Best moon movies: 12 lunar adventures to watch ahead of NASA's Artemis 2 launch

Since the age of silent movies, filmmakers have been transfixed by the idea of blasting off from our home planet to explore the moon.

And who could blame these romantic dreamers for wanting to cast aside the surly bonds of Earth to visit the pale beauty of our cratered satellite? These lofty ambitions have fueled decades of space movies and inspired generations with their depictions of intrepid space voyagers.

After 54 years, humankind will finally return to the moon thanks to the upcoming April liftoff of NASA’s Artemis 2, which will take four astronauts on a shakedown cruise to loop around the moon and back... assuming it doesn't get delayed again.

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While we cross our fingers and wait for blast-off, let's take a flight back in time and revisit 12 lunar-centric space films that have entranced curious audiences over the past century. Here are the best moon movies of all time.

12. "Moonfall"

Release date: February 4, 2022 | Cast: Halle Berry, Patrick Wilson, John Bradley | Director: Roland Emmerich

Don't panic! We may be stretching the limits of the word "best" here, but we had to include this lunar turkey on our list.

From "Independence Day" director Roland Emmerich, "Moonfall" is a goofy guilty pleasure with a totally bonkers plot that sees the moon knocked out of orbit and on a collision course with Earth.

It's eventually discovered that the moon is actually an alien megastructure that’s going to destroy our planet. Just go with it. Halle Berry and Patrick Wilson star, but when watching, do yourself a favor and toss all logic out the door and just surrender to the B-movie shenanigans!

11. "Apollo 18"

Release date: September 2, 2011 | Cast: Warren Christie, Lloyd Owen, Ryan Robbins | Director: Gonzalo López-Gallego

"Apollo 18" adds a serious touch of extraterrestrial body horror to our moon movie round-up, unveiling the frightening story of NASA's secret Apollo 18 mission that never returned to Earth. It sounds like more B-movie nonsense on paper, but it's not all that bad. Think "Paranormal Activity" meets "Pitch Black" with lunar spider crabs during the expedition, and that’s a close match.

Director Gonzalo López-Gallego’s found-footage film might have received atrocious reviews, but it was a moneymaker in theaters when all the bucks were counted, pulling in $26 million off a $5 million production cost.

10. "Airplane 2: The Sequel"

Release date: December 10, 1982 | Cast: Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Lloyd Bridges | Director: Ken Finkleman

Jim Abrahams and the Zucker Brothers scored big with "Airplane!," their iconic 1980 spoof comedy, but for the follow-up, the writing and directorial duties fell on first-timer Ken Finkelman.

For this zany outing, it's not a commercial airliner front and center but a lunar space shuttle on its maiden voyage to Alpha Beta Lunar Base with passengers, when a series of wacky obstacles arise. Robert Hays and Julie Haggerty return for more pun-tactic hijinks.

One of the highlights of this sequel is William Shatner's cameo as the leader of the moon base, Commander Buck Murdock, who’s constantly tormented by the station’s blinking, beeping, flashing lights.

9. "From The Earth To The Moon"

Release date: November 6, 1958 | Cast: Joseph Cotten, George Sanders, Debra Paget | Director: Byron Haskin

Derived from Jules Verne's 1865 novel of the same name, "From The Earth To The Moon" is a real blast from the past. Starring Joseph Cotten as a post-Civil War weapons manufacturer who invents the planet's most powerful explosive called Power X.

Joining forces with a steel manufacturing mogul played by George Sanders, the pair proposes a rocketship trip to the moon to test out the new super-explosive. What transpires is a sabotaged expedition that leads to a brave sacrifice in orbit around the moon.

Byron Haskins ("War of the Worlds," "Conquest of Space") directed this big-budget Technicolor spectacle that’s a little slow at times, but sticks the landing.

8. "Countdown"

Release date: August 20, 1967 | Cast: James Caan, Joanna Moore, Robert Duvall | Director: Robert Altman

A forgotten gem that was in theaters during the heated moments of the space race with the Soviets. "Countdown" was also released just four months after the tragic Apollo 1 tower fire that killed astronauts Ed White, Roger Chaffee, and Gus Grissom.

With time running out to beat Russia, NASA hatches an 11th-hour plan to replace a veteran astronaut (Duvall) with a civilian geologist (Caan) for a one-way moon trip using a modified Gemini spacecraft.

Once on the lunar surface, our reluctant astronaut will exist in a previously landed shelter until a full Apollo crew arrives later. Filled with tense melodrama and an authentic NASA flair, it deserves a solid spot.

7. "First Man"

Release date: October 12, 2018 | Cast: Ryan Gosling, Claire Foy, Jason Clarke | Director: Damien Chazelle

Ryan Gosling will be headed back to space in next month’s "Project Hail Mary," then in 2027's "Star Wars: Starfighter," but his first flight into the cosmos was in this space thriller portraying legendary moonwalker Neil Armstrong and the historic Apollo 11 moon landing in July of 1969.

Directed by "La La Land’s" Damien Chazelle, it’s a strangely somber affair with Gosling doing his best with a cold, joyless screenplay adapted from James R. Hansen’s 2005 authorized biography "First Man: The Life of Neil A. Armstrong."

