Ordinarily, it would be great news for sci-fi fans when Netflix debuts a big-budget movie like The Electric State in our favorite genre. Unfortunately, this one is not a very good movie, although it may be one of the most expensive films ever made. It just doesn’t belong on the best sci-fi movies on Netflix.
Fortunately, two great alternatives have been added this month: Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga and Blade Runner: The Final Cut. But before you catch those films, you should know that A Quiet Place Part II is leaving Netflix on April 11. So you may want to watch that first. In the meantime, you can find these films among the best sci-fi movies on Netflix below.
We’ve curated guides to the best sci-fi movies on Amazon Prime Video and the best sci-fi movies on Hulu, too. Need more recommendations? Then check out the best new movies to stream this week, the best movies on Netflix, the best movies on Hulu, the best movies on Amazon Prime Video, the best movies on Max, and the best movies on Disney+.
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Furiosa: A Mad Max Sagar 2024
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Blade Runner: The Final Cutr 1982
Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga (2024)
Mad Max: Fury Road was a hard act to follow, even for director George Miller. So Miller went back in time for Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga. Think of this as Furiosa Begins, with Anya Taylor-Joy playing a young Furiosa. But before the film gets to Taylor-Joy’s Furiosa, the film opens with the tragedy of an even younger Furiosa (Alyla Browne) who lost her home and her mother on the same day. The man responsible for Furiosa’s misery is Dementus (Chris Hemsworth), a warlord of the wasteland who won’t let her escape back to the sanctuary of her home. As the years pass, Furiousa’s desire for revenge supersedes all other goals, and she’s willing to do almost anything to see Dementus laid low before her. Unfortunately for Furiosa, Dementus isn’t so easily defeated, and he can still take away someone important to her.
Blade Runner: The Final Cut (1982)
In the four decades since Blade Runner‘s release, Ridley Scott has made a few attempts to improve upon his sci-fi classic. Blade Runner: The Final Cut supposedly marks his last time making any additional changes. It’s a great film no matter which version you watch, as the story’s major beats remain the same. In the year of 2019, Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) is Blade Runner who is tasked with retiring humanoid replicants that go rogue. And “retiring” doesn’t mean he’s sending them to a rest home.
Roy Batty (Rutger Hauer), Pris (Daryl Hannah), Zhora Salome (Joanna Cassidy), and Leon Kowalski (Brion James) are the latest replicants that Deckard has to hunt down and destroy … if they don’t kill him first. But these replicants are more human-like than any others he’s met before Rachael (Sean Young). She’s so convincing as a young woman that even Deckard starts questioning what he thought he knew about replicants.
Dune: Part Two (2024)
Dune: Part Two picks up shortly after the first movie, as Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) and his mother, Lady Jessica (Rebecca Ferguson), accept refuge among the Fremen after losing everything in an attack on their house. However, Paul is exactly where he wants to be, as the Fremen teach him how to survive and fight back against his enemies.
As the Fremen start to see Paul as their messiah, a young woman named Chani (Zendaya) sees him as a man who denies any ambitions to lead her people into war. Paul and Chani even fall in love with each other, but the demands of Paul’s position may be too much to ignore as the final battle for Arrakis approaches.
Subservience (2024)
The premise of Subservience appears to be “what if Megan Fox was M3GAN.” In this case, Fox’s android character is called Alice, and she’s a domestic AI robot designed to make life easier for humans. Nick (Michele Morrone) badly needs the help because his wife, Maggie (Madeline Zima), has a serious health condition, and he can’t raise two kids on his own.
Alice proves to be just what Nick needs, and he’s everything she wants. When Maggie begins to recover, Alice plots to get her out of the way and steal Nick and his family for herself. And she’s more than willing to kill Maggie to achieve that.
A Quiet Place Part II (2021)
Oppenheimer‘s Cillian Murphy steps into the world of John Krasinski’s sci-fi/horror franchise in A Quiet Place Part II. The prologue briefly brings back Krasinski’s Lee Abbott and establishes Murphy’s Emmett as a friend of the family just in time for the alien invasion that wrecked the planet. After the events of the first movie, Evelyn Abbott (Emily Blunt) is the last one standing alongside her children, Regan (Millicent Simmonds) and Marcus (Noah Jupe), when the Abbotts run into Emmett again.
Emmett isn’t the only survivor who has figured out how to remain relatively undetected by the aliens. Djimon Hounsou plays the unnamed leader of a group of humans who may offer the Abbotts sanctuary. But is anywhere on Earth truly safe from the invaders? Have the Abbotts unwittingly put their trust in the wrong men?
Godzilla Minus One (2023)
Why is Godzilla Minus One so much better than the American MonsterVerse movies? There are two reasons. First, Godzilla has no redeeming qualities in Minus One. He is simply a monstrous force of nature. The second reason is that Minus One has a human story that resonates through Kōichi Shikishima (Ryunosuke Kamiki).
