World-building is a crucial element of storytelling that can make or break a story, especially a fantastical one. Fantasy movies have to introduce worlds that are completely different from our own, each with its own history and rules. And they also need to feel believable. The best ones make it seem like these places existed long before the story began and will keep going long after it ends.
In this list, we are breaking down 10 fantasy movies that introduced some of the most unique and immersive worlds. It is also important to note that we will be leaving out films like Dune and Blade Runner. Those movies have undoubtedly incredible world-building, but they lean more toward sci-fi. This list is focused more on magic and mythical creatures instead of androids and spaceships.
10
‘Thor’ (2011)
When Thor came out, it had the difficult task of making it believable that gods and magic and Frost Giants existed in the same grounded world of Iron Man, and it did a phenomenal job. It introduced audiences to the golden city of Asgard, with its grandiose architecture and glowing skies that immediately felt heavenly. The characters spoke in Shakespearean dialogue, and there was a clear monarchical government. The very first scenes take place on the eve of Thor’s (Chris Hemsworth) coronation, which naturally introduces us to the power structure and key players.
Characters reference deep history and an existing political balance, like the ancient war between Asgard and Jotunheim and the fragile peace brokered by Odin (Anthony Hopkins). And later, the film even tries to explain the magical elements and the characters’ existence using actual Norse mythology and scientific terms. For example, the Bifrost is explained as a controlled Einstein-Rosen Bridge that allows for instant travel between the Nine Realms. These little touches make the magic feel oddly plausible. Even Thor’s clueless behavior on Earth, like smashing a coffee mug or trying to buy a horse at a pet store, reinforces that Asgard has its own quirks and traditions.
9
‘Wicked’ (2024)
The first few minutes of Wicked do most of the heavy lifting by reintroducing Oz and showing us familiar locations. We see the Yellow Brick Road, Emerald City, Munchkinland, and the Wicked Witch of the West’s tower. Glinda (Ariana Grande) arrives in a big bubble and announces the witch’s death through song. It picks up right where The Wizard of Oz ends, and then immediately pulls us backward into Elphaba’s (Cynthia Erivo) origins. We become invested because the film makes it clear there is more to this world than we were told before.
We understand Elphaba’s place in Oz through how others react to her, especially their discomfort with her green skin, which goes against what the world considers normal. Beyond Elphaba’s story, the movie expands the world by showing how talking animals are treated as second-class citizens. These animals teach, work, and live alongside humans, yet they are slowly being stripped of their rights. While Elphaba studies at Shiz, many animals are forced into hiding just to survive. All of this makes Oz feel much more complicated and politically layered than the fairy tale version we thought we knew.
8
‘Pan’s Labyrinth’ (2006)
Set in the Francoist Spain of 1944, Pan’s Labyrinth centers around a bookish young girl who accidentally escapes into a fantasy world. There, she meets a Faun who tells her she’s a princess destined to return to her magical underworld kingdom. But, in order to prove her royalty and achieve immortality, she must complete three dangerous tasks. On her quest, she meets various mystical creatures, including glowing fairies, a giant toad, and the child-eating Pale Man. The creatures in here are pure nightmare fuel, brought to life with stunning practical effects.
And like with any Guillermo Del Toro movie, there is no simple good vs. evil here. Just like the outside world, the Underground Realms are dangerous, and even the magical characters have complex and morally ambiguous traits, which makes the world feel much more grounded and real. And even the little details, like the Faun addressing the girl as “vos”, which is an old Spanish term for royalty, drive home just how much attention to detail there was.
7
‘The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’ (2005)
This film establishes a sense of realism by grounding the real world first. The opening sequences in 1940s London are filled with tactile, period-accurate details: heavy wool coats, steam trains, and old parchment. But as Lucy (Georgie Henley) steps into the wardrobe and enters a forest covered in snow, you instantly realize this is a world very different from our own. The film populates Narnia with creatures that represent different social roles. There are Centaurs, who are the stoic military, and the half-breed Fauns and Satyrs, who are the artistic, whimsical residents.
You learn that magic in Narnia is governed by strict laws from the dawn of time. And you see it in action through the Stone Table, the enchanted Turkish Delight, and the gifts the children receive from Father Christmas (James Cosmo). The film also introduces audiences to the White Witch’s (Tilda Swinton) oppressive rule and the prophecy of how Aslan’s arrival will end the eternal winter and bring spring. Her palace is filled with frozen statues of Narnian citizens, each trapped in a state of terror. This tells the history of her 100-year reign without a single line of dialogue.
6
‘The Dark Crystal’ (1982)
This film takes place in a realm called Thra, and it feels unique in every way. For The Dark Crystal, Jim Henson wanted to move away from the cute puppets of The Muppets and Sesame Street to build a darker, more grounded fantasy world. And so, Thra was created from the ground up as something truly other. There are no humans here at all. It is an entirely new ecosystem populated by races like Gelflings, Podlings, Mystics, and Skeksis.
The film follows a Gelfling named Jen, who’s been raised by the noble race called the Mystics, and has been told his entire life that he is the last survivor of his own race. He learns about the Dark Crystal, a powerful gem that once kept the world in balance. When the Crystal was shattered, that balance was broken, and the evil Skeksis used sinister means to gain control. Every 1000 years, a Great Conjunction occurs when the Three Suns align, which empowers the Crystal. Jen believes that he can repair the Dark Crystal before the next Great Conjunction and bring peace back to the world, and so he sets out on a quest to find the remaining shard.