The movie spawned a heated controversy due to Chazelle’s omission of Armstrong and Aldrin planting the American flag in lunar soil.

6. "Moon"

Release date: June 12, 2009 | Cast: Sam Rockwell, Dominique McElligott, Kaya Scodelario | Director: Duncan Jones

Sam Rockwell fans will already know this exceptional indie sci-fi film that tells the lonely tale of Sam Bell, a solo astronaut assigned to mine Helium-3 from the moon for a greedy corporation.

The plot twist comes after a fateful rover crash, when the true nature of the operation is revealed; Sam is really a clone that's replaced every three years when his contract ends. The operational logistics of a lunar mining base make a real attempt at accuracy, or at least what scientists thought was accurate 17 years ago.

As an added bonus, "Moon's" dreamy score is by the brilliant composer Clint Mansell, who brought us the haunting music for "Requiem For a Dream" and "The Fountain." It’s also directed by David Bowie's son, Duncan Jones, in his directorial debut.

5. "First Men In The Moon"

Release date: August 6, 1964 | Cast: Edward Judd, Martha Hyer, Lionel Jeffries | Director: Nathan Juran

Loosely adapted from H. G. Wells's 1901 sci-fi novel, "The First Men in the Moon," the most interesting facet of this adaptation is its period-placed production, leaning heavily on the original source material and its fantastical approach to the first lunar space voyage.

It's a spirited, colorful project shot in glorious Dynamation, which was VFX legend Ray Harryhausen's stop-motion animation technique. It has Victorian ladies firing shotguns, British gentlemen in tweed sport coats, bug-like subterranean beasts called Selenites, mummified aliens, monster gastropods, and electro rayguns. Everything you could ask for in a vintage popcorn movie!

4. "Moon Zero Two"

Release date: October 26, 1969 | Cast: James Olson, Catherine Schell, Warren Mitchell | Director: Roy Ward Baker

Perhaps the kookiest of all the lunar-based movies in our countdown, "Moon Zero Two" is a psychedelic odyssey that was advertised in studio campaigns as the very first space western.

This British production from Hammer Films and director Roy Ward Baker showcases moon maidens, old-fashioned lunar shootouts, buggy chases, and an ex-astronaut turned mercenary salvager trying to snag a 6000-pound sapphire asteroid from orbit for a billionaire industrialist.

It's got enough moon prospectors, go-go dancers, saloon fights, and lunar land barons to be featured in an episode of "Mystery Science Theater 3000," so you know it's a cheesy-good time!

3. "Destination Moon"

Release date: June 27, 1950 | Cast: John Archer, Warner Anderson, Tom Powers | Director: Irving Pichel

Producer George Pal’s ("War of the Worlds") nostalgic jewel is surprisingly good and utilizes some of the most up-to-date science for the time. This Hollywood Golden Age touchstone has its faults, but it remains a solid excursion to our closest heavenly body.

It genuinely explains the genesis of a lunar mission from the seed of an idea to financing the project, building the craft, recruiting the astronauts, and sending them on their way into the airless black void. It's done with such seriousness and attention to detail you’d almost be convinced this moon mission succeeded 19 years before Apollo 11's monumental landing.

Co-written by the sci-fi master Robert A. Heinlein, "Destination Moon" is a bit corny looking back, but it's still a remarkably satisfying journey.

2. "Apollo 13"

Release date: June 30, 1995 | Cast: Tom Hanks, Kevin Bacon, Bill Paxton | Director: Ron Howard

This landmark Apollo-era film directed by Ron Howard was adapted from Jim Lovell and Jeffrey Kluger’s novel, "Lost Moon."

It tells the story of the ill-fated third mission to the moon in 1970 that nearly cost the lives of astronauts Jim Lovell, Fred Haise, and Jack Swigert when an explosion disabled their spacecraft, and quick-thinking NASA engineers worked the problem to get them home safely.

Starring Tom Hanks, Bill Paxton, Kevin Bacon, Gary Sinise, Kathleen Quinlan, and Ed Harris, "Apollo 13"'s warmth, heart, and exceptional performances make it an all-time space film favorite. It really is the quintessential moon movie, even if it never actually touches the lunar surface.

1. "A Trip To The Moon"

Release date: September 1, 1902 | Cast: Georges Méliès, Bleuette Bernon, François Lallement | Director: Georges Méliès

A controversial choice for the top spot? Perhaps, but this is where it all started, with French magician and filmmaker Georges Méliès’ groundbreaking 13-minute silent short chronicling a futuristic trip to the moon.

A Trip to the Moon (or "Le Voyage dans la Lune" in its native tongue) is a weird, surreal, and wonderfully entertaining film packed with dancing girls, cosmic gods and goddesses, insectoid moon dwellers, and The Man in the Moon being hit in the eye by a bullet-shaped Victorian Era spacecraft shot out of a colossal cannon.

Imaginative set design and stunning visual effects make this a milestone in sci-fi cinema. Inspired by Jules Verne's 1865 novel, "From the Earth to the Moon," and H. G. Wells’s 1901 adventure story, "The First Men in the Moon," the making of this masterpiece was covered in the 2011 Hollywood film, "Hugo," which was directed by the Oscar-winning Martin Scorsese.

It was very much the "Star Wars" of its time.