, it is still mysterious enough to keep the interest of a wider demographic and does cover many universal truths and life lessons, including growing up, friendships, and developing a strong moral compass.

Run Lola Run (1998) Director: Tom Tykwer IMDB: 7.7

One of the most unique time loop movies out there, this German thriller is surrealism incarnate. It centers around Lola, a young woman with vividly red hair, who is trying to raise and deliver a large sum of money to her boyfriend, Manni, within just 20 minutes in order that he may give the money to his violent crime boss after accidentally leaving the original sum on a subway train. In the meantime, Lola must do all this and reach her boyfriend before he makes a desperate and dangerous decision to rob a nearby bank. Unusual aspects of ‘Run Lola Run’ includes the use of crayon-like animation to symbolize when Lola is venturing off on a different sequence at the beginning of each of her runs, as well as a unique soundtrack, and distinctive look that makes it stand out as one of the more memorable loop movies you’ve ever seen.

Haunter (2013) Director: Vincenzo Natali IMDB: 5.9

Supernatural horror stories may not sound like a properly mixed element of time loop movies, but “Haunter” tries something unique and darkly different. This one’s about Lisa Johnson, a girl who on her 16th birthday was murdered alongside her parents and little brother back in 1985, with the unfortunate family subsequently doomed to relive the fateful day before over and over for eternity. After Lisa becomes conscious of her circumstances, she discovers that she is still able to communicate with people from other timelines, leading to an interesting premise that presents itself like an extremely well-done Twilight Zone episode. Overall, Haunter is a beautifully shot, well-directed, acted and imaginatively grounded movie, which plays out more like a mystery thriller than a horror story, although it certainly has the look, tone, and cinematography of one.

Source Code (2011) Director: Duncan Jones IMDB: 7.5

“Source Code” is a nice change of pace from the usual time loop angle. In this movie, a giant train explosion has already taken place and U.S. Army pilot Captain Colter Stevens finds himself part of an experimental government program that sends him back to about 8 minutes before the disaster in order to learn the bomber’s identity and prevent the next attack involving a large dirty bomb unfolding six hours hence. This film has a really tight, well framed and thoughtful storyline that handles it’s subject matter excellently, and is complemented by a good cast that includes the likes of Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Monaghan and Jeffery Wright.

ARQ (2016) Director: Tony Elliott IMDB: 6.4

This futuristic story brings a slightly more apocalyptic tweak to the time loop genre, and focuses on a military engineer called Renton and his girlfriend, Hannah, who are hiding an experimental energy source machine called ARQ , which may provide the means of freeing humanity from a tyrannical corporation that is dominating and polluting the planet. After armed raiders enter and try to steal the perpetual motion machine, a sequence of time loops are instigated, giving the couple the opportunity to try and sort out all the clues, and identities of the masked figures in order to find out who is targeting them and why. Having a world-ending related theme subsequently brings an extra dimension to the table, while the characters and decent acting really helps to move the story forward at a pleasurable pace. A very satisfying film overall.

Triangle (2009) Director: Christopher Smith IMDB: 6.9

Triangle involves single mother, Jess, and her friends getting stuck in a crazy storm that forces them to abandon their yacht and board an eerie deserted ocean liner that mysteriously appears from out of the sea mist. What ensues is a weird, intelligently written supernatural tale involving a masked serial killer on the loose, which has plenty of chills to provide a dark, engrossing and ultimately satisfying white knuckle ride. While complicated at times, Melissa George’s strong performance helps draw us into the madness of her emotional reality, as she tries to figure out this compelling looping jigsaw puzzle.

Groundhog Day (1993) Director: Harold Ramis IMDB: 8

The most classic, iconic and frequently referenced movie of its genre, there isn’t a time loop film out there that can be described without Groundhog Day being mentioned in some capacity. Bill Murray plays a news reporter who despises covering a story on Groundhog Day, but learns a whole new world of karma when he’s forced to relive the same day over and over again. This is the classic story that, still to this day, perfectly embodies all the good and bad possibilities of being stuck in a time loop, and everything that goes with it. It’s a film that also stands the test of time, with the comedy, writing and highly enjoyable storytelling providing much replay value (pun intended) to this day.

Edge of Tomorrow (2014) Director: Doug Liman IMDB: 7.9

The most recent and most badass use of the time loop concept, “ Edge of Tomorrow ” was a critically acclaimed, but financially fumbled, mega sci-fi blockbuster that depicts the disgraced Major William Cage being forced to relive the worst day of his life, while battling time altering aliens in hulked up mech suits. The result is a darkly funny, action movie that surprises you on many levels and in many ways. The casting and acting are truly top-notch, with the likes of Tom Cruise, Emily Blunt, Brendan Gleeson and the late great Bill Paxton in full form. Without doubt, this is one of the most amusing, inventive and effective use of a time loop premise, which is not only fully explained in the movie, but is wholly relevant to the plot, and adds to an already tightly packed, amazing sci-fi blockbuster.

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• 11 Time-Travel Movies to Watch After Netflix’s <i>The Adam Project</i>

11 Time-Travel Movies to Watch After Netflix’s The Adam Project

I n Netflix’s The Adam Project , Ryan Reynolds plays Adam Reed, a fighter pilot from 2050 who heads back in time to stop the development of time travel. His mission only gets harder after he crash-lands in his childhood backyard in the year 2022 and is forced to team up with his video game-loving 12-year-old self (portrayed by Walker Scobell).

This isn’t Back to the Future : There are no DeLoreans or high-flux capacitors in sight. (Though Mark Ruffalo , as Adam’s inventor dad, does make for a worthy Doc Brown surrogate.) Instead, Adam hops into a wormhole and traverses the space-time continuum to let his preteen self know that the ability to time-hop is a privilege, not a right. It’s a rather heady concept for a family film, but most time-travel movies are about more than just joyriding through history. Whether it’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt playing a time-jumping hitman in Looper or Jennifer Garner aging 17 years with help from magic fairy dust in 13 Going on 30 , movies featuring transtemporal travel often show why we should err on the side of caution when spanning time and space.

If you’re craving more time travel, here’s a list of 11 movies to watch after The Adam Project . A couple quick notes: Since Back to the Future is undeniably the greatest time-travel movie of all time , it’s omitted from this list to make room for lesser-known choices. The prototypical time-loop film Groundhog’s Day was also passed over in lieu of a more recent selection.

You won’t need a science degree to enjoy any of the movies included here. But you might walk away from your viewing experience feeling as if the future is coming sooner than you think.

13 Going on 30 (2004)

Jennifer Garner gives Tom Hanks a run for his money in this Big -esque coming-of-age dramedy about a girl who wakes up from her traumatic 13th birthday party to find she’s 30, flirty, and thriving. She quickly learns growing up is hard to do, especially when you do it overnight.

Rent it on Amazon Prime Video

Donnie Darko (2001)

After Jake Gyllenhaal ’s titular sad boy narrowly survives a freak accident, he’s left with disturbing visions of a 6-foot-tall rabbit named Frank, who tells him the world is going to end in 28 days. If you don’t totally understand this time-bending film, don’t worry: its stars don’t either . Donnie Darko ’s perplexing final moments are part of its charm.