5
‘Spirited Away’ (2001)
Spirited Away follows a ten-year-old girl who, while moving to a new town, wanders with her parents into the magical Spirit Realm. This world is filled with gods, sorcerers, sprites, beasts, spirits, and, of course, the iconic No-Face, a creature that absorbs the traits and voices of those it consumes. Unlike many fantasy worlds where magic fixes everything, this one is strangely industrial. Everyone must have a job to justify their existence, and identity is treated as a tangible, stealable currency.
One of the best examples of world-building is the Stink Spirit scene. When the girl pulls what looks like a thorn out of the spirit, it turns out to be a bicycle handle, followed by piles of human trash. This subtly explains the relationship between the two worlds: the human world’s pollution directly affects the health of the spirits. The train ride to Swamp Bottom is another fantastic worldbuilding scene. It shows that the bathhouse in the movie is just one small part of a much larger, melancholic world. The shadow-like passengers board and depart, and it drives home the scope of the world; every spirit has its own life and destination.
4
‘The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’
This is the first movie in what is widely considered the greatest fantasy trilogy of all time. It follows Frodo (Elijah Wood), a hobbit from the peaceful Shire, whose quiet life is shattered when Gandalf (Ian McKellen) pulls him into the larger war against Sauron. Frodo is tasked with carrying the One Ring, the very object Sauron is desperately trying to reclaim. His journey takes him from the safety of his home to Rivendell, where elves, dwarves, humans, and hobbits eventually form a fellowship to destroy the ring in the fires of Mount Doom.
What makes Middle-earth feel so real is the insane attention to detail. The Hobbiton set was built nearly a year before filming began. This allowed real gardens to grow, weeds to sprout naturally, and the hedges to fill in, so that when the cameras finally rolled, the Shire looked like a village that had been inhabited for centuries rather than a newly constructed set. Each race has its own design language. In Hobbiton, you see small tables, mini ladders, and tiny clotheslines with hobbit-sized laundry. In Rivendell, every pillar, chandelier, and table leg features organic, flowing curves that reflect their 3,000-year-old connection to the forest. All of this makes this fantasy world truly feel lived in.
3
‘Alice in Wonderland’ (2010)
Alice in Wonderland features some of the most beautiful aesthetics ever put in a fantasy movie. It pulls you in the moment Alice (Mia Wasikowska) follows a rabbit down a rabbit hole. She keeps falling until she lands upside down on a ceiling, and then gravity suddenly flips, and she drops to the floor. She is greeted by a hallway of locked doors, a bottle labeled “DRINK ME” that makes her shrink, and a cake labeled “EAT ME” that turns her into a giant. Within minutes, the movie establishes that the laws of physics don’t work the same way here, and magic is baked into the fabric of Underland.
From there, Tim Burton introduces a lineup of unforgettable characters like the Mad Hatter (Johnny Depp), Absolem the Caterpillar, the villainous Red Queen (Helena Bonham Carter), and her sister, the White Queen (Anne Hathaway). And the CGI/live-action hybrid really drives home the fantastical nature of these characters. Underland also has a rich history that existed long before the film started. The Orcaulum explains that the Red Queen usurped the throne, and the entire world had been stuck in a state of waiting for Alice’s return for The Frabjous Day, the prophesied day of battle that is meant to restore balance.
2
‘Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone’ (2001)
The Wizarding World is one of those fictional universes that everyone knows, and that is because the first Harry Potter film did a phenomenal job of building it from the ground up. On his 11th birthday, Hagrid (Robbie Coltrane) tells Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) that he is a wizard and explains the truth about his parents. He then brings Harry into this hidden world through the secret entrance to the Hogwarts Express, tucked away behind Muggle-repelling charms. We learn about the Ministry of Magic, which tells us there is a full government in place to control magic and keep it hidden from normal people.
Once Harry arrives at Hogwarts, there are staircases that move and change direction. Portraits of famous people who talk and move around. Students go through the Sorting Ceremony, where they are divided into four houses, each with its own identity and history. Every student has a wand, flies on broomsticks, and attends classes like Potions, Charms, and Transfiguration. Even tiny moments, like Hermione (Emma Watson) correcting Ron’s (Rupert Grint) spell pronunciation with “It’s LeviOsa, not LevioSA,” reinforce that magic follows clear rules and makes Hogwarts feel like an actual functioning school.
1
‘Avatar’ (2009)
With Avatar, James Cameron introduced the sprawling alien world of Pandora, a lush and vibrant moon orbiting the gas giant Polyphemus in the Alpha Centauri system. Every detail of this world is shaped by its physical conditions. Because Pandora has lower gravity than Earth, its plants and animals grow to massive sizes. And since it experiences long periods of darkness as a moon, nearly all life on the planet evolved to be bioluminescent.
Pandora is inhabited by six-limbed beast-like creatures and the four-limbed Na’vi people. They stand nearly 10 feet tall, again because the lower gravity allows that kind of evolution. Their biology and culture are also deeply tied to the planet. They have their own language, greeting, and religion. All organisms on Pandora also have a neural queue that allows them to bond with one another. The Na’vi use it to ride animals, communicate with the Tree of Souls, and they can also connect with each other as part of their mating ritual. All this attention to culture, tradition, and biology makes Pandora feel like a real civilization that evolved naturally right alongside humanity.
Avatar
- Release Date
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December 15, 2009
- Runtime
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162 minutes
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