Given District 9’s #1 opening at the box office this past weekend, I’d say it’s relatively safe to say there exists a public hunger for some savvy, intelligent sci-fi. The unfortunate circumstance however is that many such titles fly under the radar, never quite achieving much success beyond smaller cult circles. District 9 could easily have been that type of film had the momentum not been heavy in the final weeks leading up to its release. Over at CHUD they put together a list of titles that embody all the good aspects of science fiction in the 21st century:

There were three criteria that had to be met for these films to be listed: they had to be smart and thoughtful, and they had to cost less than a hundred million dollars. And they had to be damned good. A couple of the films here get pretty close to that hundred million dollar blockbuster number, but that’s made up for by the films that cost a pittance.

[CHUD]