Science Fiction: 316

Project Blue Book (2019–2020) is an American historical drama that delves into the covert operations of the U.S. government in the aftermath of WWII. Following Captain Michael Quinn and Dr. Allen Hynek as they investigate UFO sightings, their mission is to either debunk or provide rational explanations for these reports. While Quinn remains focused on completing his assigned task, Hynek becomes increasingly convinced that a dangerous conspiracy lurks behind the sightings. At the same time, as Cold War fears grip the nation, a charming blonde forms a bond with Hynek’s isolated wife. Drawing from real-life records and events from one of the most enigmatic periods ...

War of the Worlds (2019–2024), a production of Fox Networks Group and StudioCanal-backed Urban Myth Films, is an adaptation of H. G. Wells’ 1898 novel about Earth’s response to a surprise invasion by Martians. The series, created and written by Howard Overman and directed by Gilles Coulier and Richard Clark, marks the third television adaptation of the novel. Set in modern-day France, this Anglo-French retelling takes inspiration from The Walking Dead as ...

In 2019, a new addition to the Terminator franchise, Terminator: Dark Fate (2019), was released. It is a direct sequel to the highly acclaimed Terminator 2:Judgment Day (1991), and disregards the events of Rise of the Machines (2003), Salvation (2009), and Genisys (2015). Several years after their mission to destroy Cyberdyne Systems in 1998, Sarah and John Connor have retired and moved to Livingston, Guatemala. However, their peaceful life is abruptly disrupted when they are attacked by a T-800 Terminator sent from Skynet. Despite Sarah’s efforts, John is killed. In 2020, another advanced Terminator known as the ...

Smash and Grab (2019) is a computer-animated short film from Pixar. The story follows two laborer robots, Smash and Grab, on a futuristic planet. They work in a giant train powered by glowing rocks, with Smash breaking them apart and tossing them to Grab. Despite their repetitive task, they try to make their work fun by turning it into a game. However, their power cables prevent them from moving freely or even touching each other. One day, Smash builds a pile of rocks to get a glimpse of the outside world through the train’s window. It discovers that there are free robots who move around easily thanks to spherical batteries that can attach to the same port as ...

The American science fiction thriller film In the Shadow of the Moon (2019) is directed by Jim Mickle and written by Gregory Weidman and Geoff Tock. In Philadelphia, Police Detective Locke and his partner Maddox are on the hunt for a female serial killer in 1988. After Locke takes her down in the subway, their boss Chief Holt declares the case closed without identifying the killer. Nine years later, similar crimes occur, leading Locke and Maddox to suspect a copycat. However, further investigation reveals that the killer is ...

Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) is an American monster film directed and co-written by Michael Dougherty. As a sequel to the 2014 film Godzilla and the third installment in the MonsterVerse, it follows five years after the initial discovery of Titans, colossal creatures that have emerged from hiding. Dr. Emma Russell, a paleobiologist working for Monarch, an organization dedicated to studying Titans, and her daughter Madison witness the hatching of Mothra, a larva Titan. Emma uses the ‘Orca’, a frequency-emitting device designed to control Titan behavior, to calm Mothra. Meanwhile, ...

Alita: Battle Angel (2019) is an American cyberpunk action film adapted from Yukito Kishiro’s Gunnm manga series. The story takes place in 2563 on a ravaged Earth, dubbed ‘The Fall’, where Dr. Dyson Ido comes across a brain-attached cyborg while scavenging for parts in Iron City’s scrapyard. After reuniting the body and brain, Ido names the cyborg ‘Alita’ after his late daughter. With no recollection of her past, Alita quickly forms a bond with Hugo, a young man longing to escape to the opulent sky city of Zalem, and Dr. Chiren, Ido’s estranged ex-wife. Upon discovering ...

The Mandalorian (2019–2024), a space Western series created by Jon Favreau for Disney+, is the first live-action show in the Star Wars franchise, set five years after Return of the Jedi (1983). Starring Pedro Pascal as the title character, a lone bounty hunter who protects Grogu, a Force-sensitive child, from Moff Gideon and his remaining Imperial forces. George Lucas had previously planned for a live-action Star Wars series in 2009, but it was deemed too costly. When he sold Lucasfilm to Disney ...

Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker (2019) is the highly anticipated American epic space opera film, helmed by renowned director J. J. Abrams who also serves as one of its co-writers and producers. This highly anticipated film marks the third installment of the Star Wars sequel trilogy, following the successful releases of The Force Awakens (2015) and The Last Jedi (2017). It is also the final chapter in the nine-part Skywalker saga. In his quest to gain power, Kylo Ren obtains a Sith wayfinder that leads him to Exegol, where he discovers a resurrected Emperor Palpatine ...

The American dystopian science fiction film, Maze Runner: The Death Cure (2018), was directed by Wes Ball and written by T.S. Nowlin, based on James Dashner’s 2011 novel of the same name. The remaining free ‘Gladers’ – Thomas, Newt, and Frypan – team up with the Right Arm resistance in an attempt to rescue other Immunes from WCKD’s train. Their mission takes a dangerous turn when they realize their friend Minho, who was captured by WCKD, is on a separate carriage headed to the ...