Watch it on HBO Max

Looper (2012)

Rian Johnson ’s sci-fi action thriller takes place in a not-so-distant future where mobsters punish those they don’t like by sending them back in time to be killed by a futuristic assassin known as a “looper.” When one of those hired guns (a prosthetic nose-wearing Joseph Gordon-Levitt) comes face-to-face with his older self ( Bruce Willis ), he ends up on a wild goose chase to save his future without unraveling his past.

Watch it on Netflix

About Time (2013)

When Tim (Domhnall Gleeson) learns he has the power to travel back in time, he can’t resist making a few tiny tweaks to his past. He soon discovers that even the smallest changes have big consequences in this weepy Brit rom-com directed by Love Actually helmer Richard Curtis .

Happy Death Day (2017)

In this slasher film, often described as “ Groundhog’s Day meets Scream ,” a college student, played by Jessica Rothe, must solve her own murder if she wants to live to see the next day.

Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure (1989)

Bill (Alex Winter) and Ted ( Keanu Reeves ) hurtle through time and space in a cosmic phone booth, meeting historical dudes who can help them ace their high school history paper. The best part is that when you’re done with this one, you can keep the adventure going with its sequels: 1991’s Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey and 2020’s Bill & Ted Face the Music . Pretty excellent, right?

Run Lola Run (1998)

Lola (Franka Potente) —who stands out with fire engine-red hair—only has 20 minutes to secure enough money to save her boyfriend from a Berlin crime boss. This German experimental thriller isn’t your typical time-loop film, but Lola’s ability to learn from her past mistakes to save her love will make you happy that she’s running a marathon, not a sprint.

See You Yesterday (2019)

In this Spike Lee -produced film, high schooler C.J. Walker (Eden Duncan-Smith) uses a backpack time machine to save her brother from being killed by a police officer. But altering the events of the past have consequences that not even a science prodigy can anticipate.

Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)

This sweet sci-fi rom-com starts with a classified ad from Kenneth (Mark Duplass), a grocery-store worker looking for a partner to travel back in time with. “Safety not guaranteed,” he warns. While some write him off as crazy or paranoid, disillusioned college grad-turned-alt weekly intern Darius ( Aubrey Plaza ) might be willing to risk it all for a chance to roam the universe with him.

Arrival (2016)

Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi drama , which stars Amy Adams as a celebrated linguist trying to communicate with an intelligent alien race, plays with time in ways we won’t dare spoil here. Suffice to say that the film’s twist ending will make you rethink the entire movie.

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Palm Springs (2020)

Nyles (Andy Samberg) and Sarah (Cristin Milioti) found love in a hopeless place: a Palm Springs wedding that they’ve been forced to relive over and over again after getting stuck in a time loop. Both darkly hilarious and sweetly nihilistic, Palm Springs is a unique rom-com for those who don’t want to admit they like rom-coms.

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The Best Quote From Each Of Christopher Nolan's 12 Movies

10 disney villains who turned out to be good, kristen stewart's new vampire movie sounds like the anti-twilight we need in 2024.

Many of you have experienced a seemingly never-ending quarantine these past few months due to the coronavirus pandemic devastating the world. There's no doubt you miss coming and going as you please, as well as traveling to your favorite destinations. Now that spring is in full swing, the urge to get up and move is especially overwhelming.

RELATED: 10 Time Travel Movies That Are Not Sci-Fi (According To IMDb)

Perhaps traveling isn't always as great it seems, though. That's the premise explored in the science fiction movies on this list. These features involve time travel and the negative consequences of jumping back and forth through space. While these are some top-notch films, their characters endure disaster, imprisonment, and even death.

Planet of the Apes (1968)

The original Planet of the Apes launched an empire after it hit theaters. Rod Serling of The Twilight Zone fame co-wrote the screenplay for the film, which stars Charlton Heston at the height of his career. Heston's character George Taylor plays an astronaut whose space shuttle crashes into an unknown planet during a light-speed expedition.

It turns out Taylor and his crew have traveled thousands of years into the future, from 1972 to 3978, and the planet they've collided with is ruled by anthropomorphic apes. Taylor is eventually taken hostage by the apes, where he's brought face-to-face with his own species' demise.

Donnie Darko (2001)

Richard Kelly's cult classic is about much more than suburban angst and mental health. Donnie Darko is an intricate, layered story about physics, fate, and time travel. Set in Middlesex, Virginia, during October 1988, the movie stars Jake Gyllenhaal in the title role.

Donnie Darko, a teenager diagnosed with schizophrenia, is visited by a figure in a terrifying rabbit suit who calls himself Frank. Frank tells Donnie the world will end in 28 days, propelling the teen into a month-long search for truth that defies logic and compromises the teen's existence. Gyllenhaal's ensemble supporting cast includes his sister Maggie, Jenna Malone, Patrick Swayze. and Drew Barrymore .

Twelve Monkeys (1995)

British sci-fi auteur Terry Gillam is responsible for this grim tale of a deadly virus that forces humankind to live underground. Bruce Willis plays a prisoner named James Cole, a man living in 2035 who is forced to go back in time to 1996 in order to keep the virus from spreading.

RELATED: The 10 Best Time Travel Movies According to Rotten Tomatoes

Full of enticing atmospherics and moody scenarios, Twelve Monkeys  co-stars Brad Pitt and Christopher Plummer. Pitt received an Oscar nomination for his role as mental patient Jeffrey Goines.

Looper (2012)

Another well-made time travel movie starring Bruce Willis, Looper is a heady, action-packed narrative from the mind of Rian Johnson . In the film, time travel is illegal, but the technology has been adopted by the mob so they can take out people they deem threats.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt plays a hired assassin known as a looper, a person hired to go back in time in order to do the mob's bidding. Things take a turn when Gordon-Levitt's character Joe learns the mob has put a hit on his future self -- played by Willis.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (2006)

The stunning anime The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is a cautionary tale about a teenage girl who uses her ability to time travel for her own ends. When Makoto Konno realizes she can literally leap through time, the girl uses her power to protect her personal relationships.

RELATED: 10 Of The Best Space Travel Movies Of All Time, Ranked

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time explores how Makoto learns to accept fate instead of manipulating it with her skills. While disastrous at times, the film is fueled by a heartwarming, coming-of-age theme.

Primer (2004)

Shane Carruth's low-budget masterpiece is equal parts psychological horror and intellectual science fiction. Primer follows two men working in the tech industry who develop a device that allows whatever lies inside it to jump through time. The device, it seems, speeds up the space-time continuum.

The two men, Aaron and Abe, soon use their invention in order to gain both financial and personal renown. Aaron and Abe from both the future and the past collide in a confusing, mild-altering power struggle.

Source Code (2011)

Duncan Jones -- son of David Bowie and director of 2009's Moon -- is responsible for this underrated jigsaw puzzle of a time travel movie. Source Code stars Jake Gyllenhaal as Captain Colter Stevens, a serviceman who agrees to take part in a government experiment after a massive subway explosion kills hundreds in Chicago.

RELATED: 10 Best Jake Gyllenhaal Movies, According To IMDb

Stevens is sent back in time to the eight minutes before the train explosion in order to find clues and prevent a second attack. Stevens must repeat his mission over and over again in order to figure out who is responsible for this heinous terrorist attack.

Army of Darkness (1992)

Army of Darkness is the third film in Sam Raimi's Evil Dead trilogy . Bruce Campbell returns as Ash, who is transported -- thanks to a special occult book known as the Necronomicon -- back to the 14th century with his 1988 Oldsmobile.

