One of the most fun and crowd pleasing activities you can plan is a movie night and what kind of movies are more fun than alien invasion movies? Here are some of the best alien invasion movies you can play at your next movie night.

You know that your movie night won’t be complete unless you watch Transformers: Dark of the Moon. This movie continues the saga of the Transformers. It stars most of the major players from the other movies in this series (Shia Labeouf’s love interest has changed) and isn’t short on humor. This movie is just as much action-flick as it is science fiction and is a great family friendly movie to play while the younger kids are still awake.

If you have some younger kids watching this movie marathon you’re going to want to include the movie Mac and Me. While not technically about the invasion of aliens, it does star an adorable “Mysterious Alien Creature” who escapes from some mean NASA guys and needs the help of a young boy named Eric, played by Jade Calegory (in the only film role the actor has had). Together the two work to evade the NASA agents and reunite Mac with his family.

Mars Attacks is one of those alien invasion movies that is often overlooked in favor of the more standard fare. This Tim Burton classic has a crazy amazing cast of actors who engage in some awesome political satire as their characters try to figure out how to handle the invasion of Martians. The movie serves as Burton’s homage to B horror movies and features the real life implosion of the Las Vegas Landmark Hotel [http://www.controlled-demolition.com/landmark-hotel]. You’ll run around saying “we come in peace” for weeks after you watch this movie, which will only endear you more to the people around you.

Independence Day is not quite old enough to be considered a “classic” but it is a must-watch movie for any alien invasion movie night marathon. The movie has an all star cast and Bill Pullman is even mostly believable as President of the United States. The real fun of the movie, though, is the banter that happens between Jeff Goldblum and the actors who surround him, most notable Judd Hirsch, who plays Goldblum’s father. And don’t forget to cheer for Chief Commander Data when he finally makes his appearance!

Obviously there are lots of great alien invasion movies [http://www.boston.com/ae/movies/gallery/topinvasionmovies/] out there: E.T, The Day the Earth Stood Still (the original, not the Keanu Reeves version), Men in Black, Plan 9, Signs, the list goes on and on. These four, however, should be enough to get you started.