Successful Mars Curiosity Landing Reminds Us of All the Failed Mars Movies

We can launch a rocket into space, have it travel millions of miles through our solar system and safely land a vehicle on the surface of Mars, but we can't seem to make a memorable movie about the Red Planet.

Everyone seems to have Mars on the brain after last night's astonishing Mars Curiosity rover landing. The fact that the Total Recall remake came out the same weekend makes it even all the more stranger that they left Mars out of their storyline. But as the first grainy black & white images from the vehicle return to Earth, we're reminded that there's very rarely been a good movie dealing with our planet's nearest celestial neighbor. 

There are plenty of great movies about extra-planetary exploration but when it comes to Mars, we just keep putting out one bomb after another. Check out the gallery to see some movies that tried and failed to make the quintessential Martian movie.