The one-armed Ash arrives in the late middle ages with a shotgun, his high school chemistry book, and a chainsaw that mounts to his missing arm. These tools come in handy as an army of reanimated skeleton warriors attack the medieval kingdom Ash visits.

The Time Machine (1960)

This classic science fiction adaptation of H.G. Wells's time travel book sees actor Rod Taylor playing Victorian-era inventor George. After making his own time travel device, George pursues the future, eventually reaching the year 802,701.

In the far future, George immerses himself in a seemingly utopian civilization full of dark secrets. The Time Machine is noted for its impressive special effects . While they may be outdated by contemporary standards, they are still fun to watch on the big screen.

Groundhog Day (1993)

Harold Ramis's comedy about a man who keeps reliving the same day over and over again is considered one of Bill Murray's best movies . Murray plays a self-centered weatherman named Phil stuck in a loop: every day is suddenly February 2, 1992: Groundhog Day.

As the cycle wages on, Phil realizes a lot about himself and his egotistical ways. Andie McDowell and Chris Eliot co-star.

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The 10 most confusing time-travel movies of all time, ranked

As the hands of time relentlessly move forward, our fascination with bending its immutable laws seems to grow inversely. Time is an abstract but universal concept everyone experiences, but no one fully comprehends. It is tempting and exciting to think of influencing it, going back in time to fix mistakes from the past or forward to see what the future holds. 

The cinematic world has always been fascinated by the enticing potential of  time travel , and films that explore this genre typically lead viewers through a tangled web of paradoxes and convoluted plot twists.  Filmmakers use time travel  to investigate and pose profound questions about the nature of reality, causality, and the human condition. 

This bold narrative exploration, however, often results in movies that baffle as much as they enthrall. Time travel films have a reputation for being convoluted, so join us as we untangle the 10 most confusing films in the genre and explore the mysteries of time, space, and the fourth dimension.

10. Time Lapse  (2014)

Bradley King’s  Time Lapse  combines elements of science fiction with suspense in an original way. It uses the concept of time, but not in the usual sense of characters traveling through time, but rather through technology that shows glimpses into the future. The film follows three pals as they investigate a mystery device that can take Polaroid photos up to 24 hours into the future. They intend to exploit the technology for their benefit but soon realize they’ve entered a tangled web of inevitable causes and effects.

The presentation of the notion of chronology in  Time Lapse  is one example of the film’s difficulty to follow. The film deviates from the typical cliche of changing the past to change the future by investigating the idea of the future influencing present behavior. As they try to recreate the scenarios depicted in the images of the future, our protagonists find themselves caught in a self-fulfilling prophecy in which cause and consequence become increasingly murky.

9. Primer  (2004)

The low-budget independent film Primer by Shane Carruth explores the territory of recursive time loops and alternate timelines in a way that makes quantum mechanics look simple. The story follows Aaron and Abe, two engineers, as they mistakenly create a time machine in their garage. Initially, they used time travel for insider trading rather than heroic deeds. However, as they continue to try new things, the story becomes more complex, with several timelines and alternating versions of the protagonists. 

When compared to other time travel movies,  Primer  stands out for its unwavering commitment to its internal logic and its reluctance to simplify or explain away its intricacies. By creating time loops, the characters in the film can return to the moment they first activated the time machine. As the characters tinker with the past, they create alternate timelines and copies of themselves, leading to a tangled web of events. The film avoids blatant exposition and hand-holding the audience through the plot, so viewers must pay attention to all the details. Still, numerous viewings are nearly required to make sense of the story’s complex web of timeframes and the ripple effects of the characters’ decisions.

8. Timecrimes  (2007)

Spanish director Nacho Vigalondo’s  Timecrimes  (2007) opens with its protagonist, Héctor, leading a seemingly ordinary existence in the countryside of Spain. But things turn for the bizarre when he looks into a mysterious object in his backyard and discovers a time machine. Héctor’s life becomes increasingly dangerous and convoluted as he begins experimenting with the device, and his past, present, and future identities interact.

One of the defining features of  Timecrimes  is its usage of a time paradox, in which Héctor attempts to prevent certain events from happening but instead brings about those very events. Héctor’s constant attempts to ‘correct’ the chronology only lead to more significant uncertainty and disorder, so the plot spirals into a self-fulfilling prophecy. There are numerous versions of the same character in the story, and viewers need to keep track of how they interact with one another. For those willing to wade through its temporal complexities,  Timecrimes  is captivating and thought-provoking despite, or maybe because of, its difficulty.

7. Looper  (2012)

In Rian Johnson’s  Looper , criminals from the future travel through time to assassinate people in the past. Joe is a ‘looper’ who lives in a futuristic dystopian world and whose duty is to kill people brought back in time by criminal organizations of the future. He is making good money and has few responsibilities until his older self (played by Bruce Willis) is brought back to be fired, setting up a dramatic chase and moral conflict. 

The idea of one’s elder self-interacting with one’s younger self causes a self-inflicted time loop, which leads to paradoxes and doubts about causality. Handling  these paradoxes is one of the main reasons  Looper  is perceived as puzzling . Johnson expressly chose not to explain the physics of time travel, even utilizing a sequence to mock these worries, instead focusing on the film’s thematic and character developments. While this approach allows for a deeper investigation of moral ambiguity and self-identity, it forces the viewer to grapple with the complications of time travel on their own.

6. Predestination  (2014)

One of the most puzzling time-travel films  is  Predestination , starring Ethan Hawke and directed by the Spierig Brothers. The film takes the idea of time travel and builds a tale full of paradoxes and identity twists. The film is based on Robert A. Heinlein’s short story  All You Zombies , which follows a temporal agent as he tries to stop a criminal known only as the “Fizzle Bomber.” The predestination paradox, often known as a causal loop, plays a significant role in the strange nature of  Predestination . 

This paradox describes a chain of events in which a time traveler influences the past in a way that results in their time travel. What follows is a perpetual cycle with no beginning and no finish. The movie goes along with this idea by revealing that the temporal agent, the unnamed woman, and the “Fizzle Bomber” are all the same person at different times. These turns make viewers rethink their understanding of the story and their assumptions about the characters and their relationships to one another.

5. Donnie Darko  (2001)

Richard Kelly’s  Donnie Darko  deftly combines elements of the psychological thriller, science fiction, and teen drama genres. At first sight,  Donnie Darko  may not seem like a typical time-travel film, but its exploration of this subject, especially in its last act, places it among the most baffling of its kind. Donnie Darko (Jake Gyllenhaal) is a disturbed youngster who lives through a bizarre tragedy in which a jet engine falls into his bedroom. 

Donnie, struggling with his mental health, is led astray by a rabbit-like creature named Frank and engages in a series of weird and more harmful actions. The interpretation of time travel in  Donnie Darko , which draws mainly on theoretical physics, is a significant source of the film’s inherent ambiguity. According to Kelly’s theory, the primary universe is in danger of being destroyed by an unstable offshoot of time called a Tangent Universe. Donnie, as the designated “Living Receiver,” is tasked with averting the impending apocalypse by delivering a piece of future technology, a jet engine, to the present day.

4. 12 Monkeys   (1995)

Neo-noir science fiction thriller  12 Monkeys , directed by Terry Gilliam, follows James Cole (Bruce Willis), a prisoner in a future when a deadly epidemic has driven the vestiges of civilization underground. It is suspected that a gang known as the Army of the 12 Monkeys released the virus, so scientists send Cole back in time to investigate their activities and learn more about the infection so they can find a cure. 

