Rotten Tomatoes
Cancel Movies Tv shows FanStore News Showtimes

The Day the Earth Stood Still

Play trailer 1:46 Poster for The Day the Earth Stood Still PG-13 Released Dec 12, 2008 1h 44m Sci-Fi Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
21% Tomatometer 195 Reviews 27% Popcornmeter 250,000+ Ratings
Klaatu (Keanu Reeves), an extraterrestrial visitor to planet Earth, becomes the herald of upheaval on a global scale. As the world's governments and scientists race to understand what is happening and how to stop it, Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) and her stepson come to understand the chilling ramifications behind Klaatu's statement that he is a "friend to the Earth."
Watch on Fandango at Home Buy Now

Where to Watch

The Day the Earth Stood Still

The Day the Earth Stood Still

What to Know

Critics Consensus

Heavy on special effects, but without a coherent story at its base, The Day the Earth Stood Still is subpar re-imagining of the 1951 science-fiction classic.

Read Critics Reviews

Critics Reviews

View All (195)
Joshua Rothkopf Time Out Rated: 3/5 Nov 17, 2011 Full Review Christine Champ Film.com Rated: C- May 6, 2011 Full Review Peter Travers Rolling Stone Rated: 1/4 Feb 3, 2011 Full Review Emiliano Basile EscribiendoCine Ultimately, the story of The Day the Earth Stood Still is as naive as the one from 1951, something that should have been adapted a little more to the times. [Full review in Spanish] Rated: 4/10 Feb 18, 2025 Full Review Mike Massie Gone With The Twins The computer animation and picture quality is significantly cleaner and more impressive than the low-budget, man-in-a-foam-suit costuming of the 1951 classic. Rated: 3/10 Nov 28, 2020 Full Review Richard Propes TheIndependentCritic.com If you look past the fairly cool special effects you're going to see a film at war with itself. Rated: 1.5/4.0 Sep 5, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

View All (1000+)
M. S We just came across this last night while looking for another movie. I loved the original and really was excited that they had remade it. But even with a great cast it was so disappointing. The whole point of the movie was that Klatu got to make a big speech to earth telling us all to clean up our act and stop fighting and polluting (likely at the time more about war) or the other beings would save earth from us. I can just imagine the spin in this modern scenario. All the "bugs" just fell to the sky and the aliens just went away. Our politicians would say they defeated them and carry on as usual. The big message wasn't there and it was a huge let down. I wish there was a Klatu as we need someone to save us from ourselves. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 06/14/25 Full Review K L Why does Hollywood always ruin wonderful old movies with terrible remakes? This movie is terrible and the acting stinks. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 05/07/25 Full Review Paul S What ruined this movie for me was its poor dialogue and lackluster special effects. Despite its flaws, I had fun watching it, and it had a very intriguing and intense story behind it. I definitely recommend it for sci-fi fans looking for a movie to turn their brains off to. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 04/29/25 Full Review Nancy L I wanted to like this movie, as the original 1951 is one of my favorite movies. The message still is valid today: People of Earth, STOP fighting with one another, or we will. This movie was blah, vapid & just terrible. I would give it a five or less. It was nothing like the original. Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars 04/25/25 Full Review Ella D Horrible script. No life. No obstacle and intention. Just blank. Strange that such a cool cast would agree to this banal story. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 03/29/25 Full Review Jason W Pretty standard sci-fi/invasion flick. The cgi looks very bad at time when you watch in the modern day, but it is what it is. Rated 2 out of 5 stars 03/08/25 Full Review Read all reviews
The Day the Earth Stood Still

My Rating

Read More Read Less POST RATING WRITE A REVIEW EDIT REVIEW

Cast & Crew

View All

Scott Derrickson

Director

Keanu Reeves

Klaatu

Jennifer Connelly

Dr. Helen Benson

Kathy Bates

Regina Jackson

Jaden Smith

Jacob Benson

John Cleese

Professor Barnhardt

More Like This

View All
A Sound of Thunder 6% 18% A Sound of Thunder Watchlist Sleep Dealer 73% 50% Sleep Dealer Watchlist Red Planet 14% 28% Red Planet Watchlist The 6th Day 40% 33% The 6th Day Watchlist TRAILER for The 6th Day Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace 18% 12% Lawnmower Man 2: Beyond Cyberspace Watchlist Discover more movies and TV shows. View More
View All

The Day the Earth Stood Still

The Day the Earth Stood Still: Trailer 1 The Day the Earth Stood Still: Trailer 1 1:46 View more videos
View All

The Day the Earth Stood Still

View more photos

Movie Info

Synopsis Klaatu (Keanu Reeves), an extraterrestrial visitor to planet Earth, becomes the herald of upheaval on a global scale. As the world's governments and scientists race to understand what is happening and how to stop it, Dr. Helen Benson (Jennifer Connelly) and her stepson come to understand the chilling ramifications behind Klaatu's statement that he is a "friend to the Earth."
Director
Scott Derrickson
Producer
Gregory Goodman, Paul Harris Boardman, Erwin Stoff
Screenwriter
David Scarpa
Production Co
3 Arts Entertainment
Rating
PG-13 (Violence|Some Sci-Fi Disaster Images)
Genre
Sci-Fi
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Dec 12, 2008, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Mar 1, 2013
Box Office (Gross USA)
$79.4M
Runtime
1h 44m
Most Popular at Home Now