There are many memorable flying cars seen in sci-fi movies. The genre of science fiction is all about exploring technological and futuristic possibilities beyond those of modern times or of the observable world. Sometimes it involves aliens, other times it involves time-travel, and a slew of other concepts are also frequently the basis for sci-fi stories. When it comes to the technological advances in sci-fi movies, one of the most popular is flying cars.
Sci-fi movies seldom devote much attention to explaining the actual science behind cars that can take off into the air. At the same time, they do not need to, with the idea itself being too fun a concept to get hung up on such details. While some flying cars in sci-fi movies have been makeshift vehicles designed to soar into the sky on a whim, others are considerably more state-of-the-art, and can even come with other sci-fi features. Here are the top 10 flying cars seen in sci-fi movies.
10 The AMC Matador Coupé - The Man With The Golden Gun
The '60s era of the 007 franchise is notoriously full of sci-fi elements in the gadgetry employed by James Bond, and The Man With The Golden Gun has one of its own in the movie's flying AMC Matador Coupé. Outfitted with wings and more or less reworked to be an airplane-car hybrid, the AMC Matador Coupé is not one of the wackier sci-fi tools of the Connery-Moore era of the Bond movies, but still a stand-out among them. The Man With The Golden Gun almost killed Bond cinematically, but the flying AMC Matador Coupé is still a memorable James Bond car that exemplifies the campiness of the '60s Bond movies as much as any.
9 The Eagle-5 - Spaceballs
Mel Brooks's loving spoofs the Star Wars franchise with his 1987 comedy Spaceballs, and it includes its own flying car dubbed the Eagle-5. Essentially a riff on the Millennium Falcon, the Eagle-5 is a camper with wings piloted by the movie's Han Solo equivalent, Lone Starr (Bill Pullman). The actual functionality of the Eagle-5 zipping through space at lightspeed is completely beside the point for Spaceballs. It is all about putting a comedic riff on the epic space opera of Star Wars and the grandeur of the Millennium Falcon.
8 Phillip's Flying Car - Flubber
The 1997 remake of The Absent-Minded Professor, Flubber stars Robin Williams as Dr. Phillip Brainard, who inadvertently invites a sentient and highly-bouncable green blob that he dubs Flubber. With some more controlled experimentation, Phillip manages to design a flying car powered by Flubber, which comes in handy to help save his near-bankrupt college. With the always hilarious Robin Williams bringing the laughs, Flubber also invents another of the most memorable flying cars in sci-fi movies with the comedic hijinks it is employed in.
7 The Flying Cars Of Total Recall (2012)
The 2012 remake of Total Recall makes a fair amount of tweaks to its story compared to it Arnold Schwarzenegger-led 1990 counterpart, and it has more than its share of stand-out sci-fi tools and vehicles. Among them are the flying cars of the Total Recall remake, and they definitely deliver as mini-airplanes zooming through the movie's chase scenes at 100 mph. The colossal elevator transporting miners from one end of the Earth to another is the most stand-out vehicle of the Total Recall remake, but its flying cars run it a close second.
6 The Flying Cars Of The Fifth Element
The '90s sci-fi relic The Fifth Element goes all in on every futuristic update to society and architecture possible, and that includes its plethora of flying cars. Obviously, the most prominent is the flying cab piloted by Korben Dallas (Bruce Willis). Additionally, more than most sci-fi movies with flying cars, The Fifth Element shows the reality of what a city of the future full of flying cars would look like, the gaps between buildings being runways full of flying cars zooming in every direction hundreds of feet above the ground.
5 Spinners - Blade Runner
Ridley Scott's sci-fi cult classic Blader Runner is full of some of the most awe-inspiring futuristic tech in sci-fi movies. These include flying cars, which are known as "Spinners" in the Blade Runner universe, and which stand as greatly enduring sci-fi vehicles decades after the movie's release. Especially considering the comparative limitations on visual effects back in the early '80s, the Spinners of Blade Runner have aged extremely well.
4 New Spinners - Blade Runner 2049
The belated sequel to the original Blade Runner, 2017's Blade Runner 2049 brings the originals Spinners back with a vengeance. With modern visual effects and camera magic to augment their presentation, the Spinners in Blade Runner 2049 are even more eye-popping than in the original, ranging from Police Spinners and other new Spinner models. As a worthy follow-up to a sci-fi classic decades later, Blade Runner 2049 also makes sure its Spinners are as state-of-the-art as possible.
3 The Space Car - F9
If any modern action movie franchise can get away with incorporating a space-car, it is the Fast & Furious series, and F9 takes to the stars with Tej (Ludacris) and Roman (Tyrese Gibson) at the helm of a rocket car. Tej and Roman's mission is to stop a doomsday device attached to a satellite, and the lack of realism in F9's space car and Tej and Roman's makeshift astronaut suits is as absurd as anything the Fast Saga has ever done. That, of course, is exactly what gives the Fast Saga its crowd-pleasing charm, and F9's rocket car fits right into the franchise's silly tone.
2 Luke Skaywalker's Landspeeder - Star Wars Episode IV - A New Hope
The Star Wars universe is full of all kinds of advanced and often massive interstellar spacecraft, but 1977's A New Hope manages to work in its own space car in the form of Luke Skywalker's landspeeder. Hovering just a few feet above the ground, Luke's landspeeder is still one of the stand-out vehicles of A New Hope as the kind of car every sci-fi nerd dreams of owning. Luke Skywalker's landspeeder might not be as advanced as the Millennium Falcon, but it gets the job done zipping Luke and his engers across Tatooine, with Luke's landspeeder even returning in The Mandalorian.
1 The Flying DeLorean - Back to the Future/Back To The Future Part II
When it comes to flying cars in sci-fi movies, none can compare to Doc Brown's airborne, time-traveling DMC DeLorean. First introduced in the final scene of Back to the Future, the DeLorean's flying capabilities are shown to their fullest in Back to the Future Part II, and it remains Doc Brown's all-time greatest invention. As the only flying car in sci-fi movies not only capable of time-travel but fueled by literal garbage, Back to the Future's flying DeLorean takes the honor of the coolest flying car in sci-fi movies.