Inadvertently, he travels to several eras, including 1990, where he ends up in a mental institution and encounters Brad Pitt’s character and Madeleine Stowe’s empathetic therapist. One aspect of  12 Monkeys  that confuses viewers is how it explores time as a perpetual loop. Cole has a recurring nightmare in which he witnesses the shooting death of a man at an airport. In the dream, Cole’s younger self is present to see his own murder, meaning there is no way to modify the course of time in this world. 

3. Triangle  (2009)

Christopher Smith’s  Triangle  is a psychological horror film with a novel perspective on time travel. Melissa George stars as Jess, a single mother and sailor who sets off with her pals. When their yacht sinks in a storm, they take refuge on an apparently deserted ocean liner, where Jess suffers from a severe case of déjà vu, and the others are stalked and killed by a masked figure.

The initial confusion in  Triangle  stems from its narrative structure, which consists of a succession of repeating loops with minor differences. Each cycle reveals more about the one before it, gradually revealing the unpleasant reality. However, tracking the overlapping circles and comprehending their significance is a complicated process.

2. Source Code  (2011)

Duncan Jones’  Source Code  is a time-traveling, quantum-mechanical, and virtual-reality-tinged science fiction thriller. The film follows U.S. Army helicopter pilot Colter Stevens (Jake Gyllenhaal), who, following a devastating train explosion, is forced to constantly relive the final eight minutes in the life of a passenger through an experimental government program known as the “Source Code.” Stevens, who must find the bomber to stop a second assault, struggles with the disorientation of alternate realities while developing feelings for Christina (Michelle Monaghan), a fellow passenger.

The film’s novel approach to time travel is a major source of audience bewilderment. The “Source Code” software does not necessarily send Stevens back in time. Quantum mechanics and the concept of parallel universes explain how it thrusts him into the recollection of a passenger who tragically passed away. For Stevens, every eight-minute cycle represents a new, slightly modified reality. Despite the film’s premise that he can only relive the same eight minutes, Stevens and Christina end up safe and sound in an alternate universe. 

1. Interstellar  (2014)

Though not a typical time travel film, Christopher Nolan’s space epic features some of the genre’s elements due to its relativistic time dilation.  The plot is a tricky riddle in which time warps in baffling ways , and it all hangs on high-tech physics, wormholes, and tesseracts. Astronaut and engineer Joseph Cooper (Matthew McConaughey) leaves Earth as it dies to go on a space mission to locate a new home for humanity. Cooper and his team travel through a wormhole near Saturn and end themselves in faraway galaxies where gravity plays a significant role with time.

Time dilation is an actual effect predicted by Einstein’s theory of relativity and a central theme of  Interstellar . Due to time dilation, a planet orbiting a vast black hole might experience only a few hours, whereas an observer on a distant planet might see years pass. Furthermore, Cooper enters a tesseract inside a black hole in the film’s climax. The tesseract is a five-dimensional universe created by future people in which time appears as a physical dimension. Cooper can observe and engage with his daughter’s life at various times. This sequence depicts time as a spatial dimension, a high-concept topic that might be difficult to grasp.

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http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Film/AtomicTrain

Film / Atomic Train

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Atomic Train is a made-for-television Disaster Movie about a train transporting explosive chemicals and, as the name suggests, an atomic bomb put there by smugglers the night before. By coincidence , the train's brakes fail , and it's up to John Seger ( Rob Lowe ), an NTSB agent, teaming up with Wally Phister (John Finn), a train operator, to prevent the disaster of the train crashing and the bomb exploding in Denver, the train's destination.

The film has gained a cult following with railfans due to the film's Runaway Train theme.

This film contains examples of the following tropes:

• Artistic License – Geography : Near the beginning of the film, where a school bus stalls on a grade crossing, the crossbuck is lettered "Railway Crossing" while the standard US crossbucks have always been lettered "Railroad Crossing". The signs in the film are typical of Canadian crossings prior to the 1980s, when new standards were adopted and crossbucks have since remained unlettered.
• The atomic bomb is triggered when Sodium metal explodes due to helicopter pilots extinguishing it by water . In real life, nuclear weapons are designed with mechanical and/or electrical safeguards to prevent unauthorized or accidental detonation. These mechanisms would have prevented the bomb from having a nuclear detonation. "Cook-off" of the conventional explosive components would be likely, but would not yield a nuclear explosion. This is then topped of by people running in nuclear fallout like it is snow.
• An electromagnetic pulse can shut down electronics, but between 3 MHz and 30 MHz, it doesn't have the power to shut down everything in a major city
• Citywide Evacuation : Mostly standard, with the special event as disaster approaches being militia fanatic group taking control of a gas station. The bomb detonated while the evacuation was in progress.
• EMP : The aftermath of bomb is none of the modern cars are working.
• Fatal Family Photo : Averted. The train operator leaves the train with John .
• Gory Discretion Shot : After an attempt to slow down the train was successful, an another train behind them trying to help it collides with it, not only undoing all the work , but also causing a man to fall out on the rails before the second train. The camera doesn't show the moment he is hit .
• The train is said to become a runaway when it is still 300 miles west of Denver with a continuous decline ahead. Since this would place it on the other side of the Continental Divide, it should be going generally uphill for most of the first 250 miles.
• For safety reasons all trains are fitted with Westinghouse air brakes. In the event of a failure, such as an air leak like that which occurs in the movie, the brakes would be fully applied, thus stopping the train, rather than rendering it a runaway.
• Almost all railway cars and locomotives have handbrakes for one, more or all axles. No one on the train applies them, although they are near the handwheel. On the summit where the train practically comes to a standstill it would have been easy to apply some handbrakes and prevent the train rolling down.
• Also, it should have been possible to break the gladhand connector coupling between the engine consist and the freight cars, decoupling them, leaving the engines alone as a runaway, and allowing the rest of the train to brake to a stop.
• With the train traveling at 70 miles per hour, it would have taken at least four hours to arrive at the derailment point, thus someone on a helicopter could have flown in with explosives to blow the connector, if necessary.
• The caboose is uncoupled from the train, but just before the train crashes, for a split second, the caboose can be seen still connected to the train.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero : The train trying to help the runaway one accidentally collides with it after it successfully slows down because they notice it too late, undoing all the work in the process.

• Right-Wing Militia Fanatic : One group calling themselves the Colorado Free People's Militia takes over a gas station and charges an exorbitant $20 for a gallon of gas to panicked civilians trying to evacuate Denver (for reference, average gas prices in the United States during the mid-to-late 90's flirted to just under $1/gallon).
• Runaway Train : The film's premise.
• Too Dumb to Live : The helicopter pilots. They don't bother to listen to instructions given to them to extinguish the fire, simply fetching water in nearby lake because "it's better than nothing". Unfortunately, this doesn't lead only to their deaths, but also the Reuben's and by extension Noris' and basically everyone dying in Denver because of bomb exploding.
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Japanese movies about time travel

In the top there are new films of 2023, a plot description and trailers for films that have already been released.

Saburo is a high school student good in sports, but not very good with his studies. One day, Saburo travels back in time and arrives in the Sengoku period of 1549. There, Saburo meets Nobunaga Oda who looks and sounds just like Saburo. Nobunaga Oda is the son of a warlord and magistrate of the lower Owari Province. Nobunaga Oda though is physically weak and he asks Saburo to take his place. Then, Saburo as Nobunaga Oda attempts to unify the country of Japan.

