I searched the Internet for lists of best alien movies of all time. Criteria included the movies being ranked, not just listed, and covering all time, not just a decade. The lists were generally created by groups, whether teams or committees or based on general public voting (like Ranker.com).

I was able to find 13 lists. I took the 13 lists and added all their content into a spreadsheet, noting the rank of every film. The total number was over 600 including all the repeats. I averaged the rankings each movie got and divided that average by the number of lists that movie was on. The lowest score meant a high ranking average on many lists.

The movies that were on the most lists (out of 13) were:

  • Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) – 10
  • District 9 (2009) – 10
  • Independence Day (1996) – 10
  • The Thing (1982) – 10
  • Arrival (2016) – 9
  • Attack the Block (2011) – 9
  • Edge of Tomorrow (2014) – 9
  • Predator (1987) – 9
  • They Live (1988) – 9
  • War of the Worlds (2005) – 9
  • Alien (1979) – 8
  • E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) – 8
  • Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) – 8
  • Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978) – 8
  • Mars Attacks! (1996) – 8
  • Men in Black (1997) – 8
  • Signs (2002) – 8

Here are links to the lists I used along with dates the lists were created: