1930s-1950s

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In the 1930s, there were several big budget science fiction films, notably Just Imagine (the first feature length science fiction film by a US studio), the US-made films King Kong (1933) and Lost Horizon (1936) and the British-made Things to Come (1936). Starting in 1934, a number of science fiction comic strips were adapted as serials, notably Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, both starring Buster Crabbe. These serials, and the comic strips they were based on, helped fix in the mind of the US public the idea that science fiction was juvenile and absurd, and led to the common description of science fiction as "that crazy Buck Rogers stuff". After 1936, no more big budget science fiction films were produced until 1950's Destination Moon, the first color sf film.

During the 1950s, public interest in space travel and new technologies revived. While many 1950s science-fiction movies were still low-budget B movies, there were several successful films with larger budgets and impressive special effects, notably Destination Moon, The Day the Earth Stood Still, This Island Earth, and Forbidden Planet. Some of the many B mvoies are also still of interest today, especially Howard Hawks's The Thing from Another World, Invasion of the Body Snatchers and It Came From Outer Space.

There was a close connection between the science fiction genre and the monster movie, in, for example, Them, The Beast From 20,000 Fathoms, and The Blob

Ray Harryhausen began to use stop-motion animation to create special effects for films such as Earth vs. the Flying Saucers (1956).