An accident during tests of an anti-plasma artificial magnetic shield at Japan's Ground Self Defense Force East Fuji practice range sends the 3rd Special Experimental Company, under Colonel Matoba on a time-slip 460 years into the past, into 'the Age of civil War'. At the same time an imaginary-number anomaly thought to be caused by interference from the past begins eroding the present.

Satoru Fujinuma is a struggling manga artist who has the ability to turn back time and prevent deaths. When his mother is killed he turns back time to solve the mystery, but ends up back in elementary school, just before the disappearance of his classmate Kayo.

A samurai from the Edo Period time travels to present day Japan where he meets a divorcee and her son. Soon, he discovers a passion for making pastries.

A squadron of Japanese Self-Defense Force soldiers find themselves transported through time to their country's warring states era, when rival samurai clans were battling to become the supreme Shogun.

Yuuta and Rikka are in their third year of high school. One day in Spring, Touka declares that she will take Rikka to Italy with her, as her job has stabilized there and thinks they should migrate together as a family. Touka is also worried about Rikka not being competent enough to advance to universities in Japan. The gangs from the club suggested Yuuta, who doesn't want to be separated, to elope with Rikka!! A runaway drama throughout Japan begins.

It is mid-december, and SOS Brigade chief Haruhi Suzumiya announces that the Brigade is going to hold a Christmas party in their clubroom, with Japanese hotpot for dinner. The brigade members Kyon, Yuki Nagato, Mikuru Asahina and Itsuki Koizumi start preparing everything for the party, such as costumes and decorations. But a couple of days later, Kyon arrives at school only to find that Haruhi is missing. Not only that, but Mikuru claims she has never known Kyon before, Koizumi is also missing, and Yuki has become the sole member of the literature club. The SOS Brigade seems to have never existed, nor has Haruhi Suzumiya. No one in the school has ever heard about her… except for Kyon.

High schoolers Mitsuha and Taki are complete strangers living separate lives. But one night, they suddenly switch places. Mitsuha wakes up in Taki’s body, and he in hers. This bizarre occurrence continues to happen randomly, and the two must adjust their lives around each other.

Gorilla Grodd's time displacement machine transports many of Batman's worst enemies to feudal Japan —along with the Dark Knight and a few of his allies. The villains take over the forms of the feudal lords that rule the divided land, with the Joker taking the lead among the warring factions. As his traditional high-tech weaponry is exhausted almost immediately, Batman must rely on his intellect and his allies —including Catwoman and the extended Bat-family— to restore order to the land, and return to present-day Gotham City.

Three American tourists follow a mysterious map deep into the jungles of Japan searching for an ancient temple. When spirits entrap them, their adventure quickly becomes a horrific nightmare.

Natsuki Subaru, an ordinary high school student, is on his way home from the convenience store when he finds himself transported to another world. As he's lost and confused in a new world where he doesn't even know left from right, the only person to reach out to him was a beautiful girl with silver hair. Determined to repay her somehow for saving him from his own despair, Subaru agrees to help the girl find something she's looking for.

A college student relives the day of her murder over and over again as she tries to discover her killer's identity.

Takatoshi Minamiyama (Sota Fukushi) majors in art at an university in Kyoto. On the train to the school, he sees Emi Fukuju (Nana Komatsu) and falls in love with her at first sight. Gathering up all his courage, he speaks to her. They begin to date and enjoy happy days together, but Emi reveals her secret to him.

Makoto Fukamachi (Junichi Okada) is a Japanese cameraman. He finds an old camera on a backstreet of Nepal. The camera might possibly solve the mystery of whether George Mallory became the first person to successfully climb Mount Everest on June 8, 1924 or not. Pursuing the old camera's past, Makoto Fukamachi meets legendary Alpinist Joji Habu (Hiroshi Abe). Joji Habu is isolated from other people because of his reckless and thoughtless personality.

Two Jesuit priests travel to seventeenth century Japan which has, under the Tokugawa shogunate, banned Catholicism and almost all foreign contact.

One day, Naho Takamiya receives a letter written to herself from ten years in the future. As Naho reads on, the letter recites the exact events of the day, including the transfer of a new student into her class named Kakeru Naruse. The Naho from ten years later repeatedly states that she has many regrets, and she wants to fix these by making sure the Naho from the past can make the right decisions—especially regarding Kakeru. What's more shocking is that she discovers that ten years later, Kakeru will no longer be with them. Future Naho asks her to watch over him closely.

In the suburbs of Tokyo some time ago, there lived a clumsy boy about 10 years old. There appeared in front of him named Sewashi, Nobita's descendant of four generations later from the 22nd century, and Doraemon, a 22nd century cat-type caretaker robot who helps people with its secret gadgets. Sewashi claims that his family is suffering from the debts Nobita made even to his generation, so in order to change this disastrous future, he brought along Doraemon as Nobita's caretaker to bring happiness to his future, although Doraemon is not happy about this. And so Sewashi installed an accomplishment program into Doraemon forcing him to take care of Nobita. Unless he makes Nobita happy, Doraemon can no longer go back to the 22nd century. This is how the life of Doraemon and Nobita begins. Will Doraemon succeed this mission and return to the 22nd century?

Hobbs has Dominic and Brian reassemble their crew to take down a team of mercenaries: Dominic unexpectedly gets convoluted also facing his presumed deceased girlfriend, Letty.

Doraemon, Nobita, Shizuka, Gian, and Suneo set out on an adventure in the Caribbean Sea. Nobita is the captain of a ship and fights his enemies on board. Shizuka gets kidnapped, and a storm impedes their journey. Mini-Dora help Nobita and friends on their journey. When the adventurers finally find the mysterious Treasure Island, they discover it is more than just an ordinary island.

The dialogue-less film follows the major life stages of a castaway on a deserted tropical island populated by turtles, crabs and birds.

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Shirou Emiya finds himself an unwilling participant in a deadly competition where seven Mages summon heroic spirits as servants to duel each other to the death. They compete for the chance to make a wish from the Holy Grail, which has the power to grant any wish. Shirou is unskilled as a mage and knows nothing of the Holy Grail War, but he and his servant, Saber, enter into a temporary partnership with another Mage, Rin Tohsaka. However, problems arise between Shirou and Rin's servant, Archer, who seems to seriously despise him.

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A Japanophile young Belgian woman in Tokyo falls into a whirlwind romance with a Francophile Japanese student, in this charming and tender tale of young love and cultural discovery.

Moritaka Mashiro (Takeru Satoh) doesn't want to follow in the path of his uncle who worked as a manga artist, but ultimately died because of exhaustion. Moritaka Mashiro figures he will graduate from school and work at an office. Things change though when falls in love with a girl at school. The girl, who hopes to become a voice actress, tells Moritaka they can marry, but only after they both achieve their dreams. Moritaka then teams up with fellow classmate Akito Takagi (Ryunosuke Kamiki) to publish their first manga.

