Five years ago, sci-fi cinema enjoyed a remarkable period of critical and financial success. Avatar came out at the end of 2009, made billions, garnered nine Oscar nominations, and won three. District 9 had emerged that same summer, where it made more than $200m and received four Oscar nominations. Then there was Moon, Duncan Jones’ low-budget genre film which launched his filmmaking career.

In the summer of 2010, along came Inception – Christopher Nolan’s high-concept sci-fi thriller starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Ahead of its release, Nolan’s industry clout was at its height following the financial success and acclaim of Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Yet Inception was seen by many as a risky undertaking – a $160m passion project Nolan had managed to set up because Warner was so keen to have him make a third Batman film.

The writer Mark Harris, in his 2011 article The Day The Movies Died for GQ magazine, wrote of the scepticism which led up to Inception‘s debut in cinemas. “After it started to screen, the party line changed: ‘It’s too smart for the room, too smart for the summer, too smart for the audience…'”

Those sceptics were soon proved wrong. Inception made more than $800m, and like Avatar and District 9, joined that small club of genre films with Oscar recognition: it was nominated for eight Academy Awards, and won three.