There is a body of films that are set on the planet
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
. In the late 19th century, people erroneously believed that there were
canals on Mars. Into the early 20th century, additional observations of Mars fed people's interest in what was called "Mars fever".
One of the earliest films to be set on Mars was the short film ''
A Trip to Mars'' (1910), which was produced by one of
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison (February11, 1847October18, 1931) was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices in fields such as electric power generation, mass communication, sound recording, and motion pictures. These inventions, ...
's film companies.
In the 1920s through the 1960s, more films featured Mars or extraterrestrial
Martians. In the 1960s and 1970s, the
Mariner program and the
Viking program revealed new scientific details about Mars that showed little prospect for life. ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' said, "These disappointing discoveries changed the place of Mars on humanity's mental map. Films began to reflect this." Films such as ''
Total Recall'' (1990) and ''
Red Planet'' (2000) focused more on the colonization of Mars by humans.
''The Guardian'', reporting on the release of ''
John Carter'' (2012), said, since 1995, six films featuring Mars performed poorly at the box office.
''
Wired'', reporting on the release of ''
The Martian'' (2015), said prior films set on Mars—''Red Planet'', ''
Mission to Mars'' (2000), and ''
The Last Days on Mars'' (2013)—were "notable flops" that were the most recent in a "dismal track record of Mars movies".
''
The Atlantic'' called ''The Martian'' "the subgenre's newest and best entry", citing the positive reviews and strong box office returns on opening weekend. It said, "Many films seek to dramatize the Red Planet’s harsh landscape as a romantic frontier, but ''The Martian'' is one that actually succeeds."
List of films
The following films are listed alphabetically. The list can be sorted chronologically by clicking the diamond shape which follows the word "Year":
See also
*
Mars in fiction
*
Moon in fiction § Film
Related television
* ''
The Martian Chronicles'', a 1980 television miniseries
* ''
Babylon 5
''Babylon 5'' is an American space opera television series created by writer and producer J. Michael Straczynski, under the Babylonian Productions label, in association with Straczynski's Synthetic Worlds Ltd. and Warner Bros. Domestic Tel ...
'' (
season 4) – TV series with several season 4 episodes set on Mars
* ''
Cowboy Bebop'', a 1998 Japanese animated television series predominantly set on Mars, post-terraformation
* ''
Race to Mars'', a 2007 television miniseries
* ''
The Expanse'', a 2016 television series featuring a colonized solar system in which Earth and an independent Mars compete for the resources of the asteroid belt
* ''
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...
'', a 2016 six-part docudrama television miniseries by National Geographic
* ''
Missions'', a 2017 French television series
* ''
The First'', а 2018 drama series
*
For All Mankind, a 2019 television series
* ''
Away'', a 2020 science fiction drama streaming television series
* ''
Stars on Mars'', a 2023 reality competition series
Indirectly related films
* ''
Abbott and Costello Go to Mars'', a 1953 film in which the comedy duo end up on Venus instead of Mars
* ''
Capricorn One'', a 1977 government conspiracy thriller film about a Mars landing hoax
References
Further reading
*
{{Portal bar, Astronomy, Solar System, Spaceflight
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun. It is also known as the "Red Planet", because of its orange-red appearance. Mars is a desert-like rocky planet with a tenuous carbon dioxide () atmosphere. At the average surface level the atmosph ...