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45-year-old nurse and mother Yoko lives with her only daughter Tsukiko. The duo has a tight relationship that resembles more best friends rather than mother & daughter. Tsukiko's father passed away before she was born & since that time Yoko has always stated Tsukiko's father would be the first and last man she will marry. One evening, Yoko brings home 30 year old Kenji Hattori and they both sleep outside on the porch. The next morning, Tsukiko becomes confused by the situation and becomes even confused when her mother announces that she will marry the much younger Kenji. Kenji, who has dyed blond hair, used to be a chef, but doesn't currently hold a job. Tsukiko is shocked by the situation and runs over to her neighbor/landlord Saku's Tsukiko then shuts herself off from her mother and her new boyfriend. Meanwhile, people around them try to repair Yoko and Tsukiko's relationship, but there's also a secret between Yoko & Tsukiko ...

Wolverine faces his ultimate nemesis - and tests of his physical, emotional, and mortal limits - in a life-changing voyage to modern-day Japan.

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Jun, Akari, Sakurako, and Fumi truly believe that they can confide in each other. But one day, at a party, Jun confesses that she is seeking a divorce from her husband and this information seems to upset the other three. They follow her trial as she attempts to win her case against her husband's will.

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Ouran Academy is a prestigious school with most students coming from wealthy families. One of the few students who comes from a modest background is Haruhi Fujioka (Haruna Kawaguchi). Through unexpected circumstances, Haruhi Fujioka ends up joining the male "host club," while hiding her gender. Friendship and love grows between Haruhi Fujioka and the male "host club" members.

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17 years ago, immortals first appeared on the battlefields of Africa. Later, rare, unknown new immortal lifeforms began appearing among humans, and they became known as "Ajin" (demi-humans). Just before summer vacation, a Japanese high school student is instantly killed in a traffic accident on his way home from school. However, he is revived, and a price is placed on his head. Thus begins a boy's life on the run from all of humankind.

Taking place in the year 1937 on the eve of World War II, the story involves a mysterious spy training organization known as the "D Agency." The organization is established by Lieutenant Colonel Yuuki from the Imperial Japanese Army. His ideals lead him to recruit people beyond military academy graduates and personnel, while training them to become skilled agents in arts of manipulation. These agents would become a specialized team to conduct operations. One such antihero agent, under the name Jirou Gamou, goes on a harrowing mission to uncover secret documents titled "Black Notes," while battling forces from within and without his own ranks.

A spectacular journey of an unwilling young hero thrust into a mysterious past full of monsters, dragons, and strange hidden powers. Through a series of out of this world battles and adventures, Jun, a shy middle school boy, is transformed into a hero destined to battle evil and ensure harmony and tranquility in the world.

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The Futurians, time-travelers from the 23rd century, arrive in Japan to warn them of the nation's destruction under Godzilla. They offer to help erase Godzilla from history by preventing his creation. With Godzilla seemingly gone, a new monster emerges as the Futurians' true intentions are revealed.

After a sudden explosion at Edge of Ocean island in Tokyo, Tōru Amuro, codename Zero, begins to investigate. Meanwhile, private eye Kogorō is arrested as a suspect, so Conan Edogawa conducts his own investigation to prove his innocence, but Amuro stands in his way.

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“Train Time made our jaws drop.” —Pat, Montreal QC

“Train Time blew me away in every way.” —Dan, North Bay ON

“It was magnificent, awesome…” —Sharon, Newton Centre MA

About the Film

Join the crew of a giant freight train for an eye-popping, music-infused journey across America. Giant diesels, spectacular terrain, tens of thousands of miles of track—and millions of pounds of freight that can’t wait.

Created by the director of the celebrated IMAX® Experience Rocky Mountain Express and his team, Train Time  is captured on 15/70mm motion picture film, the world’s largest film format for exhibition in IMAX® and other giant screen theaters.

To deliver the cargo, Train Time propels audiences through the rugged beauty and vastness of the American landscape, revealing the brutal challenges of railroading, as well as secrets of the art and science of running the greatest trains. Weaving together present-tech and racing steam locomotives, grit, glamour and glorious landscapes, Train Time immerses viewers in a grand tapestry of American railroading.

Climb aboard for the biggest adventure on wheels.

“The best IMAX film I ever saw!!!”

—David, Levittown PA

“Train Time honestly gave me goosebumps. I thought the ending was so personal and it made me want to watch the film again. I loved the beginning, worth seeing just for that sequence alone. Going through all of the different weather conditions it made me realize that there’s a lot more to the railroad than I ever imagined and I’ve seen trains around my whole life. It made me recognize that there are people hard at work every day and I just want to know their stories now.” —Ellena & Riley, Boston MA

“We are so bowled over by the wonders of Train Time that we plan to see it again this week and probably several more times.”

“ Train Time is now our new favorite film! The trains, the scenery, the information, but most of all, the joy, grabbed us from the first moments of the film.”

—Keith and Jean Mercer, Kearney MO

Gallery: In the Film

Click on an image to open full-screen gallery.

Where to see Train Time

Climb Aboard!  Train Time  has launched and is opening progressively in IMAX® theaters and other giant screen theaters theaters across North America and internationally. Below are links to exhibiting theaters. Actual schedules may vary. Check your local theater for exact dates and showtimes .

Current and Future Engagements

Austin, TX —Bullock Texas State History Museum; January 2, 2024 – December 31, 2024. https://www.thestoryoftexas.com/visit/see-films

Birmingham, AL —McWane Science Center; November 15, 2023 - February 28, 2026. https://www.mcwane.org

Charlotte, NC —Discovery Place Science; September 9, 2023 - June 20, 2024. https://discoveryplace.org/things-to-do/imax/train-time/

Davenport IA, —Putnam Museum of Science; opens June 22, 2024 - June 21, 2025. https://www.putnam.org/

Hastings, NE —Hastings Museum; October 5, 2023 - October 2, 2024. https://hastingsmuseum.org

Portland, OR —Oregon Museum of Science and Industry; October 27, 2023 - October 27, 2024. https://omsi.edu/

Salt Lake City, UT —Clark Planetarium (IMAX Theater); November 18, 2023 - October 12, 2024. https://slco.org/clark-planetarium/shows/?th=imax

Seattle, WA— Pacific Science Center; June 30, 2023 - June 30, 2024. https://pacificsciencecenter.org/visit/imax/

Shreveport, LA —Sci-Port Discovery Center; March 6, 2024 – April 8, 2025. https://sci-port.org

St. Louis, MO —Saint Louis Science Center; coming August 2024. https://www.slsc.org/explore/omnimax-theater/

Past Engagements

Boston, MA —Museum of Science; November 18, 2023 - January 15, 2024 (return engagement) . https://www.mos.org/

Galveston, TX —Moody Gardens; November 19, 2022 - December 31, 2023. https://www.moodygardens.com

Hartford, CT —Connecticut Science Center;  November 2, 2022 - December 31, 2023. https://ctsciencecenter.org

Kansas City, MO —Union Station, Kansas City MO; Re-starts July 15, 2023 - September 4, 2023. https://unionstation.org

Peoria, IL — Riverwalk Museum; February 4, 2023 - June 19, 2023. https://www.peoriariverfrontmuseum.org

Pittsburgh, PA —Carnegie Science Center; September 3, 2022 - May 12, 2023. https://carnegiesciencecenter.org

San Diego, CA —Fleet Science Center; November 5, 2022 - May 5, 2023. https://www.fleetscience.org

Sioux Falls, SD —Washington Pavilion/Kirby Science Discovery Center; September 30, 2022 - May 30, 2023. https://www.washingtonpavilion.org/attractions/movies

Edmonton, AB —TELUS World of Science—exhibition completed June 15, 2022. https://telusworldofscienceedmonton.ca

Victoria, BC — IMAX Victoria at the Royal BC Museum; September, 2022 - December 31, 2022. https://imaxvictoria.com

What audiences are saying…

“A s a mom to a teenage boy it meant the world to me to be with him for an experience that left a very big impression on him and I am grateful to all of the creators and contributors of this film for that experience for both of us.  Train Time will capture your interest even if trains are not particularly interesting to you. The cinematography is absolutely outstanding and really draws you into the story/information being conveyed. The scenery and overall feel of the film absolutely left me wanting to watch more. Fantastic movie experience and would recommend it to anyone! 

