Top 10 Dystopian Sports Movies You Have to See

Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the quirkiest and most uniquely entertaining examples of weird and wild athletically-inclined genre pictures!

#10: “Real Steel” (2011)

Here’s a question: did 2011’s “Real Steel” rip-off “Robot Jox” from 1990? Maybe, maybe not. Both films share some similarities, however, mainly their incorporation of giant fighting robots in a not-so-distant future. The former mainly utilizes a classic Richard Matheson story for its conceptual inspiration, however, adapting it from its 1956 source material and updating it similar to how “The Twilight Zone” did for a 1963 episode. Both Matheson’s story and the “Twilight Zone” episode were titled “Steel,” while “Real Steel” features Hugh Jackman and Dakota Gayo as a father-and-son that bond over the training of a robot. This 2011 film did marginally well during its initial release, and has since received some cult reappraisal over the years.

#9: “Deathsport” (1978)

Roger Corman was known as “The King of the B Movies,” a creative producer and director who prided himself on rarely, if ever, losing money on a movie. “Deathsport” is one of Corman’s most remembered efforts from the 1970s, a cult exploitation effort where death row criminals fight for their freedom astride suped-up death-cycles. This titular “Deathsport” featured a great promotional poster, and starred David Carradine alongside the talented-but-tragically doomed actress Claudia Jennings. This Playboy model turned action star enjoys a cult reputation today for her on-screen fearlessness, but “Deathsport” was sadly one of Jennings’ last films before she passed away in an automobile accident. Her performance in this cheesy-but-fun action romp, however, is a shining light within “Deathsport’s” deadly wasteland.

#8: “Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome” (1985)

“Two men enter, one man leaves.” This is the memorable warning given to all of those who enter the Thunderdome, a deadly gladiatorial arena featured in the third “Mad Max” movie. “Beyond Thunderdome” is the only “Max” film to be rated PG-13, and fans are largely divided with regards to the entry’s middle section on “Planet Erf.” What almost everyone agrees on, however, is that the Thunderdome rules, Tina Turner is awesome as “Auntie Entity” and her title theme to the film, “We Don’t Need Another Hero,” is a classic. The actual Thunderdome sequence early on in the film also serves as one of the film’s most iconic and frequently replayed scenes, ensuring that “Beyond Thunderdome” remains remembered in the modern day.

#6: “Speed Racer” (2008)

Sometimes, it’s best to give the people what they want before they know they want it. The Wachowskis could’ve easily adapted the “Speed Racer” franchise the easy way, as some sort of a straight forward nostalgia bait. Instead, their 2008 take on this classic animated series was a psychedelic and hallucinatory feast for the senses; an audio-visual head-trip. This is a film where the intense use of CGI lends it an uncanny sense of time and place. Sure, “Speed Racer” may feel firmly rooted in its roots, but it also feels anachronistically modern. Its “so crazy it just might work” approach takes the original’s racing premise and updates it nicely, bringing together Speed, Pops, Trixie and Racer X for an adaptation unlike any other.

#5: “Alita: Battle Angel” (2019)

The decision to utilize performance-captured CGI alongside real-actors proved to be a good one for 2019’s “Alita: Battle Angel”. Rosa Salazar’s performance serves this adaptation of Yukito Kishiro’s manga well, while the motorball game at the center of the plot is a cool mixture of baseball and auto racing. Films set in these sorts of dystopian worlds tend to utilize these sorts of games as a distraction from their central devastation. “Alita: Battle Angel” is no different in this regard, and fans seemed to respond well, despite the film receiving mixed reviews from critics.

#4: “Death Race 2000” (1975)

It’s another classic from Roger Corman’s seemingly endless wellspring of ideas that were… let’s say “creatively adjacent” to popular films of the day. “Death Race 2000” sought to capitalize upon the growing dystopian sci-fi themes of the 1970s, while also inserting plenty of humor and social satire along the way. Racers in this world earn points for every person they kill along the way, and the screenplay from Robert Thom and Charles B. Griffith makes it a point to have fun with this outlandish concept. “Death Race 2000” also notably stars Sylvester Stallone and Martin Kove early on in their careers, alongside David Carradine, Mary Woronov and radio DJ Don Steele. The film even received the remake treatment in 2008, starring Jason Statham as a new interpretation of the Frankenstein character.

#3: “The Running Man” (1987)

It’s a popular concept: that of a sports contest serving as the crux of a troubled future. “The Running Man” was based upon the Stephen King story of the same name, which itself has been compared to 1958’s “The Prize of Peril” from author Robert Sheckley. Both stories feature reality-based athletic competitions with deadly consequences, and both were adapted into films. “Das Millionenspiel” and “Le Prix du Danger” took on Sheckley’s story, while “The Running Man” was a big-budget Schwarzenegger vehicle that arrived last, but which has arguably lasted the longest in the public consciousness. This is thanks to Arnold’s Ben Richards, who has to survive being hunted and stalked, as he attempts to prove his innocence amidst a state-controlled game that stacks the odds.

#2: “The Hunger Games” franchise (2012-)

There’s been a lot of discussion over the years about how both the novels from Suzanne Collins and the feature film adaptations of “The Hunger Games” riff upon a premise long-established from Japan’s “Battle Royale” franchise. It’s a shared idea of sorts, that of young people fighting against the will of an older, established state. “Battle Royale’s” 1999 novel and cult film adaptation from Kinji Fukasaku was notable for its unrepentant violence, while “The Hunger Games” blunts that impact a bit via its Hollywood casting and PG-13 rating. Still, the overall themes remain relevant, those of defiance and independence in the face of totalitarian control and power.

Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honorable mentions.

“Endgame” (1983)

Reality Television Gets Deadly in This Italian Post-nuke Knockoff

“Arena” (1989)

Interstellar Athletic Contests & Underworld Back-alley Deals

“Solarbabies” (1986)

Playing for Their Lives in a Post-apocalyptic Future

“Hard Knuckle” (1988)Badass Billiards in the Wasteland

“Prayer of the Rollerboys” (1990)

Blades of Steel FTW!

#1: “Rollerball” (1975)

Let’s forget for a minute that the abortive 2002 remake of the same name even exists. There’s really only one “Rollerball,” right? A cult 1975 film that launched a flood of imitators in its wake. The O.G. “Rollerball” featured a script written by William Harrison, based upon his own short story from Esquire Magazine. This allows for the end results to build an expansive world where corporations rule everything, and humanity relies upon rollerball to relieve them from the stress of overlord control. James Caan’s character represents individuality and freedom from this control, and this makes him dangerous. “Rollerball” is the future, seen through the eyes of the 1970s, yet there also exists a prescience that’s allowed for this story to feel timelessly cool.

What’s your dystopian sport of choice? Let us know how you wanna fight for your post-apocalyptic rights in the comments!