Shane Black directs The Predator (2018), an American sci-fi action flick that he co-wrote with Fred Dekker. The fourth installment in the franchise and sixth overall, it is chronologically placed between Predator 2 (1990) and Predators (2010). An alien ship crashes on Earth during U.S. Army Ranger sniper Quinn McKenna’s hostage retrieval mission. He takes down the Predator and mails off pieces of its armor as proof of life beyond our planet. Government agent Will Traeger captures Quinn to examine him while also taking the Predator to a lab for ...

Mirage (2018), also known as Durante la tormenta in Spanish, is a mystery-drama film written and directed by Oriol Paulo. It takes place during the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and follows the story of a boy named Nico who witnesses a fight scene while recording a video in his house during an intense 72-hour electrical storm. In the midst of the chaos, he discovers the body of Ms. Weiss, wife of his neighbor Angel Prieto, and sees Prieto holding a knife. As Nico tries to flee, he tragically gets hit by a passing car. Mr. Prieto is later arrested with the murder weapon as Nico loses his life in the accident. ...

Replicas (2018), an American sci-fi thriller directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff and written by Chad St. John from a story by Stephen Hamel, features William Foster and Ed Whittle as biomedical research scientists employed by Bionyne Corporation in Puerto Rico. Their goal is to transfer the mind of a deceased soldier, known as Subject 345, into an android with exceptional strength. While Foster specializes in synthetic biology and neural mapping, Whittle’s expertise lies in human cloning. Despite successfully transferring ...

Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018) is an interactive film in the science fiction anthology series Black Mirror, written by creator Charlie Brooker and directed by David Slade. The film includes a brief tutorial, tailored to the viewer’s streaming device, which explains how to make choices. When faced with a decision point, the viewer has ten seconds to choose before a default option is selected for them. On average, the viewing time is 90 minutes, although the quickest pathway concludes after just 40 minutes. With 150 minutes of unique footage divided into ...

Altered Carbon (2018–2020) is an American cyberpunk series, based on the 2002 novel of the same name by Richard K. Morgan. In a future world where consciousness can switch between bodies, Takeshi Kovacs, a former soldier turned investigator, is released from prison to solve a murder. The story takes place over 360 years in the future in Bay City, a futuristic metropolis. Memories and consciousness are stored on disk-like devices called cortical stacks, implanted at the back of the neck. These stacks are made from alien materials found only on Harlan’s World and can be transferred into new bodies after death. ...

The science fiction action film, Bumblebee (2018), is based on the popular character from Hasbro and Takara Tomy’s Transformers toy line. On Cybertron, the Autobots, led by Optimus Prime, are facing defeat in their battle against the Decepticons and plan to leave the planet. As they attempt to evacuate, the Decepticons, led by Starscream, Soundwave, and Shockwave, attack them. In a last-ditch effort to set up a new base of operations, Optimus sends scout B-127 to Earth in an escape pod while he stays behind to fight off the Decepticons. B-127 crash-lands in California in 1987 and disrupts a training exercise by Sector 7 – a top-secret government ...

Based on the novel by Ernest Cline, Ready Player One (2018) is a sci-fi film set in a future where people use the OASIS, a virtual reality universe created by James Halliday and Ogden Morrow of Gregarious Games, to escape their bleak reality. When Halliday passes away, his avatar Anorak leaves a message announcing a contest: whoever finds the golden Easter egg hidden behind a locked gate within the OASIS will gain ownership of the entire game. This attracts many players known as ‘Gunters’ as well as Nolan Sorrento, CEO of Innovative Online Industries (IOI), who wants to take control of the OASIS for himself ...

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018) is a thrilling sci-fi action flick helmed by J. A. Bayona and penned by Derek Connolly and Colin Trevorrow. Following the events of 2015’s Jurassic World, a band of mercenaries set foot on the deserted Isla Nublar to retrieve Indominus rex DNA from its lagoon. However, their mission takes a dangerous turn when their submersible gets devoured by the Mosasaurus and their helicopter is attacked by Tyrannosaurus (Rexy). Despite facing these challenges, they are able to secure ...

Pacific Rim Uprising (2018) is an American science fiction film featuring monsters. Directed by Steven S. DeKnight, the movie marked his first time as a feature-film director and writer. Collaborating with Emily Carmichael, Kira Snyder, and T.S. Nowlin, DeKnight brings to life a story set in the year 2035 – exactly 10 years after the Battle of the Breach. This battle saw the closure of an inter-dimensional portal used by the ...

Rampage (2018), an American sci-fi film directed by Brad Peyton and loosely based on the video game series by Midway Games, centers around a catastrophic event caused by a mutated laboratory rat on Athena-1, a space station owned by gene manipulation company Energyne. In the aftermath, CEO Claire Wyden orders Dr. Kerry Atkins, the only survivor, to retrieve research canisters containing a dangerous pathogen. However, upon fleeing in an escape pod, Atkins is killed due to damage from the rat’s rampage. The falling debris spreads across the United States, with one canister consumed by an American crocodile in the ...