—Natasha, Columbia MO

“The views inside of the cabs and outside of the trains, the crews working, the scenery of the trains moving across the nation, the exploded diagrams, the information, the music—everything about this movie was spectacular.

— Kyler, age 15, Columbia MO

“What a beautiful film and now my kids know what I do for a living.”

—Dane, age 38, Edmonton AB

“ Train Time  is a completely compelling work, a visual and sonic tour de train.  The footage was truly amazing, fantastic and a finely crafted storyline, finely-polished juggernaut. I see it as a total film. ”

—Karl Mohr, age 56, Toronto ON

“My 6-year-old son and I just went to see Train Time in Pittsburgh and we LOVED IT! the scenery was beautiful, the workers were diverse, and the songs were added to our playlist.”

—Chris Kipp, age 40, Pittsburgh PA

Multiple thumbs up for Train Time from Pittsburgh celebrity Chancellor Humphrey : https://www.instagram.com/p/CnwzAN5gyw7/

Rail enthusiast  Paul Springkowski  ‘the train guy’ visits Pittsburgh for a  Train Time  experience at the Carnegie Science Center : https://www.tiktok.com/@paul.thetrainguy/video/7138519589960404270?lang=en

“The experience out-lived the film.”

—Paul Springkowski, Cleveland OH

“Ten on 10!”

—Sam, age 30, Montreal QC

“The cinematography is absolutely beautiful, so freakin’ crisp and clean!! My favorite is the kids and the shots of the actual conductors, it made me feel a part of the action and it was so personal! The addition of the kids at the beginning was like the passion moving through many generations and I loved that, so so cute. The national geographic or discovery channel vibe with the opening shots of the inner workings and the landscape shots too. Incredibly well done and beautiful. “

—Taylor, age 21, Cleveland OH

“I’ve been to see Train Time four times and I get something new out of it each time. I brought my grandchildren to the film and now they love trains, just as I did. The film has even inspired us to build a model railway together!”

—Anonymous viewer, Victoria BC

“This film was fantastic! Our 5, 4, and 2-year-old boys loved watching and learning about the trains through this excellent IMAX film. The music was great too, the boys wanted to get up and dance. They were singing the songs later in the day, having only seen the film once! Our 5-year-old said this is his favorite train movie, he is the ultimate critic when it comes to train movies. My wife really enjoyed the movie as well. We’ll recommending this to all our friends and family! Thank you for creating this fantastic film, it will be remembered for a very long time.”

—Matt Ahlenius, McPherson KS

“Train Time is an absolute masterpiece of a film. The way the film was shot is absolutely stunning. You really feel like you’re on board these trains with the crew; it’s a Masterclass in filmmaking and a must watch for all!!” I got a fun and educational train ride across America for the price of a film ticket. What else can you ask for!”

—Rob Amyot, age 32, Montreal QC

“I recently took my children to see the film Train Time in Kansas City Missouri. The film is something deeper than just a train film. For me I had the enjoyment of sharing a trip across our beautiful country and learning at the same time. The film exposes my children to travel and adventure and team work along with mum and dad.”

—Janet, Kansas City MO

“Train Time blew me away in every way. I stand and applaud the working-class heroes. Makes me appreciate a freight train.”

—Dan, age 52, North Bay ON

“Those kids are adorable in the film–our future railroaders. I didn’t like trains–now I do.”

—Rita, age 72, Ile Bizzard QC

“Train Time made our jaws drop. I don’t know that we’ve ever seen form and content dance like this in an IMAX film before.”

—Pat, age 47, Montreal QC

“The presence of women throughout the film moved me! Most assume that engineers and train workers are white men, so the diversity displayed was appreciated. I love the black female railroaders; this perks my curiosity because it is an entirely untold perspective. I loved the film—is there such a thing as 12 on 10?!”

—Leslie, school teacher, Marietta GA

“Train Time was very nicely shot and the angles and background music and everything made it easy for me to pay attention and I don’t even like trains. There’s always something to look at and if it was a two-hour long movie, I’d watch it. It literally looks unreal with the amount of detail.”

—Helena, age 22, Cleveland OH

“The cinematography is outstanding. I never knew that freight trains are so stunningly modern with their control centres that look like NASA mission control. The film rekindled my childhood fascination: the narration, sound and cinematography were pure magic.”

—Norman, age 38

“Train Time honestly gave me goosebumps. I thought the ending was so personal and it made me want to watch the film again. I loved the beginning, worth seeing just for that sequence alone. Going through all of the different weather conditions it made me realize that there’s a lot more to the railroad than I ever imagined and I’ve seen trains around my whole life. It made me recognize that there are people hard at work every day and I just want to know their stories now.”

—Ellena & Riley, Boston MA

“Train Time IMAX movie–What a beauty! In every artistic, historical and factual sense. Our eyes are filled with sublime images, shots from all angles, the compositions of multiple shots, close-up views, perspective, panoramic, aerial, various seasons, colors. The paintings followed one another by their beauty. Well done!

—Egidio Vincelli, age 74; Quebec Artist

“My father-in-law (age 83) cried at the end overwhelmed by the film’s story & images and nostalgia. The film is simply beautiful in so many ways.”

—Corey, Edmonton AB

“(I was) in awe at the majesty of the freight trains, and the family of railroaders that keep them rolling. This is perfect for a guy like me. It’s got trains, majestic landscapes, human stories and cool animated explainers. I felt like I was 11 again. Train Time is a good time.”

—Ian, age 32

“I took [my family] to Boston’s Museum of Science to see Train Time at their huge Omni Theater. It was magnificent, awesome, and created a response I don’t adequately have words for. The scenery was just breathtaking. Nothing like the huge wraparound Omni theater to experience this! I can’t imagine how you all filmed it. Impossible! Thank you, thank you, thank you!”

—Sharon, age 78. Newton Centre MA

“My 6-yr-old son and I really enjoyed seeing Train Time for his birthday. A very special birthday we will remember always. The scenery was beautiful, the workers were diverse, and the songs were added to our ‘train’ playlist.”

—Chris, age 40, Pittsburgh PA

—John & Eva Bristol, Victoria BC

“It’s a beautiful film, with many, many amazing shots, just like Rocky Mountain Express . Aerial shots are gorgeous and visually stunning.”

—Dr Todd McConnell, age 70, Montreal QC

“ Train Time is now our new favourite film! The trains, the scenery, the information, but most of all, the joy, grabbed us from the first moments of the film. We are admitted train buffs, but we believe anyone would enjoy this film with its wonderful production values and great scenery, but also benefit from the technical and general information provided. What a way to spend 50 gripping minutes—we only wish it were longer! Thanks for producing this fabulous film!”