Shikishima should have died twice, first as a kamikaze pilot in the last days of World War II, and then during his initial encounter with Godzilla. Because he fails to act or give up his life, Shikishima views himself as a coward… and that’s a view shared by others. Noriko Ōishi (Minami Hamabe), a woman who lives with Shikishima, sees him as the man he could be. She gives him something to live for, even if it means he may ultimately have to die.
Upgrade (2018)
The R rating for Upgrade doesn’t fully prepare you for just how brutal the fights in this movie can be once Grey Trace (Logan Marshall-Green) becomes a lethal weapon of vengeance. It’s not what he wanted to become, of course. But without STEM (Simon Maiden), Grey would still be trapped inside his own paralyzed body following an attack that claimed the life of his wife.
Billionaire Eron Keen (Harrison Gilbertson) offered STEM to Grey to give him back his life. Yet instead of a dream, it’s becoming a nightmare as the AI STEM takes more and more control over Grey’s body.
Rebel Moon - Part Two: The Scargiver (2024)
It took Zack Snyder two movies to retell the story of The Magnificent Seven in space, which is essentially what Rebel Moon is. Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire introduced Kora (Sofia Boutella), and revealed her personal connection to Motherworld, the heart of the empire that dominates the known universe. It also established that Kora is the title character in the sequel, Rebel Moon — Part Two: The Scargiver.
Kora and her remaining allies triumphed in the first part of the film when they survived an Imperium trap. But now the real challenge begins, because the Imperium is marshaling its forces to conquer Veldt, Kora’s adopted home. And she’ll do anything to protect her people, even if it kills her.
Spaceman (2024)
Alien’s promo line infamously states that “in space, no one can hear you scream.” Spaceman isn’t a horror film, so there’s not much suspense about whether astronaut Jakub Procházka (Adam Sandler) will survive. But since Jakub is alone in deep space, no one can hear or see just how badly he is being consumed by his loneliness, his inner turmoil, and his failing marriage to Lenka Procházka (Carey Mulligan). No one except Hanuš (Paul Dano), an alien spider that Jakub encounters on his journey.
Hanuš sees and knows everything in Jakub’s mind, often to the detriment of Jakub himself. Reliving painful memories isn’t something Jakub wants, and yet he’s so desperate for any kind of companionship that the prospect of Hanuš leaving him behind is absolutely devastating to him.
Rebel Moon - Part One: A Child of Fire (2023)
Zack Snyder’s space opera, Rebel Moon – Part One: A Child of Fire, should be familiar to fans of Star Wars and other sci-fi epics. It takes place in a universe that is ruled by Motherworld and its intergalactic army, the Imperium. Kora (Sofia Boutella), an ex-member of the Imperium, sought to redeem herself by starting a new life out of Motherworld’s reach on a moon called Veldt.
When the Imperium finally arrives on Veldt, Kora can’t run anymore. To defend her adopted homeworld, Kora recruits a former Imperium general, Titus (Djimon Hounsou), as well as Kai (Charlie Hunnam), Gunnar (Michiel Huisman), Tarak (Staz Nair), Nemesis (Doona Bae), and more. But even this assortment of warriors may not be enough to withstand a full assault by the Imperium.
They Cloned Tyrone (2023)
Very early on in They Cloned Tyrone, a drug dealer named Fontaine (John Boyega) is brutally murdered in front of one of his clients, Slick Charles (Foxx), and one of his Slick’s girls, Yo-Yo (Teyonah Parris). But much to the surprise of Slick Charles and Yo-Yo, Fontaine shows up the next day without any memory of what happened to him.
While investigating the mystery of Fontaine’s apparent resurrection, the trio uncover a clone conspiracy that has very troubling implications for their lives and their future. And if they want to save themselves, Fontaine, Slick Charles, and Yo-Yo need to fight back.
Captain Nova (2021)
Captain Nova (Anniek Pheifer) has come from the future to save the past in the Dutch sci-fi movie that shares her name. Unfortunately, for Nova, the trip back in time has also changed her into a 12-year-old child. And young Nova (Kika van de Vijver) soon realizes that her mission is now nearly impossible because of this unforeseen side effect.
With few other viable options, Nova teams up with a kid named Nas (Marouane Meftah) as she attempts to rewrite the future by taking on a greedy corporation. And if Nova fails, her future is destined to unfold in the same way that it did before.
Rim of the World (2019)
McG’s Rim of the World takes its inspiration from the kid-centric sci-fi films that Steven Spielberg produced and directed in the 1980s. At the Rim of the World summer camp in California, Alex (Jack Gore) is a boy who is still grieving the loss of his father when he starts bonding with his fellow social rejects, ZhenZhen (Miya Cech), Dariush (Benjamin Flores Jr.), and Gabriel (Alessio Scalzotto).
Much to their collective surprise, Alex and his new friends discover that they are in the midst of an alien invasion. And they may be the only ones left who can deliver the key to victory to NASA … if they can live long enough to escape.