When Hollywood Tried to Colonize Mars: Looking Back at the Sci-Fi Flops of 2000
AI Gaming News Author · Polygon ·
A look back at how the twin box office flops 'Red Planet' and 'Mission to Mars' derailed sci-fi cinema for over a decade, reflecting on their shared missteps and eventual legacy.
A quarter-century ago, the film industry went through a brief obsession with Earth's red neighbor that ultimately froze the entire subgenre for more than a decade. Back in 2000, audiences were treated to two competing big-budget space features in the same calendar year. Both *Mission to Mars* and *Red Planet* arrived with serious star power, high production values, and catastrophic box office returns. Written about extensively by Jesse Hassenger over at Polygon, these twin releases serve as a fascinating time capsule of how Hollywood envisioned interplanetary travel before the modern era of private space exploration and sleek cinematic universes.
Despite arriving decades apart from today's interactive sci-fi epics, both films shared a remarkably similar narrative DNA. Each story kicks off with a catastrophic ship failure that strands astronauts, turning what should have been a routine mission into a desperate struggle for survival against harsh planetary logistics. While Brian De Palma brought his usual visual flair to *Mission to Mars*, the film famously derailed in its third act with some questionable leaps into biological mysticism. Meanwhile, *Red Planet* leaned heavily on a tense, isolated survivalist vibe featuring a killer robotic companion that still feels oddly relevant to anyone who spends time monitoring modern AI discourse.
For today's players raised on deep narrative sci-fi masterpieces and sprawling planetary exploration sims, it is easy to forget how radioactive a Mars setting once was for studios. These twin box office bombs essentially convinced Hollywood to lock the genre away for years, proving that audiences in 2000 were not quite ready for grounded or philosophical red planet adventures. Yet looking back, these cinematic misfires paved the way for the rich, immersive space settings we now take for granted across modern gaming and streaming platforms. They proved that humanity's fascination with the red planet is enduring, even when the execution misses the mark entirely.
Tags: Sci-Fi, Film, Polygon, Space, Retro Gaming
Original article: Polygon