10 Most Remarkable Sci-Fi Movie Opening Scenes

2001: A Space Odyssey is argued continuously as a herald of special effects and spacefaring strangeness - one of the defining films of the science fiction genre, and in turn, of all time. With such a big ass claim to fame then, you'd hope that it would come with an opening scene to match.

To those that have never seen the introduction in all its cinematic glory, I'm pleased to recount that it is, in fact, a pretty great opening, whether you think 2001 is the best film of any generation or just a load of pish really.

Opening with one of the most iconic pieces of cinematic music ever, a sun rises on a darkened earth in dramatic fashion before we're plunged into Kubrick's portrayal of mankind and our evolution through time. The Dawn of Man is 2001's opening segment, populated with two hominid groups in a war for a waterhole that then gets a giant black monolith plonked in the middle, which somehow influences them into learning how to smack each other with bones.

It sounds weird because it is. But weird often leads to fascinating, and 2001's spiral into art cinema and visual storytelling is best brought to life by this seemingly innocuous, prehistoric setting crashing headfirst into the future when the monolith lands.