Summary
When audiences look for true escapism in cinema, thescience fictiongenre is one of the top choices and 2024 featured some truly epic releases from the sci-fi world.
The bestscience fictionfilms in 2024 were by and large sequels or prequels in established franchises. While sequels to major IPs are at higher risk of being a disappointment to fans, many of the sci-fi releases in 2024 evaded that curse and injected their respective franchises with new energy. Here are just a few of the best films inthe science fiction genrein 2024.
Alien: Romulus
AfterRidley Scott returned to his classic sci-fi monster franchisewithPrometheusandAlien: Covenant, the franchise took a different turn in 2024 with a new director and a vision that paid off. Fede Alvarez’sAlien: Romuluswas nestled in between the events ofAlienandAliens, focusing on a new group of young characters who face off against the terrifying Xenomorph.
Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson were standouts as the human and cyborgadopted siblings Rain and Andy, whose dreams of breaking free of their restrictive planet go awry after they take a scavenging job on an abandoned space station that is infested with extraterrestrials.Alien: Romulusemulated a lot of what was great about the originalAlienfilms and included a few new twists that kept things fresh and horrifying.
A Quiet Place: Day One
John Krasinski’sA Quiet Placefranchise was one of the best original horrors of the last decade as it introduced a new sense of tension into the cinema with its unique alien species that are attracted to prey via sound. Where Krasinski’s two films showed Earth after the extraterrestrial invasion,A Quier Place: Day One reveals how humanity reacted in the early days of the invasion. Lupita Nyong’o and Joseph Quinn star in the prequel as an unlikely duo who band together to survive and escape the streets of New York after the sound-seeking aliens land. WhileA Quiet Place: Day Onedidn’t answer all the questionsaudiences have been clamoring to know, it did serve as an excellent installment in the franchise that provided a healthy dose of survival drama along with the tension and scares theA Quiet Placefranchise is known for.
The Wild Robot
Based on the novels of the same name,The Wild Robotwas the startof a gorgeous new franchise out of Dreamworks. The movie introduces a lovable new sentient robot named Roz (Lupita Nyong’o) who is stranded in the untouched wilderness and finds herself trying to fulfill her helper duties by assisting the local wildlife. Eventually, she finds purpose in an orphaned gosling named Brightbill, who needs to learn to eat, swim, and fly before the annual migration.The Wild Robotis a heartwarming, moving, and visually stunning story that pairs themes of AI technology with the natural world into a movie that stays front of mind long after the credits roll.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes
After Matt Reeves capped off hisPlanet of the Apesfranchise trilogy with an almost$500 million haulforWar for the Planet of the Apesin 2017, the pivotal sci-fi franchise wasn’t going to lie dormant for long. Insert Wes Ball’s blockbuster sequel,Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, which is set decades intothe future after Caesar’s reign. This new future sees apes as the dominant species, while humans are treated as outsiders.Kingdom of the Planet of the Apesintroduces Noa (Owen Teague), a young ape eager to prove himself to his clan, whose life is altered after he comes across a human girl named Mae (Freya Allen).Kingdom of the Planet of the Apeswas another instance of excellent VFX and motion capture technology at play and introduced a post-apocalyptic Earth that is ripe for exploration in a trilogy.
Dune: Part Two
After the success of Denis Villenueve’s firstDunefilm, expectations were high for the second part.Dune: Part Twoadapts the remaining half of Frank Herbert’s classic sci-fi novel, which sees Paul Atreides accept his destiny and lead the Freman against the Harkonnen forces on Arrakis. TheDunesequel delivered on everything that made the first film great, including stunning cinematography, a rousing score from Hans Zimmer, more Oscar-worthy performances, and a gripping story set within an array of spectacularsci-fi worlds.
