2025 Sci-Fi Joins Rotten Tomatoes’ 100 Worst Movies of All Time List

Not every movie can be an instant hit, and some films end up on the other end of the spectrum. That is certainly the case for Prime Video’s latest entry into the sci-fi genre. After debuting on July 30, 2025 with a rare 0% critics’ score, a number that has since risen slightly to 3%, a modernized version of one of H.G. Wells’ sci-fi classics has now notched another unsavory achievement: it has officially joined Rotten Tomatoes‘ list of the 100 worst movies of all time.

Now sitting at No. 88 on the list is War of the Worlds, director Rich Lee’s disastrous retelling of Wells’ 1898 novel of the same name. The movie stars Ice Cube as Department of Homeland Security (DHS) officer Will Radford, whose usual day-today tasks of dealing with virtual threats is disrupted by an alien attack. Eva Longoria, Clark Gregg, Andrea Savage, Henry Hunter Hall, Iman Benson, Devon Bostick, and Michael O’Neill also star.

War of the Worlds debuted with a 0% critics’ score, an incredibly rare score for a movie. In the nearly two weeks since its debut, that number has risen to 3%, while its audience score sits at 22%. Those numbers place it at No. 88 on Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the 100 worst movies of all time, putting it below the 2004 Bruce Willis comedy The Whole Ten Yards and just slightly above the 2004 Robert De Niro thriller Godsend.

If War of the Worlds’ critics’ score had remained at 0%, it would have ranked as the second-worst movie ever. The lowest-ranking movie on the list remains 2002’s Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, which holds a 0% critics’ score and 21% audience score. The list also features disasters like Jaws: The Revenge, Getting Even with Dad, House of the Dead, and Jack and Jill.

The movie landed on the list after 30 critic reviews led to a consensus that reads, “stranding Ice Cube in an inept screensaver with wall-to-wall product placement, War of the Worlds will make audiences consider giving peace a chance instead.” Critics have panned the movie as a “thin, frenetic, soulless adaptation” that “butchers” Wells’ classic sci-fi tale. Audience members haven’t been any kinder, advising others not to waste their time on this “inexplicably horrendous” adaptation.

It’s not all bad news, though. All of the buzz surrounding the movie’s poor reception helped make War of the Worlds an instant streaming hit, at least in terms of viewership. The movie rushed to the top of the streaming charts, and is the second-most-popular movie currently streaming on Prime Video globally, according to FlixPatrol. Audience numbers for the movie haven’t been released, so it’s unclear how many eyes have tuned in.

War of the Worlds is now streaming on Prime Video. The movie is just the latest adaptation of the classic, with the Tom Cruise-starring 2005 adaptation streaming on Paramount+ and Pluto TV.