“Really loved Train Time and I’d love my children to watch it over and over.”

—Justin Davis, Pittsburgh PA

“Thanks for the best railroad movie I have ever seen. You’ve told a story about railroading that few people really know.”

—Bob Leilich, The Woodlands TX

What giant screen theaters are saying…

“Train Time opened at IMAX® Victoria on September on 9, 2022 and has since been coined by our team as the little film that could. In its first two months, this film outperformed all other titles on our regular schedule and saw a high number of repeat visitors. This has been one of our most popular titles and is a film loved by all ages. Well done for striking that perfect balance!

“Grandparents have returned with their grandchildren to bond over their love of trains, while children in turn revisit the film with their parents to share in their newfound passion – freight trains! The film has a unique ability to unite generations. Younger audiences were drawn to the breathtaking landscapes, opening scene with the model railway set and the lively soundtrack. Those less passionate about trains were impressed with the storytelling and cinematography. And any train enthusiast was of course captivated by every aspect of the film.”

—Alexandra Weaver, Visitor Experience Manager, IMAX® Victoria and Royal BC Museum

“Without a doubt, one of the best looking IMAX films I’ve ever seen!  Train Time was enthusiastically embraced by our audience with the film scoring highly in exit surveys. It’s a film with wide appeal that has something for everyone.

“Time after time Stephen has shown he is a master at taking audiences to places that the public rarely sees, and doing it on the world’s largest screens makes it all the more impactful. Train Time is another worthy addition to his legacy.”

—Darren Durocher, Manager, IMAX® Theatre TELUS World of Science, Edmonton

“Train Time offers our audiences such a unique window into the fascinating legacy that is the American railroad industry. We love how it takes a deep dive and showcases the science – particularly, the complexity and interconnectedness of so many of its moving parts – all while using real voices from within the industry to highlight the wide variety of roles, skills, and people that it takes to keep the system running.”

—Dani LeBlanc, Director Immersive Theatres & Programs, Museum of Science, Boston

“Train Time offers fascinating perspectives on careers in the modern-day railroad industry that are surprisingly STEM-oriented and that are accessible to people who are not typically represented. The movie shows women and women of color in positions often assumed are only held by men. The icing on the cake is the beautiful scenery and storytelling.”

—Marcus Harshaw, Senior Director of Museum Experiences, Carnegie Science Center, Pittsburgh PA.

In the Media

Trains Magazine / www.trains.com , April 23, 2023. Trains Magazine interviews filmmaker Stephen Low. “ Train Time: From behind the camera to the big screen” by Nastassia Putz.

https://www.trains.com/ (External link; opens in new window)

The Roundhouse Railroad Podcast hosted by Nick Ozorak, Episode 132: Train Time! Interview with Director Stephen Low, May 16, 2023. https://theroundhousepodcast.com/2023/05/16/train-time-interview-stephen-low/  (External link; opens in new window)

www.nextpittsburgh.com , August 29, 2022. F arewell summer: 10 September events for kids in Pittsburgh.  The article highlights Train Time as the #1 activity for kids in Pittsburgh heading into autumn.

https://nextpittsburgh.com/kidsburgh-pittsburgh/farewell-summer-10-september-events-for-kids-in-pittsburgh/  (External link; opens in new window).

“The American premiere of a movie opening in the Rangos Giant Cinema at the Carnegie Science Center visits the surprising intricacies of the modern railroad. Train Time mesmerizes with freight trains whisking through breathtaking landscapes. But the behind-the-scenes aspect of STEM careers available throughout the railroad industry is fascinating. Railroads continue to be an integral part of American life and Train Time provides an eye-opening glimpse into the roles of dispatchers, road masters, engineers and conductors.”  (Excerpt)

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette , Aug 29, 2022, by Joshua Axelrod / Carnegie Science Center hosting U.S. premiere of new Imax documentary ‘Train Time’. (Note that this article was syndicated nationally (AP) and carried in the Hastings Tribune, thederrick.com and flipboard.com etc.)

https://www.post-gazette.com/ae/movies/2022/08/29/carnegie-science-center-premiere-imax-documentary-train-time/stories/202208290010

(External link; opens in new window).

“It’s just an honor to be able to run a U.S. premiere from this theater,” said Marcus Harshaw, senior director of museum experiences. “I think that’s a feather in our cap at the Science Center and at the Rangos Cinema. We’re really putting Pittsburgh on the map as a place where you can run these kind of premieres and the audience will come out and support.”

“For Harshaw, ‘Train Time’ fits in perfectly with the sort of films he seeks for extended runs in the Science Center’s Rangos Giant Cinema. He loves how it both highlights STEM-related jobs available to railroad enthusiasts and ties into a permanent Science Center exhibit like its miniature railroad.”

“Railroading is a fairly secretive world” (observes filmmaker Stephen Low). “BNSF has kindly thrown the doors open and let us film the intimacy of railroading. It’s really a unique perspective because of that access. You’re going to see railroading like you’ve never seen it before.” (Excerpts)

Pittsburgh Magazine , Sept 1, 2022, by Sean Collier / All Aboard a New IMAX Feature — and a U.S. Premiere — at the Carnegie Science Center.

https://www.pittsburghmagazine.com/all-aboard-a-new-imax-feature-and-a-u-s-premiere-at-the-carnegie-science-center/  (External link; opens in new window).

“We are ecstatic to introduce a film to our guests that reveals diverse STEM careers not always talked about or known,” said Jason Brown, the president of Carnegie Science Center, in a statement. “The film immerses guests in a grand tapestry of railroading, which is a perfect pairing of art and science.” (Excerpt)

www.triblive.com, Sept 2, 2022. 5 things to do in Pittsburgh this weekend: Sept. 2-5.

https://triblive.com/lifestyles/more-lifestyles/5-things-to-do-in-pittsburgh-this-weekend-sept-2-5/ (External link; opens in new window).

“…showcases the heritage and the evolving role of railroading, along with a Black female train conductor in an industry that is perceived to be dominated by men. It highlights the beauty, vastness and diversity of the American landscape and how railroads remain a backbone of modern civilization while adapting to meet the challenges of the environment. (Excerpt)

www.victoriabuzz.com , September 2, 2022.   ‘Train Time’ is the Newest Featured Short Film at the Royal BC Museums IMAX Victoria.

https://www.victoriabuzz.com/2022/09/train-time-is-the-newest-featured-short-film-at-the-royal-bc-museums-imax-victoria/ (External link; opens in new window).

“Director/Writer/Producer, Stephen Low shot the short film in 70mm IMAX film which will look amazing on western Canada’s largest screen at six stories high and 81 feet wide.” (Excerpt)

The IMAX camera mounted at the head of a locomotive.

1. The Fugitive

3. Source Code

5. Silver Streak

6. Back to the Future Part III

7. The Greatest Show on Earth

10. Skyfall

11. Unstoppable

12. The Bridge on the River Kwai

13. Mrs. Winterbourne

14. Lawrence of Arabia

15. The Cassandra Crossing

16. Under Siege 2: Dark Territory

17. Runaway Train

18. The General

19. The Train

20. Money Train

21. Batman Begins

22. Die Hard with a Vengeance

23. Broken Arrow

24. Transsiberian

25. The Legend of Zorro

26. Final Destination 3

27. Knowing

28. Mission: Impossible

29. Snowpiercer

30. Atomic Train

31. The Commuter

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