20 Facts About Time Loop Movies (That Are Not 'Groundhog Day')

Can a movie create a whole genre? Brilliant yet actually trite rhetorical question, us, because come on, of course it can. Die Hard created the “Die Hard in a…” genre and Edge of Tomorrow created the “have you seen Edge of Tomorrow”’ genre. Another classic example, however, is Groundhog Day. To be sure, time loop sci-fi existed before, but after Groundhog Day every single time loop movie is inevitably compared to it, almost as if the concept belonged to Ramis’ 1993 comedy classic. And now it’s like a Groundhog Day of Groundhog Day-like movies, which makes it, erm, a Groundhog Day-ception? Whatever, the point is that just like with Edge of Tomorrow, there are many other gems in the genre. Thus, in this Pictofact we give a whole batch of awesome facts about time loop movies (that are not Groundhog Day).

With that said, have we ignored the trash of the genre? Yup, we have standards, you know. Also, have we forgotten some of the most impressive examples? We’re only human. Hell, we even wanted to rant about that X-Files episode where Mulder sends himself a message through the time loop like one of the OG time loopers, but alas, we have to narrow our focus away from awesome TV examples. This means we’re also ignoring time loop adjacent movies, that is, movies that feature circular time (which is not the same as the more specific concept of the time loop), or that have scenes with time loops. Hence, we’re ignoring (but not ceasing to love) Donnie Darko, Triangle, Doctor Strange, Primer, Looper, Tenet, or The Endless, and once again, focusing strictly on movies built on the general concept of the Groundhog Day-like time loop. For can a movie create a whole genre? Brilliant yet actually trite rhetorical question, us, because come on, of course it can…